The Woodhouse Partnership Ltd (TWPL)
Delivering Pragmatic Solutions for Better Asset Management

Norman Haggie, the General Manager of Woodhouse Partnership North America, says: “Effective cost management for a utility's assets is crucial for both consumers and businesses. While European utilities have been benefiting from a structured approach to asset management since the mid-1990s, which has now been adapted by major utilities in South America, asset management in the US remains an undervalued and misunderstood concept. It is often confused with asset health or mistaken as an IT solution like Artificial Intelligence.”

Mr Haggie continued: “Even though asset management initiatives encompass both IT and asset health, an asset management approach requires a structured management framework to be in place to productively use those elements. Unfortunately, due to this confusion, it is difficult for businesses to focus on developing or understanding the importance of grounding their organization in asset management principles and to construct that framework. Consequently, many companies do not realize the full value of their investment in technology and software.”

Woodhouse North America, a subsidiary of the global asset management company, has been providing these services for the past 30 years. The company serves a variety of industries, including manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and infrastructure, and operates across Australia and New Zealand, the Middle East, China, Africa, and all of Europe. As Haggie explains, "We are strategic consultants and advisors in the asset management field." The company brings a vast array of multi-industry experience to share with its clients. Its team has at least 20 years' experience in the real world of hard knocks learnt from real-life situations.

Woodhouse North America works with organizations to assist in their transformation based on asset management principles that are laid out in ISO 55001. They initiate this usually by providing training at all levels, from executive briefings to frontline staff, so there is a clear understanding of the development of the asset management framework. This training is often followed with a structured assessment (using the ISO 55001 requirements and guidance from the Institute of Asset Management, IAM) of the current status of the organization's approaches to making asset management decisions (spending decisions). These assessment results would form the basis for an improvement roadmap.

Mr. Haggie said, ‘Woodhouse North America provides expert, pragmatic guidance and analysis tools to align an organization's asset decision processes towards a lifecycle spending program that involves the reliability and risk environment shown to be necessary for that organization's assets, enabling them to function at the needed reliability level yet constrained by the organization's financial and risk profile.

The business can then optimize their operations and maximize their return on investment”.

Woodhouse Partnership has created a decision-making framework known as the SALVO process. This process is made up of a set of robust procedures that evaluate and combine decisions related to the management of assets throughout their lifecycle. There is an extensive toolbox of recommended best practices, analysis aids, guidance, and templates. Additionally, they offer their clients decision support software tool (DST) that assist in the SALVO decision process. This tool supports the organization’s decisions efforts while providing the necessary documentation of those decisions. This proprietary software is unique to Woodhouse and has proven to be effective globally.

Mr. Haggie said that “Woodhouse prioritizes their clients' needs and aligns their asset management transformation with them. Their goal is to provide clarity for clients who want to initiate, expand, or go beyond excellence in asset management practices by focusing on the critical aspects involved in determining when, how, and how much should be spent on managing their assets”. He explained, “Before performing any on-site visits, they first conduct conversations with the client to understand their needs and motivations. Their relationship with their clients is usually long-term, and they remain as trusted advisors and remain in contact. They never approach clients with a pre-determined solution as each company requires a unique approach and every company has many "pockets of excellence" that can be enhanced and expanded”.

We aim to support organizations on their journey to asset management excellence, shorten the learning curve and ensure successful, pragmatic, sustainable implementations

Woodhouse recently worked with GEB, a multi-Latin group that has been in operation for 125 years throughout the energy chain in Latin America. They embarked on a 4-year program in 2019 to improve their asset management capabilities and introduce new concepts, practices, and methodologies based on the IAM guidelines and an Asset Management System based on ISO 55001. In 2022, GEB conformed to all the requirements of ISO 55001, a year ahead of schedule.

GEB provided this statement: “After a long selection process, we opted for Woodhouse to help us in a process of organizational transformation, a process that went through diagnosis, roadmap establishment, business case and implementation support. The process has led us satisfactorily to obtain excellent technical and economic benefits, achieving ISO 55001 Certification and different recognitions including the Asset Management Achievement Award (IAM 2022).” Eduardo Ortiz Asset Management Project Manager

Norman concluded, “As long-time enthusiasts for the advancement of Asset Management, support of the IAM and continually upgrading our leading-edge knowledge of this field, we are always willing to hear and share with clients our wealth of knowledge and experience. We aim to support organizations on their journey to asset management excellence, shorten the learning curve and ensure successful implementation.”