Mutual Energy achieve Global Standard for Asset Management through ISO 55001 certification

We carried out a Gap Analysis of both the gas and electricity businesses, and set about providing additional support services including the development of an improvement programme and training.  ME has long term contracts in place with principal contractors, who provide maintenance services to the existing (Moyle) electricity interconnector and gas pipeline assets.  The two contractors (Siemens and SGN respectively) participated in the initiative alongside MEL staff.

In addition to the ISO55001 gap analysis, a gap analysis was undertaken against the relevant subjects of the GFMAM landscape (’39 subjects’) and the findings were used to develop an improvement plan that included both putting in place the missing management system elements of ISO 55001, and targeting opportunities identified from an ‘asset management excellence’ model based on the IAM’s maturity guidelines.

The recommended solution built on the existing strengths of the gas business (which had in place a thorough but conventional integrity focused management system) and the electricity business which had more advanced long-term strategic planning thinking in place, including a draft SAMP.

Opportunities were identified to improve efficiency, by putting in place better processes, and for improving asset knowledge capture. The proposals allowed for ME to move forward as a knowledgeable asset owner, and to take greater ownership of long-term strategy and risk management through a clear ‘line of sight’ planning approach.  Proposals were scoped (including costs and benefits) and presented as a paper which was approved by the organisation’s executive Risk Committee.

Ongoing support from Woodhouse has included providing training to ME staff and facilitation of targeted workshops to identify and manage significant risks.

The scope of services has been flexible to fit with the needs and priorities of the client on a call-off basis.  As additional services, we have so far facilitated an asset health review of the Moyle Interconnector, supporting the development of long-term strategies and plans, and improving risk management.

We have also facilitated a review of strategic spare transformer requirements using Woodhouse DST decision support tools and provided technical guidance and advice in the preparation of asset management core documentation, including the SAMP and management system.

The Woodhouse Academy provided scheduled training and education to enable some staff to qualify to IAM Certificate’ level, and to support internal auditing of asset management.

In addition, we supported;

• Process and SAMP development – these are at the heart of the current initiative at MEL.  Woodhouse has significant experience in supporting clients in this area and we led the production of IAM guidance on these topics.
• Organisational roles and responsibilities – this was an area covered in our initial gap analysis and needed to be reviewed taking into account particularly the expansion of the gas business and the need to develop the long term asset management strategy.
• Communication and awareness improvement – the contract included training and communication for asset management.
• AM Risk framework – the work has included the identification of asset related risk and building a systematic risk management approach.
• Assurance – the contract included enabling the organisation to carry out internal auditing.  Woodhouse has provided training to many organisations for this purpose, including the BSI.
• Asset information – this has not been a major part of the work to date, though it was reviewed and included in our initial gap analysis and used to define the requirements for the new Enterprise Asset Management System (EAMS).
• AM Plan execution – this is delivered at ME via service agreements.  It is intended to review the process management in this area, in an effort to identify any potential process improvements.