PAS-55 - Specification for the Optimized Management of Physical Assets

AM Foundational Thinking Miniseries

This installment of the Foundational Thinking miniseries covers the British Standards Institution (BSI) – Publicly Available Specification (PAS) – 55: Specification for the Optimized Management of Physical Assets first published in 2004 and updated in 2008. Credit for development of this standard goes to the Institute of Asset Management (IAM), that was introduced in an earlier newsletter.

The origin of PAS-55 can be traced back to various interested parties who recognized the need of a “common language” for asset management. These interested parties included forward looking individuals who worked in the oil and gas, utilities, transportation, and manufacturing sectors in and around the United Kingdom (U.K.). The IAM, which primarily operated in the U.K. at the time serving these industries recognized a need for leadership in this area.

To the IAM’s credit, it also recognized that leadership required input from many perspectives to include asset owners, regulators, suppliers, service pr…