Physical Assets

A patent, therefore, encourages innovation by promoting research and development. It can also be regarded as a physical asset, which can be sold or licensed to third parties for cash. Patents also represent a unique source of technical information regarding the patented product. 

PHYSICAL ASSET MONITORING AND CONTROL DEVICES Aboveground, Outdoor Equipment Enclosures... 

Mitigation The protection of people and physical assets from the effects of any remaining credible hazards through fire protection systems. 

During the hfetime of a physical asset, continuation of its use may make it a candidate for replacement. In this type of analysis, a replacement is intended to snpplant a similar item performing the same service withont plant or equipment expansion. In a chemical plant, replacement nsnally refers to a small part of the processing equipment such as a heat exchanger, filter, or compressor. If the replacement is required due to physical deterioration, there is no question of whether to replace the item, but the entire plant may be shut down if it is not replaced. The problem then becomes whether the equipment... 

Obsolescence The occurrence of decreasing value of physical assets due to technological changes rather than physical deterioration. 

The line-chemical industry embodies a complex combination of physical assets, technologies, know-how and intellectual property (IP) that are geared to commercial process development and manufacturing. As opposed to process IP, there is in general little or no product IP owned by a fine-chemical company. Since the mid-1990s the marketplace has become much more competitive with a proliferation of independent players and the emerging strength from low-cost economies (see Chapter 14). 

From a small beginning research was expanded to form three other laboratories with a combined personnel of chemists, engineers, physicists and assistants. The physical assets comprise more than 100 buildings distributed over several hundred acres. The duPont Co maintains four Development Laboratories. Two of these are concerned directly with explosives research. They are the Pomp-ton Lakes Development Laboratory near Pompton Lakes, NJ and the Potomac River Development Laboratory, near the duPont s new and modern Dynamite Plant at Martins-burg, West Virginia (Ref 6, pp7—10)... 

Faced with massive increases in the price of imported gas in combination with ineffective billing and revenue collection during the 90-s the Georgian gas sector incurred heavy domestic and foreign debts. The lack of financial resources required for rehabilitation and maintenance has led to deterioration of a large proportion of the physical assets. 

The way physical assets and resources are configured and optimized to create value and minimize losses"... 

Since all physical assets of an industrial facility decrease in value with age, it is normal practice to make periodic charges against earnings so as to distribute the first cost of the facility over its expected service life. This depreciation expense as detailed in Chap. 9, unlike most other expenses, entails no current outlay of cash. Thus, in a given accounting period, a firm has available, in addition to the net profit, additional funds corresponding to the depreciation expense. This cash is capital recovery, a partial regeneration of the first cost of the physical assets. 

An analysis of costs and profits for any business operation requires recognition of the fact that physical assets decrease in value with age. This decrease in value may be due to physical deterioration, technological advances, economic changes, or other factors which ultimately will cause retirement of the property. The reduction in value due to any of these causes is a measure of the depreciation. The economic function of depreciation, therefore, can be employed as a means of distributing the original expense for a physical asset over the period during which the asset is in use. 

Exploit hidden assets. This strategy entails applying available knowledge, assets, and skills in new ways. Over time, the chemical industry has built a broad base of non-physical assets such as brands, patents, customer information and institutional skills. Only a handful of companies, however, are trying to use these to their maximum economic potential. 

Disasters include the full range of unplanned catastrophes, from internal or external sabotage to the extreme forces of nature, like fires, tornadoes, and earthquakes that do real damage to a corporation s physical assets. Each of these occurrences presents a serious risk to an enterprise s profitability and viability. It is, therefore, essential that disaster recovery plans be well-conceived and fully supported by management. 

Step 5 Determine What You Need to Protect. An asset is anything the facility owns or employs that could possibly be exploited by a terrorist. In a chemical plant, physical assets include tanks, reactors, and warehouses. Bridges, trains, power lines, herds of cattle, and assembly lines are examples of assets in other sectors. In all sectors, people are assets, as are computer infrastructures. In the asset identification step, you need to identify everything under your control that you may need to protect. 

Finally, the mine s physical assets were removed and disposed of. All fuel, chemicals, and designated special wastes were removed and disposed of according to applicable regulations. Contaminated areas were rehabilitated. Buildings, machinery, and equipment were sold through an international firm specializing in disposal of such items. Structures not purchased for ongoing use on site were dismantled and their sites were reclaimed as wildlife habitat. 

The Scope of Maintenance and Physical Asset Management 1587 6. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT MAINTENANCE ... 

Plant and facilities engineering is a multidisciplinary field of engineering concerned with the physical infrastructure of industrial, commercial, institutional, healthcare, and business facilities. It embraces the design, installation, operation, maintenance, modification, construction, modernization, and protection of physical facilities and equipment used to produce a product or provide a service (Dunn 1997). It includes, but is not necessarily hmited to, the following areas of physical asset management ... 

Priority The process of performing maintenance and managing physical assets wiU be recognized as a top priority within successful organizations. 

Modularity Physical assets and systems will be modularly designed so that failures can be easily identified and repaired quickly. 

Obsolescence The life-cycle costs of physical assets and systems will be closely monitored, evaluated, and managed to reduce totd costs. 

Computerized maintenance management and enterprise asset management Systems that support the total maintenance operation will improve the queility of meiintenance emd physical asset management and be integrated with the overall business system of the organization. 

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