Asset Management Council

Webinar - Squirrel Stores - why do they exist and options for removal
2026-02-26 12:00 - 13:00 (Australia/Melbourne) | Online – Register to be sent your link
A “squirrel store” is, as the name suggests, a store of spares kept outside the main stores system and warehousing program. These stores are not measured or controlled for quantity and, depending on storage practices, may also be lacking in quality. The use of spares from these stores remains a hidden cost and can mask the true cost of maintaining plant and equipment.
There are many reasons squirrel stores come into being. These will be discussed, along with how these extraneous stores can be eliminated.
The webinar will also cover real-world examples and solutions that may assist others in addressing the issue of squirrel stores.
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About the speaker: Tanya Viano is currently taking a hiatus from engineering. She holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and a Master of Maintenance and Reliability Engineering. Tanya has spent 30 years working in industry, predominantly in the oil and gas sector, in roles across projects and operations, and as a consultant. This has given her a wealth of experience. Tanya is passionate about reliability and asset management, and she led the Enhanced Problem Solving Team within QGC (Shell), which tackled some of the most difficult reliability issues in the business. As a result, Tanya was awarded a Shell Global Excellence Award for replicating the process across QGC.

This session forms the first in a webinar series presented by MRiAM – Challenges Associated with Spares Management During the Operational Phase – Webinar Series. In 2024, MRiAM presented a webinar series on managing spares, including guidance on quantities and related considerations. Since then, several forums have raised questions and prompted discussion about how to manage spares once they have been identified in the maintenance system and warehoused during the operational phase of a project. There has also been growing interest in related topics such as managing obsolete spares, “squirrel stores”, and maintaining spares holdings. The objective of this series is to address these topics and provide practical solutions from speakers who have identified these issues and can share proven approaches. Registering for this session will register you for all four sessions in the series.

Webinar - Spares Analysis Process Review Supporting Capital Investment Program
2026-03-12 12:00 - 13:00
The review of the Capital Program Spares Assessment process identified significant gaps that led to incorrect outputs and, at times, incomplete assessments. These issues resulted in inadequate spares being handed over at project completion, placing additional pressure on Operations and Maintenance teams to identify and procure requirements post-handover, causing delays and increased operational costs.
To address these shortcomings, the process needed to be redesigned to improve:

accuracy
consistency
accountability.

Integrating reliability engineering principles and clarifying team responsibilities were critical to strengthening decision-making.
The objective is to establish a framework that enhances asset performance, reduces operational risk, and supports cost-effective outcomes across capital projects.
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Ian is Lead – Reliability Engineering for the Water Corporation of Western Australia. He has been at the Water Corporation WA for over 14 years concentrating in the reliability engineering and management. He has 38 years industry experience involving paper manufacturing and packaging, food manufacturing and packaging and water utility industries covering the following asset management functions: reliability engineering and management; tactical and strategic asset maintenance management; maintenance and operations support, and process optimisation. Ian is an accredited Engineer with the Engineering Council UK and an Affiliate of the Australian Asset Management Council of Australia, Institute of Plant Engineers and Society of Operation Engineers in the UK.

Kevin is a Chartered Professional Engineer with 17+ years in asset management and reliability. He has an FMCG background with responsibility for maintenance, project delivery, and process optimisation. He has spent five years at Water Corporation responsible for improving asset health and reliability, and is responsible for condition monitoring, capability assessments, compliance strategies, spares analysis, and root cause analysis.

This session forms the third in a webinar series presented by MRiAM – Challenges Associated with Spares Management During the Operational Phase – Webinar Series. In 2024, MRiAM presented a webinar series on managing spares, including guidance on quantities and related considerations. Since then, several forums have raised questions and prompted discussion about how to manage spares once they have been identified in the maintenance system and warehoused during the operational phase of a project. There has also been growing interest in related topics such as managing obsolete spares, “squirrel stores”, and maintaining spares holdings. The objective of this series is to address these topics and provide practical solutions from speakers who have identified these issues and can share proven approaches. Registering for this session will register you for all four sessions in the series.

Webinar - Spares Management through Project Transition Phase
2026-03-19 12:00 - 13:00
The webinar focuses on some of the typical challenges faced by Asset Engineers, Reliability & Maintenance Engineers, Maintenance Managers and Maintenance staff associated with Spares Management during the project transition phase into the project operation and maintenance phase.
The webinar will explore some of the key elements during this phase of a project and highlight a number of pivotal activities and drivers for successful spares management through the project transition phase including;

Contract Type – Understanding the framework and type of service contract as it will impact your Spares Management strategy i.e., PPP, Comprehensive, Pass- Through etc.
Risk Based Methodology – ensuring that there is an integrated approach to contract risk such as KPI’s, Financial, Reputation, WHS&E.
Project Phase – Which stage of the project lifecycle are you at?
Stakeholders – have you identified who the key stakeholders are for spares management,
Spares Selection – What level of maturity has been undertaken in relation to Spares requirements and associated analysis using FMECA, RAMS or other process?
Type of Site – Different spares management strategies for Greenfield Sites v Brownfield Sites
Multiple Storage Locations – How do you optimize effective Spares Storage with multiple storage facilities and multiple work sites?
Inventory Management – Selection of suitable process i.e., part of the CMMS?

