The State of Asset Management 2024

The State

MANAGEMENT

The Obstacles to Achieving Asset, Maintenance, and Reliability Management Excellence 2024

For 28 years the MAINSTREAM research team has engaged with Australian and New Zealand-based Asset, Maintenance and Reliability leaders, to understand their collective obstacles and pain points (and opportunities), as they work towards achieving asset management excellence and improving overall business performance.

These findings enable leaders, teams, and individuals to understand best practices, compare their companies’ performance and working environment to those inside and outside their industry, and make informed and effective decisions.

The top ten obstacles that have emerged throughout this report will be used to create the MAINSTREAM 2024 Conference Program.

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

The results are an outcome of:

• Five x 90-minute roundtables between the 11th and 15th March. 85 people participated in interactive discussions and completed a survey.

• An online survey completed by another 192 professionals.

• 12 x one-on-one interviews.

MAINSTREAM

The results of the survey directly influence the MAINSTREAM 2024 program. This means that the speakers (local and international), workshops and masterclasses at the MAINSTREAM Conference on the 7-8 August 2024, will be relevant to the community’s knowledge, capability, and training requirements.

The Participants

The most common job titles of participants included: Head of Asset Management, Head of Asset Intelligence, Head of Engineering, Maintenance Manager, Reliability Lead, Plant Manager, Group Engineering Manager, Reliability and Maintenance Engineer, Maintenance System and Process Leader, Head of Asset Strategy, Maintenance Superintendent

Please select the option that BEST describes your role and responsibility

COMPANIES REPRESENTED

Thank you to the following organisations for participating:

AGL

Amazon

ANZCO Foods

APA

APAM

Arrow Energy

ARTC

Aurizon

BAE Systems Australia

BE Campbell

Bega

BHP

Bluescope

CASG

CSR Ltd

DBCT

Department of Defence

Domaine Chandon

Downer

Endeavour Energy

Ego Pharmaceuticals

Energy Queensland

EnergyAustralia

Enerven

Evolution Mining

Fortescue

Gladstone Regional Council

Glencore

GrainCorp

Hanson Construction Materials

Hunter Water Corporation

Jemena

Mars

Melbourne Airport

Melbourne Water

Mercury

Miraka

New Hope Group

New Zealand Steel

North Queensland Airports

NZ Steel

NZDF Defence

Oji Fibre Solutions

Orica

Pacific Mining

Power Water Corporation

Powerlink

QAL

Qantas

QSL

Queensland Health

Queensland Rail

Rio Tinto

Saputo

Shell – QGC

Snowy Hydro

Sunwater

Sydney Water

Talison Lithium

TasWater

Territory Generation

Timberlink

Tomago Aluminium

Unitywater

Virgin Australia

Visy

Viva Energy

Water Corporation of WA

Wilmar Sugar

Zinfra

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Top 10 Obstacles to Achieving Asset, Maintenance, and Reliability Management Excellence:

01 Misalignment Between Asset Strategy and Company Strategy

Maintenance and Reliability teams face difficult challenges in driving strategic change within their organisation. Defining the value of Asset Management, ROIC (return on invested capital), speaking the language that finance teams and C-level understand, building relationships with consultants and advisors, and effectively employing the ISO 55000 standards are all examples of tactics that could lead to better alignment.

02 Poor Asset Data that Compromises Decision-Making

The ability to accumulate data has increased over recent years due to advances in digital technology, improved monitoring capability and ever-expanding fields within Asset Management systems and data bases. But what are we doing with it? It’s universally agreed that data is critical for the business to optimise these assets. But bringing it all together from disparate systems, presenting results in a valuable way to drive decisions and better business outcomes is more challenging.

03 Significant Loss of Institutional Knowledge as the Workforce Ages

The workforce is ageing. Many older members of the community are leaving. Organisations are struggling to attract new talent, never mind top talent. So how are they going to cope with this transition, while at the same time being confronted with one of the most significant workforce challenges ever faced? The increase in automation, decarbonisation and climate targets are also reshaping the landscape of future job roles and required skill sets. Organisations must become more imaginative in their strategies to overcome these challenges.

04 Decreasing Quality and Integrity in Work Management Fundamentals

Post the COVID experience, many companies report a drop in the quality of basic solid work management fundamentals. We must get back to basics, understand and adhere to maintenance planning, reporting, scheduling, work execution, spares management, and performance assessment and management. We heard that in some cases, the integrity at which we execute maintenance work is declining and therefore the condition and health of assets is deteriorating.

05 Uncertainty About the Impact of Decarbonisation on the Asset Manager

It’s a once in history challenge. Maintenance and reliability leaders are essential in helping organisations navigate the transition to a more sustainable and climate-resilient future. We need to create a skill-base that can cope with new technologies while complying with a changing regulatory landscape in the context of decarbonisation and aggressive targets.

06 Declining Mental Health and Wellbeing of the Maintenance Workforce

Creating a healthy environment for your workforce remains a difficult challenge for our community. The question is, how do we implement some practical and scalable strategies to cut through the complexity of the mental health landscape. It is not easy when faced with increased work demands, skills shortages and performance pressure. We’re all looking to create a successful mental health environment based on key principles such as risk assessment, job design and workload management.

07 Inadequate Alignment of Safety, Risk Management, and Asset Maintenance Plans.

In all five groups there was consensus for the need to modernise IT and data systems to better align and integrate safety, risk, and Asset Maintenance plans. Without tight integration, different departments and teams operate in silos, leading to fragmented decision-making and misalignment.

08 Concerning Lack of Appreciation for the Reliability Function

There is ongoing strong sentiment for the lack of attention to, and appreciation of, both the reliability function and the engineers responsible for equipment reliability. This extends to the reliability engineers themselves being often overlooked and misunderstood. This can be due to a lack of understanding of the value they bring or a failure to recognise their contributions. Rigorous reliability processes, role clarity, and clear accountability structures that align with the broader company strategy are essential components of reliability success, as well as reliability engineering talent management and development.

