Asset, Reliability & Maintenance Playbook
A Practical Guide to Integrating Strategy, Analysis and Execution
The introduction of ISO 55001 brought asset management firmly into the mainstream of management systems thinking. Yet in many organisations, a quiet gap remains.
Asset Management, Reliability Management and Maintenance Management are often treated as separate disciplines — sometimes even competing priorities — when in reality they form a single, connected operating system.
The Asset–Reliability–Maintenance Playbook reframes these three disciplines as an integrated system:
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Asset Management sets strategic direction and lifecycle priorities.
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Reliability Management translates strategy into measurable targets and improvement programs.
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Maintenance Management executes the day-to-day work that sustains asset performance.
When aligned, they create a closed loop between strategy, analysis and execution. When disconnected, organisations experience reactive decision-making, duplicated effort and under-realised asset value.
This Playbook, developed by the Living Asset Management Think Tank, provides:
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A clear explanation of how the three disciplines interrelate, Model Element Explanations and,
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Guidance on how responsibilities scale across small, medium and large organisation.s Model Element Explanations and,
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Practical focus areas across governance, data, capability and decision-making Model Element Explanations and,
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A functional mapping infographic showing how each organisational element connects to the Maintenance, Reliability, and Asset Management Model Element Explanations. Importantly, this is not a theoretical paper.
It is a practical guide for:
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Generalists in smaller organisations who need structure and SME support
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Medium-sized organisations formalising handoffs between strategy and execution
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Large organisations seeking stronger lifecycle integration and performance alignment
The Playbook translates complex lifecycle and governance concepts into concrete activities, roles and decision points, enabling teams to see where responsibilities sit and how they interact.
If your organisation is seeking to:
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Strengthen alignment between asset strategy and operational delivery
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Clarify roles across maintenance, reliability and asset functions
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Improve risk-based decision-making
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Embed lifecycle thinking into everyday operations
This document will provide a structured starting point.