Education

Protecting the value of theme park rides

The standard ISO 55000 defines an Asset as an

‘…item, thing or entity that has potential or actual value to an organization’.

 

It goes on to define Asset Management as

‘...coordinated activity of an organization to realize value from assets’

 

Therefore, it is safe to conclude that asset management is not intended for the asset, but on the value it provides to the organization and its primary stakeholders.

 

Theme park guests are stakeholders.

As a theme park operator, your rides are your assets are while your key stakeholders are your regulators and company shareholders, but the most important are your guests.

The main objective of any theme park is to offer its guests a fantastic experience through its rides. Delivery of this experience should be safe, financially viable and with top notch service.

When a ride malfunctions or is closed, it erodes the guest experience especially after being in a queue for long.

Public perception

There has been a shift in public perception on risk. Thanks to social media, theme parks are exposed to reputational damage from negative or adverse public opinion. If your ride breaks down or experiences downtime, you will be news in real time on the internet.

Theme park operators that do not consider the impact of asset management decision making may be affected by:

  • Poor ride performance that can negatively affect the company in terms of statutory and regulatory penalties, loss of business and reputation and more scrutiny on the company
  • Poor guest experience caused by extensive downtime for theme park maintenance
  • Increased safety or health risks to guests and personnel
  • Increased expenditure due to predictive maintenance and insufficient planning.

Rides are assets

Theme park rides are assets, which can be intricate systems of many individual mechanisms and sub-systems. Any ride assessment should consider the whole ride life cycle – from purchasing and planning, commissioning and installation, maintaining and operating and finally, the replacement or decommissioning of the ride.

Across the sector, many operators excel in the planning and commissioning parts of the ride life cycle. However, some operators may find it difficult to “asset manage” a ride through its operating and decommissioning stages.

Invest in asset management.

Park operators will gain by investing money and time into their ride (asset) management systems. For optimum benefits, investment should first be on record keeping, maintenance procedures and ride documentation. An asset health evaluation should address the following questions, although the list is not exhaustive:

  • Does the preventive theme park maintenance scheme record all functional test result, mechanical, and electrical data?
  • Does the system avail the date to enable prediction of equipment failure in the future?
  • Does the management system evaluate re-occurring faults?

If you would like to know more about Asset Management for your theme park, visit here for more information.