09 Improving EDI Practices and the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion

Diversity within the workforce is proven to drive higher performing teams. It creates a more dynamic and resilient workforce, prepared to meet the challenges of the future, drives creativity, improves problem-solving, with lower attrition and higher employee satisfaction. Maintenance and reliability leaders want to play a greater role in promoting a successful EDI ethos in their workforce. To do so requires developing a certain skillset. The community asked about the skills, tactics, and programs they could adopt to attract and retain a diverse workforce in a sustainable way. The community is interested in learning about successful programs already in place.

10 Abundance of Choice in Attractive Industrial Technology and Platforms

As asset-intensive companies embrace digital transformation, technological breakthroughs in asset management are reshaping maintenance and reliability paradigms. In most cases, we need to respectfully temper the enthusiasm for the next shiny object and focus on getting bang-for-your buck or solving a pressing business need. It was generally agreed that great use cases and good business outcomes are the exception rather than rule.

01 Aligning Your Asset Strategy with Your Company Strategy

Aligning asset strategy with enterprise strategy is essential to maximising the value and contribution of assets to the organisation’s broader business objectives.

Developing resources, raising performance, minimising risk, and aiming towards success are standard for most organisations’ strategy. A concept which is embraced and rarely questioned when operations flow smoothly. The real test comes when things take an unexpected turn.

Despite organisations articulating coherent and strategic plans aimed at enhancing efficiency, slashing expenses, and boosting profitability, they often encounter hurdles. These typically stem from the tension between pursuing sustainability objectives and effectively managing substantial assets amid the unpredictable nature of resource allocation or funding, especially in times of uncertainty like today.

How can asset leaders foster a culture of commercial understanding within their teams, explaining the ways in which maintenance activities can influence revenue generation and the creation of value? It’s imperative for everyone within the organisation to align around a common objective and fully grasp the total cost of ownership associated with their responsibilities.

Another issue identified was a lack of understanding and support from the chain of command on how to achieve asset reliability and maintenance program optimisation.

Articulating Business Value

The asset management community wants to improve how it drives strategic change. Driving change is one of the most complex challenges that asset managers face, especially from a partially empowered position within the organisation. This would involve managing upwards towards executive management and downwards through the mid-level and shop floor.

Asset management practitioners are being asked to articulate and define value contribution from investment. This is complex, as there is not a simple linear relationship to value, and organisations have different perceptions of what value is as it pertains to their strategic needs.

Language Matters

Engaging with top executives is critical towards securing a seat at the decision-making table. We heard that successful outcomes have come when the community has simplified intricate asset strategy proposals into straightforward narratives focused on financial outcomes, stock performance, or risk mitigation.

Why don’t we get our asset and reliability initiatives funded? Most of the time, it’s because we are not speaking the language of the people holding the purse strings.

A potential solution is to enlist management consultants to bridge communication with upper management. These firms excel in crafting effective asset management transformation strategies. With their dedicated time, influence, and specialised knowledge, they’re capable of assessing your business and operational context from an unbiased standpoint. Selecting the right consultancy can bring in the necessary expertise to address existing gaps and aid in formulating a robust, marketable strategy. Moreover, they’re skilled in delivering the kind of data, insights, and analytical perspectives that resonate with senior executives and those at the C-level, facilitating a clearer understanding and support for strategic initiatives.

Selling the Dream

We heard some good examples of asset and reliability teams achieving breakthroughs in their ability to closer align enterprise and asset strategies and objectives. Some of these included:

• Changing the language to communicate reliability and maintenance with less technical, more financial language

• Using ISO 55000 as a framework

• Quarterly executive briefings for the leadership in their organisation

• Using Safety to effectively lobby senior management

• Forming asset management committees to represent the operations and maintenance teams at senior leadership meetings

ISO 55000 as a Framework

The use of a framework like ISO 55000 enables this communication piece to take place effectively. A framework means the intent can be implemented even if you are not completely compliant. Alignment often leads to the correct behaviours, rather than just getting certified. The framework also helps if you have a change of senior leadership. This is very important because often when there is a change of leadership, alignment between asset strategy and enterprise strategy can be threatened. It must stay consistent even if a cost cutting or turnaround strategy is implemented.

In your business, how aligned is your Asset Strategy with the Overall Company Strategy and Vision?

Policies and plans are in place, but execution of the Asset Strategy is not really successful or part of the culture

The value of Asset Management, Safety, Reliability and Availability to the success of the Company is not understood (still viewed as a cost centre)

Building momentum towards transparency and alignment

It’s clear how the Asset Strategy aligns with the Company’s Vision. People understand the value of their assets to overall business objectives

Key Questions Raised by the Community:

• Does your organisation C Levels and Board understand TCO for Assets?

• How to recognise end of life in an active market?

• How do we compare the cost of an ageing portfolio against replacement?

• How can asset leaders nurture a more collaborative mindset to working with the broader business and strategic needs?

02 Poor Asset Data that Compromises Decision-Making

Our ability to accumulate data has increased exponentially over recent years due to advances in digital technology, improved monitoring capability and ever-expanding fields within Asset Management systems and databases.

We’re creating enormous amounts of data every second. But it’s not all valuable data that can be used to inform decision-making and optimise operations. Organisations not only struggle with the volume of data, but also, the challenge of transforming data into actionable insights that foster organisational change and lead to more advanced discussions and decision-making in asset management.

According to our research it’s fair to say that data quality is still generally considered poor. Data continues to be produced in differing formats, across multiple systems and stored in disparate silos, making it extremely difficult to manage and govern.

Organisations are struggling to clarify what and how much data needs to be captured well before it’s cleaned and standardised. Only then will they be able to successfully count on its analytics to generate meaningful insights.

We need to consistently train and encourage users across the spectrum of ability and motivation to “feed” and use the CMMS or EAM to its maximum potential. This includes those who enter data often to those who consume the data to guide the business on asset reliability.

