U.S. Navy Uses an EMS to Improve Asset Management

Purchasing an EMS program off the shelf was not the end of the planning process, however. The Navy realized that the EMS couldn’t simply be used as a more efficient way to conduct business as usual; it had to change the way it did business.

“They understand if you are going to make an investment in a software program, that program and the data it contains become an asset,” says Russ Watson, a national account manager for MACTEC Engineering and Consulting, Inc. “That asset has to be managed as well.”

They needed to determine who owns the process, how it is going to be updated, who is going to keep it current, and how it ties to their projects and their decision framework.

“Before you invest in a costly assessment or inventory, understand the roadmap by which all the information is going to be implemented,” cautions Watson. “A lot of it calls for process reengineering, standardization among sites, and breaking down silos.”

As part of their internal business case analysis, the Navy recognized early that a comprehensive, up-front inventory of every facility in the inventory would exceed current budget constraints. The first phase of implementation was to parametrically model its entire inventory. A third-party software application called PACES was used to generate an inventory of over 3.5 million building assets. The modeled inventory was based on limited data describing the inventory such as function use, category code, building area, number of floors above and below grade, and the building age For example, an administrative building constructed in 1958 will likely have a certain kind of heating system and a specific number of water heaters.

Once the Navy established a modeled baseline inventory, they refined the models at each facility based on historical data, local knowledge, and visual surveys to validate as-built conditions. Going forward, the inventory will be further validated during routine preventative maintenance inspections and detailed inspections of selected buildings. The buildings selected for detailed inspection will be determined by evaluating metrics such as mission dependency, system criticality, age, remaining service life, and plant replacement.

“I might have a base with 182 buildings, but only 62 of them are mission critical,” explains Watson. “Within the 62, any one of them might have only two or three systems that are really critical to the success of that facility. Aside from that I am willing to accept the modeled inventory and associated investment analysis results”

Vertex is fully integrated with MAXIMO, the Navy’s computerized maintenance management system, which tracks, schedules, and reports on emergency repairs, preventive and planned maintenance. MAXIMO and Vertex share data so that duplication of data entry is minimized. As work is planned based on analyses run in Vertex, work orders can be automatically created in MAXIMO. When the work is completed, and the work order is closed in MAXIMO, the inventory and condition data in Vertex is automatically updated. With both products sharing data, a real time life cycle management program can be established.

“Without significant up front investment, the Navy is able to get their arms around what they own, what condition it is in, what is the remaining useful service life, and what are the critical systems that support the mission,” says Watson. “When they have that, they can quickly identify funding requirements that are consistent with the overall objectives of the organization.”

L.W.