ABSTRACT
The risks inherent in asset management are coming under ever greater scrutiny. Because of increasing competition, how well companies manage assets becomes an additional market differentiator as companies strive to create value and thrive in a global marketplace. There are four basic groups of business assets: financial, human, intellectual, and physical. For many years, successful businesses have managed the first three well, but in recent years businesses recognized that managing physical assets is the next improvement opportunity. The term asset management has emerged to describe the process of managing a business’s physical assets. In the broad sense, asset management is managing physical assets from the cradle to the grave. Over this life cycle, maintenance is responsible for managing risk during the physical assets’ productive life. This chapter will explore the issue of risk management in maintenance and describe a number of effective methods to help assess and manage risk.