We heard about issues concerning the transfer of data from sensors to other analysis and reporting tools. Issues also exist because of security, classifi-

cations and in some cases the remoteness of assets. Some organisations do not have the ability to use the latest tools or systems to capture the right data in the right timeframes. Security breaches and attacks are real issues right now, pouring further fuel on a very complex and difficult situation.

What does it take to have confidence in the quality, accuracy and accessibility of data that drives valuable insights and decisions?

A better narrative on why this is important to ensure everyone plays their role

Comprehensive data lakes we can fish from as required

Start again, from the decisions we want to make and then let that drive what data to collect and how to collect it

None of the three options

All three options

Finding the Skills for Success

Ensuring that important information is readily available to the right people is a complex task of consolidating data from diverse sources like equipment sensors, historical maintenance logs, and operational data. For example, predictive maintenance is built on analysing data to foresee equipment failures and refine maintenance schedules accordingly. New challenges come from advanced technology, such as extracting value from Machine Learning and AI technologies for predictive maintenance and process efficiency. All of this requires a skill set that traditional maintenance teams may not possess.

Some organisations are adopting a more collaborative strategy, partnering with engineers and data scientists. Instead of a hierarchical information request system, these organisations are embedding data analysis into their routine operations, aiming to become data-centric entities focused on elevating both their data quality and utilisation strategies.

While the market offers an abundance of tools and systems for data analysis, their effective use depends on need for the right skills. To negotiate these challenges related to data proficiency and talent, some organisations are investing in targeted training and development initiatives for their maintenance and reliability personnel.

The Power of the Narrative

In addition to the quality of the data, it’s also finding ways to clearly communicate the data that can prove challenging.

The skill of storytelling is important when it comes to data. Taking a data report and translating it into a narrative which the reader understands or is linked to their KPI, might help them see the issue with a heightened priority. While dashboards (and the impressive amount of data flowing in) can be useful, their use is limited without clear requirements.

Key Questions Raised by the Community:

• How can data be aligned with key business processes and identified risks to optimise outcomes?

• What are other organisations doing to facilitate the integration of disparate data sources?

• Who is responsible for the management, governance, and ownership of data within an organisation – how are we getting everyone on board?

• What training methodologies can be implemented to equip operators or maintenance staff with the skills needed to leverage the extensive data generated by machines?

• In the context of a data lake, what policies should be in place regarding access rights and the authority to make modifications?

• How can predictive analytics be applied to maintenance data to predict equipment failures and repair schedules?

• How can real-time data monitoring be utilised to enhance the efficiency of maintenance operations and reduce downtime?

• How can data-driven insights be integrated into maintenance planning and execution workflows to improve asset reliability?

• How can maintenance professionals ensure data privacy and security, especially when dealing with sensitive operational data?

03 Significant Loss of Institutional Knowledge as the Workforce Ages

“We are up against a double whammy. We can’t hire enough skilled people fast enough, and we are doing a poor job at retaining the knowledge from our ageing workforce”

People and skills are at the very top of the business agenda. In a nutshell, how do you find the right people with the technical skillsets, while at the same time ensuring you keep the skills, experience, and knowledge in your business when huge numbers are retiring or leaving the industry?

These challenges highlight the need for continuous learning and adaptation within the maintenance and reliability workforce, as well as a proactive approach which attracts, trains, and retains the talent needed in the current landscape.

Overcoming the Skills Shortage

The lack of skilled labour in Australia is a real challenge for many organisations, causing decreased productivity, increased downtime, and higher operational costs. And in some cases, complete closure.

Additionally, the shortage of skilled workers in this industry can lead to increased competition for the available talent, driving up labour costs and making it harder for smaller companies to compete with larger players.

Managing the Ageing Workforce and the Loss of Expertise

Organisations are having to deal with the management of their ageing workforce, a huge concern that demands active solutions. Pivot-

al to this challenge is the retention and transfer of invaluable knowledge from departing seasoned employees to incoming talent.

“My biggest challenge is to have knowledge and experience on-site, guaranteeing trained individuals capable of achieving desired outcomes, particularly regarding equipment, asset reliability, and uptime”

Innovative strategies to attract and retain talent encompass strategic placement of candidates in demanding roles coupled with robust support systems to encourage prolonged tenures. Many organisations are even re-engaging retired colleagues to return to work on contracts and mentor new staff.

Establishing efficient processes and systems is essential for documenting and passing on critical knowledge and skills. Ideas discussed include implementing structured induction processes or leveraging digital platforms for knowledge sharing, web-based resources, or video tutorials.

The scarcity of highly skilled tradespeople poses a genuine challenge, prompting companies to adapt to diminishing capabilities. The conventional model of apprentices spending extensive time learning from experienced professionals is be -

coming impractical. As a result, organisations are taking proactive measures to ensure a seamless transition and the sustainability of their workforce.

“How do we retain the knowledge that the older engineers have in their heads – once it’s gone it’s gone”

Challenges to Success

With the attraction and retention of skills becoming more and more challenging, workforce planning is more crucial than ever. Organisations must create a resilient and agile workforce by aligning training, development and education programs with the organisation’s strategic goals and workforce needs.

This is a short and long-term aim. Many organisations talked about knowing what they must do. But the question is where they find the time and resources to tackle this incredibly complex issue while managing business as usual and taking critical assets offline. There is a genuine concern that the impact of the current skills shortages will cause major disruption in the coming years.

Creative Ways to Meet the Challenge

To meet these challenges, organisations must employ agile and creative programs aimed at developing the workforce of the future, as some of the traditional methods, like graduate schemes, struggle to attract the numbers needed.

These include training programs to upskill employees in emerging technologies, and specialised areas relevant to the organisation’s needs. Mentorship and Coaching Programs which link junior engineers with experienced mentors to facilitate knowledge transfer, skill development, develop leadership skills and general career advice and guidance. Opportunities for students to gain practical experience through internships or co-op placements or open days. These programs offer valuable hands-on experience, and exposure to real-world challenges.

