Asset fleet management in the process industry - a conceptual model

Fleet Management is widely known from vehicle fleet management. However, this term is not elaborated in more detail for the management of asset fleets in the process industries. Since the challenges and the potential advantages are similar, a conceptual approach for fleet management in the process industry is developed.

A participatory approach and the Soft Systems Methodology are used for the model development. The interests of various stakeholders have been identified and the scope for fleet management has been defined, the requirements for a fleet management system have been derived.

The developed model focuses on adding the fleet perspective to the perception of assets in an industrial setting. Advanced prognosis and optimization technology combined with a partly centralized and de-centralized management of assets may be able to improve the reliability and the operational performance of the process industry in the future.

The main contribution of this paper is the application of the fleet approach for assets in the process industry. The developed model utilizes experience and knowledge from different stakeholders. A holistic view of fleets in the process industry is given. The components of the conceptual model are depicted and the description of the overall system may be used as an outline for the subsequent implementation and further improvement of the fleet management model.