Asset Operations Management | Achieve Buy-In at All Levels

The successful implementation of Asset Operations Management (AOM) usually requires a radical shift in culture and employee mindset. The change management aspects of AOM are just as important as the tools and technologies required for implementation.

Last week, we discussed the importance of setting clear objectives before beginning any AOM tactical implementation. This week, we’ll continue on our journey, focused instead on the importance of achieving buy-in at all levels of the organization.

What’s in It for Me?

It’s human nature to want to understand how something new will impact the self. This is clearly the case within businesses where existing individual job demands often consume a great deal of time and energy already.

One key to achieving comprehensive buy-in is to clearly communicate the benefits and impact of AOM to each individual team, department, and individual. Employees must understand not only why AOM is good for the organization as a whole, but also how it will help them individually in their jobs and careers. Without this understanding, there can be little motivation to participate in a productive way.

Begin at the Top

The beauty of AOM is that it clearly connects KPIs from the maintenance and manufacturing floor to high-level business objectives. It’s no longer only about measuring activity and task completion but shifts the focus to the value created by each and every individual.

The senior management team will need to approve the resources required for AOM, so beginning at the top is important. If corporate-level objectives were clearly defined to reflect executive pain points like downtime or production level concerns, it should be simple to show how AOM will visibly improve those top-line metrics.

Middle Management Believers

Line/production managers and shift supervisors are often stuck in the middle, trying to meet the demands of top management as well as motivate and direct technicians and employees. They traditionally have had responsibility for more specific key performance indicators related to production quotas, equipment downtime, or schedule adherence.

AOM is well-positioned to make their jobs significantly easier, empowering them with the tools and technologies to help their teams be more productive and access the information they need when they need it. Centralized data means middle management has a single source of truth on which to base day-to-day decisions.

Reaching All Employees

Ultimately, every employee has an important role to play within an AOM system. Even entry-level staff can gain important insights to their jobs as well as have a responsibility to add to the repository of knowledge.

For example, a new maintenance technician assigned to a simple repair can immediately see all the historic data related to a specific piece of equipment, in addition to checklists, pictures, and instructions. An AOM system can connect that technician by phone or messaging to experts within the company if a consult is required, making the task at hand easier. On the other hand, that technician must completely and accurately record the repair being performed within the AOM system, so that data becomes part of the centralized repository for future use and analysis by others in the organization.

Maximizing Results

In the end, achieving buy-in from all levels of your organization before and during AOM implementation means your company is better able to achieve best practices and optimize asset performance.

Individual technicians are no longer focused on disconnected tasks that just lead to a paycheck, but instead, believe they are valuable team members adding to the performance of critical equipment. Managers and supervisors shift their focus from simply tracking activity to looking at the value their teams add to the overall operation of the company, then that information rolls up to the executive team, speaking to metrics around revenue, cash conservation, and profit margins.

In the end, better performance means higher levels of customer satisfaction, which leads to loyalty, growth, and success.

More on Asset Operations Management

Interested in learning more about Asset Operations Management? Check out these articles:

• 4 Reasons Asset Operations Management Is Essential for Teams

• How to Jump-Start the Next Generation of Maintenance, Reliability, and Operations

• What Asset Operations Management Means for Reliability Teams

• What Asset Operations Management Means for Operations Teams