Diversity is a Fact, Inclusion is an Act

Diversity and Inclusion initiatives aim to create an inclusive culture where employees feel valued, respected, and empowered to contribute their unique perspectives and ideas.

Securing Top Talent for Success

For many industries, attracting and retaining talent has become an increasingly pressing challenge. Many professionals, including maintenance experts, engineers, and tradespeople, are being enticed by opportunities in different sectors, prompting us to reflect on how we can maintain a skilled workforce in these fields.

How do we make these roles enticing to the right individuals? How can we create a sense of belonging within our organisations to enhance employee engagement, motivation, and retention? Strategies that have surfaced include transparent and candid communication, diversity and inclusion programs, opportunities for personal and professional development, and alignment with social responsibility initiatives.

Key Questions Raised by the Community:

• How do we develop our workforce to meet current and evolving needs while keeping up with the impact of technology?

• How can we establish a coaching and mentoring network that delivers our needs?

• How do we support the development of our existing workforce in the face of uncertain future roles?

• What specific skills or competencies are we lacking and is this impacting our team’s ability to meet project deadlines and objectives?

• Are there any emerging technologies or trends that require skills not currently available in the workforce?

• Can we break down the barriers preventing individuals from entering maintenance and reliability?

• How can we collaborate with educational institutions to ensure that graduates are equipped with the necessary skills for our industry?

• Are there opportunities to provide training or development programs to upskill existing team members in areas where there is a shortage of talent?

• How can we create a more inclusive and diverse workplace to attract individuals with a wider range of skills and backgrounds?

04

The Decline in Quality and Integrity of Work Management Fundamentals

“Our Biggest Barrier to Maintenance Excellence is a deterioration in Quality, Efficiency and Sustainability. The integrity at which we execute maintenance work is declining and therefore the condition and health of assets decline”

In today’s landscape, organisations often become entangled in elaborate initiatives, losing sight of where true improvement potential resides. So much so that the refinement of fundamental maintenance practices gets neglected.

There was consensus across industry about the main reasons for this overall decline:

Obsession with Technology and Improvement – Getting Back to Basics

A common pain point shared is that before any new tech or continuous improvement programs are even considered, good work management fundamentals need understanding and adherence – identifying work, maintenance planning, reporting, KPI’s, scheduling, work execution, spares management, transitioning from breakdown maintenance, and performance assessment and management.

Lack of Clear Processes

Without clear processes in place, tasks can become disorganised, and priorities may not be properly established. This leads to inefficiencies and overlooked maintenance issues.

Poor Communication

Effective communication is essential for successful maintenance management. If there are breakdowns in communication between maintenance

teams, management, and other departments, important tasks are missed or misunderstood.

Insufficient Training

Maintenance personnel may not receive adequate training on work management fundamentals, such as prioritisation, scheduling, and documentation. Without proper training, employees may struggle to effectively execute maintenance tasks.

Inadequate Resources

Companies may fail to allocate sufficient resources, including personnel, time, and budget, for maintenance activities. Tasks are rushed or neglected, leading to equipment breakdowns and costly repairs.

Use of Acronyms

Far too frequently, we overcomplicate matters beyond necessity. Individuals tend to cloak basic principles under new terminology, causing confusion rather than clarity among maintenance teams. Acronyms often disguise the core message intended for maintenance teams.

Lack of Accountability

Without clear accountability mechanisms in place, employees may not feel responsible for completing maintenance tasks in a timely and effective manner. This can lead to a culture of complacency and decreased productivity.

Resistance to Change

Some employees may resist adopting new work management practices, especially if they perceive them as unnecessary or burdensome. Overcoming resistance to change requires effective leadership and communication.

Failure to Execute

Failing to execute these essential tasks poses a significant obstacle to achieving maintenance excellence. Despite the formulation of numerous strategies and improvement schemes, the fundamental elements of reliability and maintenance often remain poorly executed.

Best practice lies in meticulous planning prior to the scheduled execution of work. This involves not only planning the work itself but also scheduling the necessary tasks and assigning personnel accordingly.

Without proper execution of these foundational and basic maintenance practices, organisations will continue to struggle to allocate time for crucial tasks aimed at enhancing reliability and minimising costs. Despite the plethora of strategies devised, the lack of implementation at the basic level is ongoing. Good execution hinges on planning and allocation of resources, particularly within the frontline teams responsible for maintenance.

“We

don’t fully understand the function of the maintenance plan. Often the work can get done and that then breaks the system. Or rightly so, the scheduler will adjust based on their experience. But that is then not included back into the plan!

Key Questions Raised by the Community:

• Do we fully understand the function of the maintenance plan?

• How do we define set up and measure metrics or KPI’s?

• Do your planners understand the supply chain?

• What industry best practice exists to help you with work optimisation?

• How do we improve labour utilisation for planning and scheduling?

Uncertainty About the Impact of Decarbonisation on the Asset Manager

Decarbonisation efforts, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and mitigating climate change, are having a significant impact on asset and maintenance managers in a variety of ways.

In our recent in-depth survey, with results to be released in May, we found that only 43% of the 220 respondents felt they had a basic understanding of decarbonisation and its implications for their industry.

Furthermore, in response to ‘How do you perceive the level of support and resources available to Maintenance and Reliability teams in your organisation for adapting to decarbonisation efforts?’ almost 50% reported that re -

sources and support are available, but there may be room for improvement in terms of accessibility, training, or clarity of objectives.

Significant investment is required to get close to the ambitious NGFS Net Zero 2050 targets. These changes create massive challenges for the community and for Australia and New Zealand as nations, while also providing huge opportunities to lead at the forefront of climate change action.

How familiar are you with the concept of decarbonisation and its implications for your industry?

Not Familiar at All:

I have no knowledge or awareness of the concept of decarbonisation and its implications for my industry.

Slightly Familiar: I’ve heard of decarbonisation but have minimal understanding of its implications for my industry.

Very Familiar: I have a comprehensive understanding of decarbonisation and its implications for the industry, including potential challenges and opportunities.