Spares Procurement Lead Time – challenges with alignment to Asset Performance requirements.
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Craig is the principle of Casmat Engineering a Facility & Asset Management Company providing a range of inspection, maintenance, auditing and technical consultancy services to companies in Australia and New Zealand over the last 32 years. He has multidisciplined skills across a variety of industries including Defence, Water & Sewage Treatment, Power Stations, Prisons, Construction, Health Sector, Educational Sector and the built environment. The services he provides to industry include asset management strategy; inspection, auditing and reporting; management of performance tests; asset lifecycle strategy; development of operation and maintenance strategy and cost modeling; and industrial maintenance services. Craig has a trade background and is a Charted Professional Engineer with areas of practice in Mechanical Engineering and Asset Management. He is a member of the Asset Management Council and a CAMA to ISO55001 and a member of the AMC special interest group, MRiAM.

This session forms the fourth and final in a webinar series presented by MRiAM – Challenges Associated with Spares Management During the Operational Phase – Webinar Series. In 2024, MRiAM presented a webinar series on managing spares, including guidance on quantities and related considerations. Since then, several forums have raised questions and prompted discussion about how to manage spares once they have been identified in the maintenance system and warehoused during the operational phase of a project. There has also been growing interest in related topics such as managing obsolete spares, “squirrel stores”, and maintaining spares holdings. The objective of this series is to address these topics and provide practical solutions from speakers who have identified these issues and can share proven approaches. Registering for this session will register you for all four sessions in the series.

Webinar - Managing Spares for Corrective Maintenance, Preventative Maintenance and End-of-Life
2026-03-26 12:00 - 13:00
Spare parts play a pivotal role in sustaining equipment reliability and availability, a fact that becomes obvious during both corrective and preventative maintenance activities. When spares are well‑managed and strategically utilised, maintenance work becomes faster, more effective, and more predictable — delivering measurable improvements in reliability, availability, and overall cost performance.
This session will explore the practical foundations of effective spare parts management across key focus areas:

Spares procurement and supplier engagement
Storage and preservation practices
Inventory holdings, control, and issuing processes
Access and availability during maintenance windows

Strong practices in these areas ensure maintenance can be completed within the shortest possible time, at optimum cost, and with minimal waste or rework.
We will also examine the challenges associated with spare parts discontinuation (obsolescence) and component end‑of‑life, which can create significant cost, risk, and engineering impacts for many facilities. The webinar will outline practical strategies to mitigate these issues to help maintain equipment availability while organisations navigate the risks of obsolescence.
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Alex Jarufe is a senior Asset Management engineer with 30 years of hands‑on experience across Australia’s heavy industries, including mining and mineral processing, oil and gas, chemical processing, water treatment, power generation, food production and agriculture. Throughout his career, Alex has held key roles spanning Strategic Asset Management, Maintenance Management, Shutdown and Turnaround Management, Maintenance and Reliability Engineering, Spare Parts Optimisation, Root Cause Failure Analysis and Defect Elimination, Maintenance Planning and Scheduling, Master Data development and Equipment Design. Alex has extensive practical experience in the identification, management and optimisation of spare parts for complex assets. His work includes developing and deploying strategies to manage obsolescence risk in critical applications, ensuring continued equipment availability and preventing major operational disruptions.

Following the conclusion of our Challenges Associated with Spares Management During the Operational Phase webinar series, we are delighted to present one additional session for those who would like to continue the discussion. This special webinar builds on the themes of the series and offers further practical insights for attendees.

Webinar - AI in Asset Management and Municipalities
2026-05-28 08:00 - 09:00
Join us to explore AI in Asset Management and Municipalities, featuring:

Dean Trumbley, Chief Administrative Officer, Greenwood, BC, and Christina Benty, Founder, Strategic Leadership Solutions, will present on their Award-Winning project. Resilient Greenwood – Building the Future Together won a Union of British Columbia Municipalities Excellence in Asset Management Award for implementation of a transformative approach to infrastructure planning by integrating strategic asset management with proactive community engagement. This forward-thinking initiative, led in partnership with Strategic Leadership Solutions and LandInfo Technologies Inc., is redefining how municipalities sustain essential services like water, roads, and waste management – and how they shift the narrative from talking about taxes to focusing on services.

Stephen Lothrop is an Electrical Engineer with PAE Engineers and leader of an AI innovation project with the Linux Foundation’s Coalition for Smarter Buildings and the Asset Leadership Network. Mr. Lothrop will outline the ways AI for Assets was introduced to the award-winning PAE headquarters building in Portland, Oregon. The building was purposefully built to publicly demonstrate advanced technology tools and processes that can advance management of all facility assets. However, the smart assets in the building were not communicating effectively with each other. The AI innovation project allowed visibility to photovoltaics charging battery storage assets in a way that improved combined use of these assets, which mimic a utility grid and is therefore advantageous beyond facility asset management. Other repeatable innovations will be shared.

Wendy McPate, Chair, Asset Management Council will provide a brief overview of her recent trip to Washington, D.C. for the Global Asset Management Summit: Repeatable Success Stories, which promoted this VBAM web series.

The presentations will be followed by a Discussion Panel with Dean Trumbley, Christina Benty, Nick Phillips, Mike Bordenaro and Wendy McPate to answer your questions!

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