Investigation of asset management practices in airports

Abstract

Asset management in the facilities management phase is crucial for improving performance and ensuring sustainable use of assets in facilities. It involves tracking assets and carrying out maintenance, repair, and replacement activities throughout the asset lifecycle, including planning, procurement, operation, maintenance, and disposal. Organizations with a high operational focus must effectively manage their capital and processes to ensure profitability. These businesses encounter a range of challenges as a result of operating and sustaining expensive, complex assets. Since each building type has complex characteristics and varying maintenance demands, developing a standardized management system for different building assets can pose challenges. Airports are one of these complex facilities, making it difficult to manage and track numerous different assets. Airport assets require a deep understanding and expertise in efficient management due to their highly specialized nature and strict security regulations and compliance requirements. Additionally, the volume of traffic and security risks directly impact asset utilization. There are limited studies in the literature that comprehensively address asset management topics. Most studies focus on a limited part of the asset lifecycle. These studies typically concentrate on asset maintenance and repair while neglecting other stages of the asset lifecycle. Other studies only examine the financial aspects of assets. Studies conducted in airports generally related the facility management and examined the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) with asset and facility management. These studies emphasize the potential advantages of BIM, including enhanced collaboration, stakeholder involvement, smart data utilization, and cost reduction in airport asset management. However, a comprehensive study that examines a wide range of aspects, such as asset records, digital tools used, maintenance and repair operations, asset service levels, financial evaluation of assets, risk analysis of assets, standards in asset management used at airports, performance indicators, and challenges, is not within the author's knowledge. The mentioned topics have been researched in the literature, and their place in asset management has been examined. The aim of this research is to examine the approaches used in airport asset management, identify critical assets, highlight similarities and differences, identify difficulties encountered in airport asset management, and provide recommendations to airport operators based on these data. In this regard, case studies were conducted in four different airports. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers responsible for airport asset management, and documents were collected. The examined airports are operated by an international airport management company. They are part of a holding company that includes a construction company specializing in airport construction. The selection of airport cases was based on size and location criteria to provide a diverse sample. Data collection techniques included interviews with key personnel responsible for asset management and document analysis of relevant reports and policies. The asset management approaches were examined from both technical and financial perspectives in the interviews. The following questions were asked: 1) Do you have an asset management plan, and if yes, how is it implemented and how are assets classified? Do you use any digital tools for this purpose? (2) Are you aware of any asset management standards, and are you using them? 3) Which assets are considered critical and monitored closely to prevent any downtime? 4) What are the parameters for Level of Service (LOS) of the assets (e.g. safety, customer satisfaction, cost, capacity), and how do you measure it? 5) How do you perform a risk assessment for airport assets? 6) What database are you using to register assets? 7) Which Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are tracked to evaluate the performance of the assets? 8) How do you financially evaluate the assets? 9) What are the challenges in asset management at Airports? Six online interviews were conducted at various times, with each interview lasting an average of one and a half hours. Each interviewee is an expert in their field with at least ten years of experience. The study employed a cross-case analysis approach to compare findings among cases, identify patterns and themes, and determine the critical assets, challenges, best practices, and lessons learned based on the responses. To ensure the accuracy of the findings, interviews, project documents, and participant observations were collected and triangulated. The study enhanced the repeatability and reliability of the research by developing a case study protocol and database for the cases. The study examined airport asset management practices by analyzing four case studies. It highlighted the importance of extracting and listing critical assets and recording, classifying, storing, and using asset data in databases. The study also explored digital tools such as CMMS-ERP for asset management and emphasized the need for tool compatibility to avoid interoperability issues. Furthermore, the research focused on asset maintenance and repair processes and highlighted the benefits of implementing a unified platform, such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), for efficient asset information management. The integration of BIM and the Internet of Things (IoT) was found to enable real-time asset monitoring, predictive maintenance, and remote diagnostics, leading to improved maintenance efforts and operational efficiency at airports. Moreover, the study also discussed the role of mobile devices in enhancing the integration of the site team into the asset management system, facilitating data retrieval, informed decision-making, and collaboration among maintenance stakeholders. An efficient spare parts management plan was also deemed crucial for uninterrupted execution of maintenance and repair activities. Furthermore, the study revealed that larger airports prefer powerful-enterprise tools for maintenance, while smaller airports prefer more cost-effective internal programs due to their simpler infrastructure and limited budget. The analysis emphasized the importance of measuring the availability and utilization of critical systems and achieving target values to enhance the level of service (LOS) for airport assets. User feedback and adherence to ISO standards were found to positively influence the LOS levels. Key performance indicators (KPIs) and targets were highlighted as significant factors in achieving efficient airport asset management. Finally, the study recommended the adoption of a tool for calculating the life cycle costs of assets to address the lack of evaluation methodology for asset purchases and the absence of information about the total cost of ownership. By leveraging BIM, IoT, and total cost of ownership (TCO) calculations, airports can optimize maintenance costs, improve financial planning, and enhance asset valuation and risk assessment, leading to informed financial decisions and improved overall financial performance. The study identified a gap in asset-based risk analysis and proposed the implementation of an asset-based risk assessment approach and risk heat maps for effective risk mitigation. The combination of BIM and IoT was suggested as a solution for early risk detection and proactive risk management, helping airports minimize disruptions and financial losses while ensuring asset reliability. The absence of clear standards or guidelines for airport asset management was highlighted as a potential issue, leading to ineffective management, misalignment with strategic objectives, reduced compliance, and compromised safety. Implementing ISO 55000 standards was recommended to establish a robust framework for effective decision-making, resource optimization, and risk mitigation, ultimately improving operational performance and passenger experience. Employee awareness and training programs were essential for successful ISO 55000 implementation. The study's findings offer valuable insights into the current practices and challenges in airport asset management. These findings can serve as a foundation for academicians to develop frameworks and system architectures that address the identified challenges. Moreover, practitioners can utilize the study's findings to enhance their asset management processes in airports, implementing the recommended solutions and improving overall efficiency. Future studies could expand the scope beyond the selected airports and include a more diverse set of airports to increase the generalizability of the findings. It would also be beneficial to investigate further the integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for asset management, with an emphasis on real-time monitoring, predictive maintenance, enhanced performance analysis, communication, coordination, and resource allocation.