Somewhat Familiar:

I have a basic understanding of decarbonisation and its potential implications for my industry but require further information.

Moderately Familiar:

I have a reasonable understanding of decarbonisation and its implications for the industry but may require additional details to fully grasp its significance.

New Skills for Maintenance and Reliability Professionals Required

The transition to more sustainable practices requires a change in the types of assets and technologies being used such as adopting renewable energy sources, electric vehicles, and other eco-friendly technologies. Maintenance and reliability professionals need to be skilled in managing and maintaining these new technologies, with different operating principles and maintenance requirements compared to traditional assets. Integrating IoT sensors and other data-driven technologies to monitor and optimise asset performance is crucial for achieving decarbonisation goals. Maintenance professionals must develop skills in data analytics to effectively interpret and utilise the amounts of data generated by these sensors for asset reliability and performance.

“Our biggest issue is developing the right skill sets”

Impact on Jobs and Skills

Decarbonisation will lead to a reallocation of labour. Significant investment is required to reskill

and redeploy workers. This “sustainability talent development” will be as much about developing and adapting existing talent as it is creating new jobs. Transition will involve employers creating new roles as active agents of change within businesses, such as sustainability managers, green transport officers, and recycling operatives.

Companies will need to ensure their maintenance and operational workforce possess general “green skills”, as opposed to only focusing on more traditional role requirements such as university degrees and technical qualifications. For example, the ability or knowledge to help prevent, monitor, or clean up pollution and optimise conservation of natural resources. This will extend to system skills and operating and assessing traditional plant systems and data against environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance indicators.

Employers will need to take their maintenance workforce with them on the decarbonisation transition by improving workers’ environmental awareness through specialist training. However, a fundamental shift in education is required.

How do you perceive the level of support and resources available to Maintenance and Reliability teams in your organisation for adapting to decarbonisation efforts?

5.7% Insufficient Support: There is minimal or no investment in training, technology, or infrastructure to facilitate this transition.

48.7% Moderate Support: Resources and support are available, but there may be room for improvement in terms of accessibility, training, or clarity of objectives.

20.3% Strong Support: Adequate resources, including funding, training programs, and technological support, are provided to facilitate a smooth transition.

2.5% Exceptional Support: Our company demonstrates a clear commitment to sustainability, providing ample resources, innovative solutions, and ongoing support for the successful integration of decarbonisation initiatives within maintenance and reliability practices. Limited Support: There may be occasional initiatives, but they are not comprehensive or sustained.

Key Questions Raised by the Community:

• How does the asset replacement process impact decarbonisation?

• What are the potential economic and financial implications of decarbonisation for asset portfolios?

• How do we work with regulators and the requirements and environmental standards that will impact our asset management practices, and how can we proactively adapt to remain compliant?

• What measures should asset managers take to account for the risks associated with stranded assets in the context of decarbonisation efforts?

• Managing the huge capacity and resource challenges coming our way. All our companies are relying on the same suppliers and resources to decarbonisation at the same time!

• What opportunities and challenges will asset managers face in integrating renewable energy sources and clean technologies into their asset management strategies?

• As we pursue decarbonisation, how will the role of the reliability engineers change?

06

Declining Mental Health and Wellbeing of the Maintenance Workforce

Mental health remains a significant obstacle for the

MAINSTREAM

community. Many organisations are increasing their focus on health and well-being and doing their best to support people in a holistic way.

Nevertheless, the findings from our groups indicate that the problem is still very severe, particularly in more remote geographies. Independent reports from mental health agencies report record numbers of individuals requiring help to cope with their mental health.

“Absenteeism,

stress leave, conflicts within teams, and the dangers of presenteeism have huge potential impact on safety, productivity, and performance.”

Issues Impacting Mental Health and Well-being – What Are We Doing?

Coping with workforce mental health and wellness challenges is a significant one for employers to address and manage. Many of these issues are not specific to our community. From economic and financial stresses, from the hike in interest rates, to job insecurity, or lack of recognition, these issues are impacting many professions and industries.

The lack of line manager skills and confidence is still one of the most significant factors for an employee’s well-being. Managers lacking the essential skills and confidence to manage their teams can create a range of issues that negatively affect employee well-being and retention of staff. Lack of empathy, micromanagement, and

inconsistency are all factors which we heard are contributing to a negative work environment.

Organisations are investing in training and development programs to improve the capabilities required for their managers, creating leaders with the skills and capabilities to ensure that their staff feel valued, have a sense of purpose, and are supported in their needs.

Leaders and managers play a crucial role in shaping workplace culture. If they do not prioritise or openly discuss mental health and well-being, it can contribute to a culture of silence and stigma.

We heard from organisations who are using a range of approaches to support mental health for their staff. Features include employee assistance programmes, mental health first aid training, well-being champions, access to counselling services and the promotion of flexible working options.

Home Workers vs Onsite Staff

We heard that the friction between ‘office’ staff and those on the ‘frontline’ is on the increase. Some organisations reported friction between groups of employees benefitting from hybrid or remote working, and those whose roles require them to be on-site full-time. This perceived inequity of the working situation has amplified.

Overcoming the Stigma

Despite the increased awareness and efforts to promote mental health, misconceptions, fear of judgment, and a lack of understanding remain. This prevents individuals from seeking help, disclosing their mental health issues, or accessing necessary support services.

There is still a perception that talking about any of these issues is showing weakness or incompetence leading employees to fear negative repercussions on their career advancement or job security.

Its naïve to think that mental health or time off are not viewed as negative factors when it comes to the next wage rise or promotion.

Programs to combat this issue include promoting education and awareness about mental health, fostering open dialogue and supportive environments, providing access to resources and support services, and actively challenging discriminatory attitudes and behaviours.

By addressing stigma head-on, organisations can create a more inclusive and supportive

workplace culture where employees feel comfortable seeking help and accessing the resources they need for their mental well-being.

Are we Trying to go too Far with the Happiness of our Workforce?

