The standard ISO 55000 defines an Asset as an
‘…item, thing or entity that has potential or actual value to an organisation’.
It goes on to define Asset Management as
‘...coordinated activity of an organisation to realise value from assets’.
Therefore, it can be argued that asset management is not concerned with the asset per se, but on the value that the asset provides to the organisation and its key stakeholders.
Guests are stakeholders.
As a theme park operator, your assets are your rides and your key stakeholders are typically company shareholders, regulators and, perhaps most importantly, your guests.
The primary objective of any theme park is to provide its guests with a fantastic experience created by its rides. This experience needs to be delivered safely, with consistently high-quality service and be financially viable.
The guest experience is eroded when a ride is closed or when guests see a ride malfunction, especially after queuing for some time.
Public perception.
Public perception of risk has shifted. Due to the immediate impact of social media, theme parks are now, more than ever, exposed to the reputational damage arising from adverse or negative public opinion. Ride failure through breakdown, downtime or, incident, none of which need to be safety related, will be news on the internet in real time and can’t be deleted!
Theme park operators that fail to correctly consider the holistic impact of asset management decision making may be at risk of being considerably affected by:
- Poor ride performance that could adversely affect the company in terms of regulatory or statutory penalties, loss of reputation and business and increased scrutiny of the company;
- Extensive downtime for maintenance, etc. resulting in poor guest experience;
- Increased health or safety risks to personnel and guests;
- Increased expenditure due to insufficient planning and predictive maintenance.
Rides are assets.
Rides are assets. They can be complex systems of many individual components and sub-systems. Any ride assessment needs to consider the entire ride life cycle – from planning and purchasing, installation and commissioning, operating and maintaining and ultimately, the decommissioning or replacement of the ride.
Across the sector, many operators excel in the planning and commissioning parts of the ride life cycle. However, some operators may find it difficult to “asset manage” a ride through its operating and decommissioning stages.
Invest in asset management.
Park operators will benefit from investing time and money into their ride (asset) management systems. To get best value, investment should initially be made into incremental changes to the ride documentation, maintenance procedures and record keeping.
An asset health check should ask a series of key questions, including but not limited to:
- Does the park preventative maintenance scheme record all electrical, mechanical and functional test result data?
- Does your system ‘trend’ this data to allow you to predict possible future equipment failure?
- Does your system fully record and log all reactive maintenance tasks, including the nature of the fault, and details of any replacement components used?
- Does the park maintain a documented log of all faults together with remedial action taken?
- Does the management system analyse any re-occurring faults?
- Is fault data used to review preventive action to eliminate further re-occurrence?
- Is historical data used to determine the spares that you hold?
Finch can assist.
Based on the depth and breadth of our expertise in the leisure sector, along with nearly 30 years in other industries including mining, energy, waste, food and pharmaceuticals, Finch has developed an asset management service that can assist you to realise and protect the value from your rides, as well as help extend their working lives.
Although the most value is gained by using an asset management system at park level, the Finch asset management service can also add real value and has been shown to be effective at an individual ride level.
If you experience the following ride problems, it may be time to discuss an asset management programme with Finch.
- Reactive maintenance activities are increasing downtime and reducing ride availability;
- You can’t demonstrate trends in component failure and replacement;
- You want to extend ride life but you’re not sure if you can do this safely or economically.
The Finch asset management programme includes a ride gap analysis that will consider several variables including:
- Historical and predicted asset condition, deterioration and failure mechanisms;
- Uncertainty in data, knowledge and planning;
- Predicted life cycle costs & life span;
- Financial and resource capabilities or constraints;
- Legal, regulatory and statutory requirements.
If you want to protect the return on your investment or extend the revenue generated from an aged ride, please talk with Finch for more guidance.
