In many asset-intensive industries, maintenance and asset management are still viewed as overhead rather than opportunity. The result? Ongoing value loss that’s often invisible… until it’s not.
Organizations hesitate to invest in asset management due to cost concerns. Ironically, this leads to higher costs over time: reactive maintenance, production losses, overtime labour, and increased safety risk.
Companies remain reactive without foundational work processes, practices and competencies, including elements like criticality, asset strategies, and optimized PMs. They spend more time firefighting than improving. And executives miss the connection between asset performance and business performance.
So why the resistance?
- Short-term focus on immediate cost savings
- Lack of visibility into performance data and ROI
- Cultural silos, where maintenance has no voice in strategic decisions
- Technical debt built up over years of neglect
The companies that break this cycle don’t do it all at once—they start small, focus on high-impact areas, and build momentum. They:
- Elevate asset management as a strategic lever
- Invest in the foundations
- Build core capabilities around data, risk, and planning
- Track and communicate results that matter to the business
Every day without investment is another day of hidden value erosion.
But with leadership, focus, and the right approach, companies can shift from reactive cost centers to proactive value creators.
Let’s stop treating maintenance as a necessary evil and instead see it as a competitive advantage.