In discussions we heard about the blurring of lines between terms like mental health, well-being, and happiness at work. To what extent is an organisation responsible for the well-being of its employees?

Organisations are responsible for creating a workplace and an environment that enables them to do their job to the best of their abilities while contributing to their job satisfaction. This might include providing skilled leadership and management, safe and inclusive work environments, fair compensation, opportunities for growth and development, a good work-life balance, and access to resources like mental health support. How far should organisations go on this journey? Are Maintenance and Reliability leaders responsible for the well-being of their teams, above and beyond these responsibilities?

Creating Strategic Advantage with Well-being Initiatives

Well-being initiatives are often viewed as attractive benefits for skilled professionals. These initiatives demonstrate that an organisation cares about the physical and mental well-being of its employees, making it more appealing to potential hires, particularly those with in-demand skills and experience.

As mental health and well-being firmly establishes itself as one of the preeminent challenges facing the community, it also has the potential to be a significant strategic advantage for organisations.

With such tight talent markets, organisations could present well-being initiatives which stand out from the rest. Participants were keen to understand how smart organisations are planning on using well-being as a lever for competitive advantage and skills.

Key Questions Raised by the Community:

• What are the real mental health needs and challenges faced by our employees?

• What resources and support systems can we provide to employees to enhance their mental well-being?

• How do we promote a culture of well-being?

• What programs have worked to create a culture of belonging?

• Can we coach resilience?

• Is there still a stigma or barrier to seeking help?

• What strategies can we implement to promote work-life balance and prevent burnout among our employees?

• How will we integrate mental health and wellbeing considerations into our organisational policies and practices?

• How can we foster a culture of psychological safety and openness where employees feel comfortable discussing mental health concerns?

• How do we manage employees’ expectations and demands when it comes to wellness?

• How do we teach listening and empathy skills?

Inadequate Alignment of Safety, Risk, and Asset Maintenance Plans

In all five groups there was consensus for the need to modernise IT and data systems to better align and integrate safety, risk, and Asset Maintenance plans. Without tight integration, different departments and teams operate in silos, leading to fragmented decision-making.

Risk and Safety Implications

When safety considerations, risk assessments, and maintenance activities are not aligned, conflicting priorities are inevitable, often resulting in incorrect resource allocation. There is also an increase in safety risks. Safety protocols are overlooked or inadequately addressed during maintenance activities leading to an increased likelihood of accidents, injuries, and occupational hazards for maintenance teams, as well as potential damage to assets.

Failure to integrate safety, risk, and maintenance plans poses compliance risks with regulatory requirements and industry standards. Organisations may face fines, penalties, or legal consequences for non-compliance with safety regulations or failure to adhere to maintenance best practices.

Missed Opportunities

Integration enables organisations to identify opportunities for optimisation, such as predictive maintenance strategies, proactive risk mitigation measures, and streamlined maintenance processes. Without integration, these opportunities may be missed, leading to suboptimal performance and reduced asset reliability.

Another impact is the inefficient or incorrect allocation of labour, time, and materials

across safety, risk management, and maintenance activities. This results in redundant efforts and increased operational costs.

“Without integrated data and information systems there is a lack of visibility into the overall performance and health of our assets. This hampers our ability to make informed decisions, track performance metrics, and identify areas for improvement in safety, risk management, and maintenance practices”

Awareness and Training

Integration of safety protocols involves incorporating safety procedures, guidelines, and regulations directly into maintenance planning processes. This ensures that safety considerations are systematically addressed at each stage of maintenance activities, from planning to execution. For example, safety checks and risk assessments can be integrated into maintenance checklists, ensuring that potential hazards are identified and mitigated before work begins.

This provides an opportunity to build training and awareness initiatives into maintenance planning. Maintenance teams can receive training on safety procedures, equipment usage, emergen-

cy response protocols, and hazard identification. This ensures that frontline teams are adequately prepared to safely carry out maintenance tasks, reducing the risk of accidents or injuries. It also extends to environmental protection measures during maintenance activities. Maintenance planning includes considerations for preventing environmental contamination, minimising waste generation, and complying with environmental regulations.

“We need our IT platform to support a continuous improvement and feedback loop so that adjustments to be made to maintenance procedures to enhance safety performance and prevent future incidents”

Better Data, Better Decision Making

Integration of data from safety, risk, and maintenance systems provides maintenance teams

with a holistic view of asset health and performance. This allows for more informed decision-making regarding maintenance strategies, resource allocation, and risk mitigation efforts.

Integration enables maintenance teams to access data from various sources, including real-time monitoring systems, historical maintenance records, and risk assessments. This comprehensive view of asset health allows teams to identify patterns, trends, and potential issues more effectively.

Alignment with Organisational Objectives

Integrated data enables maintenance teams to align their decisions and activities with broader organisational goals and objectives. By considering factors such as safety, risk, and asset performance in decision-making processes, maintenance teams contribute to overall operational excellence and support the achievement of strategic objectives.

08

Concerning Lack of Appreciation for the Critical Role of the Reliability Function

As was the case in our 2023 report, there is ongoing strong sentiment for the lack of attention to, and appreciation of, both the reliability function and the engineers responsible for equipment reliability. Several factors contribute to why so many industrial companies continue to overlook the importance of reliability engineering.

Short-Term Focus

Industrial companies often prioritise short-term goals such as meeting production targets or reducing costs. Reliability engineering, which involves upfront investments in design, testing, and maintenance to ensure long-term reliability, does not receive sufficient attention.

Lack of Awareness

Some companies simply do not have the same awareness of the concept of reliability engineering, or its potential benefits compared to general maintenance. If they haven’t experienced significant reliability issues in the past or haven’t had the expertise to analyse and address them, they may not recognise the importance of reliability engineering in improving overall operational efficiency and reducing downtime.

Cost Considerations

Reliability engineering requires investments in specialised equipment, training, and personnel, which some companies may perceive as additional expenses that do not directly contribute to their bottom line. Without understanding the potential cost sav -

ings and improved performance, companies are hesitant to allocate resources to it.

