The 5C model : a new approach to asset integrity management

As organizations grow more complex in operation and more global in scope, assets and technical integrity become key success factors. A company's asset integrity business process needs to be mapped in order to 1) provide a proper overview of operation and business processes, 2) identify all critical interfaces and 3) ensure that all gaps and overlap in processes are eliminated. Achieving asset integrity requires companies to sustain their activities and identify the hazards, weaknesses and objectives of their strategic assets. Technical integrity emphasizes a complete overview of technical conditions and related information, and the ability of the companies to document the technical state of its assets. It is based on an integrated view of the current state of operations, and the identification of all critical interfaces, in order to ensure that all gaps and unnecessary overlaps in processes are eliminated. Companies look increasingly at their asset integrity management system as a means to extend the life of their assets, beyond the original design conditions and production capacity. Establishing an asset integrity management system requires the documentation of the company’s technical integrity management, a strategy and the processes for carrying it out, identifying gaps; selecting corrective interventions and conducting follow up actions. The paper will discuss various aspects of asset integrity management, including its planning and implementation. We begin with an introduction to asset technical integrity, provide some theoretical backgrounds, present a model we call 5C and conclude with a summary and discussion.