Managing physical assets is about dealing with risks over the lifecycle of assets. However Asset Management is often misunderstood: not realizing that it is also a way of thinking that involves the organization and business as a whole. During my more than 25 years’ maintenance experience, I have observed how Maintenance Management transcends into Asset Management without any effective adjustment to the structure, strategy or mindset of an organization. I observed, more than once, cases where production managers (often appointed as Asset Manager) did not discuss subjects such as risk based strategies and business requirements with their maintenance counterpart and technical specialists. I have even witnessed organizations where it seemed that they had opposite concerns and where they were fighting each other about details. Another custom often seen is that fully outsourced maintenance contracts are based on cost (pursuing a reduction of Operational and Capital Expenditure) rather than the continuity of the Asset function (pursuing business continuity by an increased risk predictability and shared responsibility of risk mitigation). These are just two of many examples. But they are typical for organizations who are unable to embrace Asset Management in its full extent in order to benefit from its potential: G...