Reactive Maintenance Culture

Companies often operate in a reactive maintenance culture, where they only address equipment failures as they occur rather than proactively identifying and mitigating potential issues. This reactive approach results in increased downtime, production losses, and higher maintenance costs in the long term. Companies might not recognise the benefits of transitioning to a proactive reliability engineering approach.

Misconceptions from Leadership

There could be misconceptions that reliability engineering is an unnecessary expense or a purely technical function that doesn’t align with business goals. Educating decision-makers about the strategic importance of reliability engineering and its potential impact on profitability and customer satisfaction is essential in overcoming this.

Underestimation of Risks

Some companies underestimate the potential risks associated with equipment failures, such

as safety hazards, environmental damage, and reputational damage. Without considering the broader implications of reliability issues, companies will not prioritise reliability engineering efforts aimed at preventing or minimising these risks.

Lack of In-House Expertise

Reliability engineering requires specialised knowledge and skills in areas such as data analysis, statistics, predictive maintenance, and risk assessment. If a company lacks personnel with expertise in these areas, they will not be able to implement effective reliability engineering processes.

“Reliability should be a priority, not just an afterthought. Everyone at our company should take reliability seriously, not just the reliability engineers.”

The Reliability Engineer

Reliability engineers are crucial to the success of asset-intensive organisations. They play a vital role in ensuring that equipment, machinery, and other critical assets are running efficiently and effectively. Their work helps to prevent costly downtime, reduce maintenance costs, and ensure that businesses are operating at their peak potential.

This extends to the reliability engineers themselves being often overlooked and misunderstood. This can be due to a lack of understanding of the value they bring or a failure to recognise their contributions.

The strengths of a Reliability Engineer are often process-driven and analytical, adept at identifying potential problems, analysing data, and implementing solutions to prevent equipment failure and downtime. Professionals must develop some of the soft or communication skills which often inhibits their progression within the organisation.

The Role of Leadership

Reliability engineers are specialists, not generalists, and require the freedom to spend time on design and strategic thinking. Leaders often overlook this strength and do not appreciate the true value that reliability engineers deliver. Because their focus is so short-term and quarterly based, when it comes to things like asset utilisation, the whole notion of understanding what a reliability engineer does is quite intangible. As a result, reliability engineers are often deployed to do other things across maintenance and operational functions.

But when reliability engineers are forced to perform tasks outside of their area of expertise, they can become disconnected and disengaged. And a wasted asset. Conversely, there are instances where engineers with maintenance experience are given the role of reliability engineer, despite the work requiring an analytical approach rather than a focus on fixing and maintaining equipment.

The Role of the Enterprise

Reliability engineering emphasises statistical analysis, but experience and history show that quantitative methods alone are insufficient for success. In many of the most serious operational failures, poor decision making, and miscommunication exacerbated a fundamental engineering failure. These events remind us of the importance of leadership, transparency, and accountability in reliability engineering.

Rigorous reliability processes, role clarity, and clear accountability structures that align with the broader company strategy are essential components of reliability success. So is reliability engineering talent management and development.

09

Improving EDI Practices and the Promotion of Diversity and Inclusion

Organisations within the MAINSTREAM Community are making significant efforts to build EDI into their policies and practices. Skill shortages, one of the most pressing challenges confronting the community right now, has emerged as a compelling business reason – as well as societal benefits – for organisations to ensure their workplaces attract, support, and retain a diverse workforce.

The future workforce will no longer accept the status quo and will seek opportunities elsewhere if their employer is not actively working towards more equitable, diverse, and inclusive teams.

While much of the debate is dedicated to the role that migration can play in addressing staff shortages and other challenges, we have heard that there is less attention given to the impact that diverse, equitable and inclusive workplaces can have in attracting and retaining staff. We heard from the community that there are many issues impacting EDI.

Lack of Diversity in Leadership

Many organisations still grapple with a lack of diversity in top leadership, management positions or even supervisors and team leaders. Gender diversity is one aspect, but the challenge extends to a lack of representation of ethnicities, backgrounds, ages, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous employees to name a few. This lack of diversity at a leadership level also hinders innovation, creativity, and the ability to relate to a diverse customer base. It’s universally acknowledged and proven that diverse teams are more innovative and better at problem-solving, bringing a wider range of perspectives

and experiences to the table and perform better and provide better business outcomes.

We heard about projects which have implemented female mentors to young women who are interested in pursuing careers in the engineering and reliability fields. Through mentorship, building confidence, providing guidance, and offering insights into the industry, these young women can see a positive and bright future in these fields.

MAINSTREAM would like to position itself as a standard bearer to highlight success stories. We would like to help companies highlight the success stories of groups who have successfully inspired and motivated these diverse groups to pursue careers in this field. We want to bring success stories to the forefront and recognise the contributions of employees from all underrepresented groups.

Story telling is a key way we want to share this important work to be able to highlight that vulnerability and authenticity within a leader are vital to their ability to foster inclusive and diverse teams.

Creating a Culture of Inclusion

Fostering a culture of inclusion requires a real effort to create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected, regardless of

their background, experiences, or identity. While some of these policies sit outside of the remit of the MAINSTREAM Community, the concepts are still crucial to be aware of and ultimately drive better outcomes in any field or industry.

Culture is such an individual and crucial part of an organisations success and is often overlooked for business targets and KPIs. Working on organisational culture can have a big impact on business outcomes. Fostering a culture of inclusion in our teams where everyone feels valued and respected can be done through a few ways.

Policies and procedures set a foundation of expectation for an inclusive culture, but they need to be led by leadership and respected by all to have a true impact. This can extend to such things as flexible work arrangements, equal pay,

and anti-discrimination of marginalised groups.

Taking this a step further, the implementation and communication of these policies within a workforce is needed, to really explain why they are critical to success of the organisation. This can be done through top-down leadership, training of policies to leaders and teams and ensuring employee resource groups (ERGs) are healthy and thriving (and not just funded by volunteer efforts of passionate team members).

