Assets in Operation

Starting as a graduate engineer at Western Bay Council in 2010 I began my role as Utilities Asset Engineer Drainage. The structure of the Utilities department was undergoing changes with the operations and maintenance areas of Utilities coming back in-house after being managed by a Professional Service Provider (PSP). During the transition a new Drainage Field Engineer and Operations Manager were appointed. Interestingly the remaining Utilities staff (numbering 20) had all transferred from the PSP.

With the change in staff both in the Operations and Maintenance team (Operations team) and Asset team there was a loss of valuable historical knowledge. Communication between the two teams was not clearly defined resulting in communication breakdowns. As a result of this I experienced several issues with gaining information to prepare my Asset Management Plan’s (AMPs).

This paper explores the difficulties experienced, methods used to overcome them and the importance of an integrated approach between different sectors within the Utilities team at Council to achieve our Levels of Service (LOS). The requirement of a cohesive team is becoming more apparent to achieve the LOS as the economic climate becomes tighter and we are required to push our assets to the limit and clearly justify all capital expenditure.

I am sure this situation is familiar to other Councils throughout New Zealand and will be a contentious issue going forward.