|
 Part
numbering for asset management
by R.T. “Chris” Christensen
One of the major problems
that we face in tracking our maintenance cost is determined by this
question, “What do I call the machine that I am working on?” This seems
like an easy question to answer but it is not. Defining the machine and
what machine is what for cost control is one of the most difficult tasks
that you will face in controlling the operation of the equipment and
managing by the cost of operation and maintenance.
Basically what we need to do
is to understand the accounting reasons for managing the equipment.
These reasons are to
determine:
• Machine acquisition cost to calculate depreciation
for tax purposes
• Machine maintenance costs to calculate operations
costs for tax purposes
• Machine costs to calculate operations costs
• Economic life of the equipment
• Cash flow management
The information provided
here is required to manage the business but are not necessarily related
to the maintenance management of the organization. As maintenance people
we need to learn to talk in accounting terms so that our cost control
maintenance issues can be easily rolled up into the information needed
in dollar terms that the accountant can use.
Base numbers: what is
this thing?
From the maintenance side we have several ways to identify the piece of
equipment. The most frequently used format is to use the asset number
that was assigned to the piece of equipment at the time it was initially
purchased. But this gets interesting. The asset number is one that meets
the needs of the purchase order that for accounting purposes defines the
piece of equipment – but not for the maintenance side. Lets look at an
air handling unit.
When that air handler was
purchased it may have been assigned a single asset number and all costs
are rolled up in that. So there is only one asset number that we will
call 437. But this 437 unit is made up of pumps, compressors, hot
sections, cold sections, ducting, motors, chillers, environment
purification sections. From a maintenance point of view we refer to the
components of the major piece of equipment and not the air handler as a
single piece of equipment. Maintenance is concerned with the components
of the air handler.
We maintain the piece of
equipment at the component level. What maintenance needs to do is too
look at the equipment and break it down into sections that are logical
for the maintenance function. On all these different sections, we have
different preventative maintenance schedules, maintenance requirements,
service life, rebuild or replace cycles that while all this in the total
system; the various component requirements cause us to manage the
components differently. So from a maintenance side we set up part
numbers or maintenance asset numbers so that we can control the
maintenance portion of the equipment. And this number that we use means
absolutely nothing to the accounting side of the business.
What is needed here is a
means of identification to control and manage the asset that will solve
the needs of both the accounting function and the maintenance needs.
Break out the components
The first thing that needs to be done is that maintenance needs to
access the piece of equipment and determine where the component breaks
are in the system. Where does the chiller stop and fan section start? Is
the fan part of the chiller or is it a different piece of equipment?
We need to determine this
for all the maintenance reasons that we mentioned above. We also need to
do this so that we can manage the groups of equipment. We need to be
able to group all the fans together, all the compressors, all the
chillers and other similar pieces of equipment so that we can, in fact,
institute a functional preventive, proactive maintenance plan that
focuses on the special needs of the families of equipment. This way you
can group all motors together to perform noise, vibration, infrared
analysis of all motors and you can contract for the management for the
inventory management for these parts. This makes sense to you in
maintenance, but not at all to the accounting people who are managing by
the asset number.
How do we manage this? As
maintenance, we need to recognize the accounting asset number for all
the cost control and cost benefits that affects both of us. But we
cannot use that number to manage the asset. Here is what you can do.
The base plus system
We use the asset number as the base number of the asset and then add
alpha/numeric characters to this to be able to differentiate the unit.
So my 437 gets additional numbers added to it: It becomes a 437ABCD. Now
accounting can add up all the information they need at the 437 base
level. What I do in maintenance is also add what is called a
semi-indicative part number to the 437 so that I can identify the
component parts ranked in descending order by category class and type.
The “A” field is generally
used to identify category, as in 1 means motor, 2 means compressor, 3
means the part is a chiller, and so on. The “B” is to identify class
such as 1 is open frame, 2 is TIFC, 3 is explosion-proof, etc. The next
field “C” is type such as the 1 is a 1/2-hp motor, 2 is a 1-hp motor, 3
is a 2-hp motor, etc. The field “D” is a sequential number that
represents the next item of that type that we bought.
For example a motor on this
air handler could be a 4371225. This means that this was purchased on
the 437 and is a “1”, motor, “2” TIFC, “2” 1 hp and it is the fifth
motor of this type that we own. We can move this motor around and can
control the cost factor with no problem.
If I take this motor off the
air handler I know how much money I have in the motor. If I then rebuild
it and have a new cost associated with it, I can then put it into
another piece of equipment and add that cost to that machine because I
can trace where it went and I know where it came from.
I can further add a
serialized bar coded license plate to the back of this asset number and
I can now encapsulate the entire history of the particular motor
electronically.
I have now merged the
accounting asset number into a maintenance-useable number and also am
able to build the cost factor up for both my maintenance use and the
needs of the bean counters up in admin.
Neat way to do it. If you
have a variant on this system or a completely different one, let me know
how you do it.
R.T. “Chris” Christensen
is Emeritus Faculty at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and is
Emeritus Director of Operations and Maintenance Management Certificate
Programs at the Universities Executive Education Department in the
School of Business. Contact Coach Christensen at 262-613-0073
E-mail:
crchristensen1958@wi.rr.com.
This article appeared in the
December 2006/January 2007 issue of MRO Today magazine.
Copyright 2006.
Back
to top
Back to MRO Coach archives
|