At every possible touch point with a team or employee, there needs to be a mention of the importance of and commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. This can be through employee perception surveys, focus groups, one-on-ones or town hall meetings where employees share their experiences and ideas.

Key Questions Raised by the Community:

• What strategies can be employed to attract and retain a diverse maintenance and reliability workforce?

• How can maintenance and reliability teams contribute to fostering Equitable, Diverse, and Inclusive (EDI) culture?

• What actions should we implement to mitigate unconscious bias within our workplace?

• In what ways can we cultivate an inclusive culture that values and respects all employees?

• What avenues for training and development can be offered to equip all employees with the skills and knowledge needed for effective performance in a diverse and inclusive environment?

• How can we assess the effectiveness of our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) initiatives and policies?

• What support and resources can we extend to employees from underrepresented backgrounds to facilitate their success and career advancement?

• What if I don’t know how to have a conversation with an employee that is from an underrepresented background? Who can I turn to for help?

Abundance of Choice in Attractive Industrial Technology and Platforms

As asset-intensive companies embrace digital transformation, technological breakthroughs in asset management are reshaping maintenance and reliability paradigms.

From leveraging augmented reality for training maintenance teams to deploying drones and robots for inspections, a myriad of innovative solutions is emerging to enhance the efficiency and precision of asset management processes.

Top-of-mind Technology

Everywhere we look, there is a new list of tech platforms and services that will change the game. Here is a list – in order – of those that got the most airtime from our participants:

• Predictive Maintenance Software

• EAM and/or CMMS

• Asset Performance Management Solutions

• Internet of Things (IoT) Sensors and Devices for Condition Monitoring

• Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) for Maintenance Training and Troubleshooting

• Autonomous Vehicles

• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Predictive Analytics and Failure Prediction

• Remote Monitoring and Control Systems

• Digital Twins for Asset Simulation and Monitoring

• Mobile Applications for Field Data Collection and Work Order Management

• Drones and Robots for Inspections

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for

Maintenance Planning

• Cloud-Based Collaboration Platforms for Team Communication and Documentation

• Integration Platforms to bring Multiple Sources of Data into a Single View.

• Geo Enablement Framework (GEF) used in Conjunction with Planning and Scheduling

• Image Recognition for Analysis of Defects, i.e., finding objects on a video

• 3D Printing

“We are like kids in a candy store when it comes to shiny new technology platforms. It’s easy to get distracted by the latest sensors, and predictive apps, but not at the expense of staying focused on what really matters: keeping the machinery humming and the business thriving”.

Distracted by New Tech

In most cases, we need to respectfully temper the enthusiasm for the next shiny object and focus on getting bang-for-your buck or solving a pressing business need. It was generally agreed that great use cases and good business outcomes are the exception rather than rule. Most companies that have implemented digital maintenance and reliability solutions and platforms are yet to see a measurable impact.

The most successful examples have three things in common.

Firstly, there is vision for transformation across the whole organisation that is supported by leadership. Secondly, their initial focus is on two key areas to deploy new tech: predictive maintenance (PdM) and tools to support improvements in work management. Thirdly, they have robust change management programs, and the end users are supported from the beginning.

The increasing use of technology in asset management represents a significant shift in the way businesses operate. As businesses continue to navigate the digital era, those that can effectively leverage technology to improve asset management processes will be the ones that thrive in a rapidly changing business landscape

Predictive Analytics

Predictive analytics has proven to be a game-changer for organisations looking to maximise the value of their assets. By leveraging advanced algorithms and machine learning, predictive analytics enables organisations to

forecast equipment failure, optimise maintenance schedules, and improve overall asset performance. In today’s highly competitive business landscape, asset-intensive organisations that fail to adopt predictive analytics risk falling behind their competitors and missing out on the numerous benefits it offers. Predictive Analytics Predictive maintenance (PdM) is becoming increasingly important in asset management as companies look to cut costs, improve asset performance, and reduce the risk of unplanned downtime.

PdM is helping organisations move from pre-scheduled plans to real-time maintenance, providing insights that allow us to make decisions to do a repair or replacement before a breakdown occurs. The main components include some form of condition monitoring sensors, IoT, and predictive algorithms.

The Business Case

Although predictive analytics is a powerful tool, it requires a significant investment in data collection, analysis, and modelling. Companies need to have the right systems in place to collect and analyse data, as well as the exper-

tise to interpret the results. Other challenges include data quality, integration with existing systems, and building an organisational culture that values evidence-based decision making. Security remains another major concern as the proliferation of IoT devices and sensors in asset management leads to greater potential for cyber-attacks. Predictive analytics relies on the continuous collection and transmission of data from these devices, making them vulnerable to ransomware attacks, which can lock down systems and cause significant disruption to operations. Despite these challenges, innovative organisations are pushing forward with Predictive Analytics initiatives and can see the potential this technology offers. That is, if they can make the business case for investment. Selecting a solution requires a substantial upfront investment. Companies are seeking case studies from others that have been able to get their business cases over the line, and then demonstrate a return on investment. It requires leadership support. Very few leaders charged with fiveyear tenures have the commitment and fortitude needed to create the kind of long-term change that is required to equip organisations for the

digital future. Many companies have worked out that small wins are their best sales tool.

With the relentless speed of technology change today, consider carefully how you keep the workforce up to date; today you are an early adopter and in twelve months the tech could be obsolete.

Maintaining Data Integrity

Achieving a level of data integrity allows us to focus on analytics, predictions, and decisions. The linking of field-gathered data from machines to the action we think we will need to take in our work management system is all about correlating the data. It’s a difficult journey. Especially as multiple data sources are required to help us make better decisions. Another barrier to predictive analytics is building trust in data outcomes. After all, you can’t wait for something to break to prove that the prediction was correct. If you don’t have good data practices in ERP or CMMS, from your asset master data to your maintenance history, you will need to invest a lot of time and energy for your legacy data to add value to your new analytics.