The Importance of Preparation in ISO Management Success

Asset Management can be explained as a systematic process of planning, operating, maintaining, upgrading and replacing assets cost-effectively with minimum risk and at the expected levels of service over the assets’ life cycle.

One sector where effective asset management can make a huge difference is public transportation, with organisations having to keep track of an exhaustive list of costly vehicles and infrastructure.

Long time listeners may recall a previous episode where we interviewed the train operator, Greater Anglia, after they successfully achieved ISO 55001, the best practice standard for asset management.

Now 3 years on, they’ve been recently recertified and have learned a lot since their initial certification.

In this episode, Andrew Barnes, Head of Asset Management at Greater Anglia, joins Ian Battersby to discuss how they currently manage their ISO 55001 certification, what they’ve learned in the past 3 years since certification and the benefits of effective asset management.  

You’ll learn

·      Who is Andrew Barnes?

·      Who are Greater Anglia?

·      How do Greater Anglia manage their ISO 55001 certification?

·      What lessons have been learned since their initial certification?

·      What are the main benefits of ISO 55001?

·      Andrew’s top tip for ISO Implementation

Resources

·      Isologyhub

·      Greater Anglia

·      ISO Support Plan

In this episode, we talk about:

[02:05] Episode Summary – Ian Battersby is joined by Andrew Barnes, Head of Asset Management at Greater Anglia, to discuss their experience with being certified to ISO 55001 for the past 3 years, explaining the lessons learned and benefits gained.   

[03:25] Who is Andrew Barnes? Andy is currently the Head of Asset Management at Greater Anglia. A fun fact that not many people know about him is that he was part of the Lord Mayor’s Show in the 80’s, though he had a bit of a wardrobe malfunction that ended with him getting a stern talking to!

Andy has been working in the railways since 1985, starting as an apprentice with British Rail.

[05:15] Who are Greater Anglia? Greater Anglia are a train operator who took over from National Express, East Anglia back in 2012.

They serve the Anglia region from Liverpool Street Station, and are unusual among railway companies in that they are under a full repairing and insuring lease. This differs from most who have station access conditions, where the responsibility for maintenance and repair is split between Network Rail and the train operator.

They currently operate 134 stations, with 2 more under construction which are Burley Park (due to open in October 2025) and Cambridge South (opening in early 2026).

In addition to the stations, they also own 7 depots for train stabling and maintenance. So in short, a lot of assets to keep track of!

[07:40] Extra asset requirements – They are also now challenged on cleanliness at train stations. This involves mystery shoppers visiting stations and marking them against certain criteria to give a score, which Greater Anglia tend to score quite highly.

They also have to inspect all of their assets on a conditioned surveying scheme, the scores of which need to be communicated to Network Rail.

[09:00] Andy’s role as Head of Asset Management – Andy is relatively new to this role, becoming the Head of Asset Management in April 2025. He has a team of asset inspectors that conduct the condition surveys internally.

He’s also responsible for the Engineer Insurance Team, part of their role is to determine the technical aspects of large schemes that require focused designs.

[10:05] How do Greater Anglia manage their ISO certifications? – In addition to ISO 55001, Greater Anglia also hold ISO 9001 and a number of standards specific to engineering.

They have benefitted from 3rd party support in the form of utilising Blackmores consultancy to help gain certification and aid with on-going support for internal audits.

Their processes and procedures are all managed by their Project Management Team, who conduct regular reviews against ISO requirements to ensure they stay relevant and in alignment with best practice.

They also have a strategic asset management plan, risk register and continuous improvement plans in place to address various elements of both asset management and general quality management.

Like with most ISO Standards, there’s a lot of crossover in the requirements, so elements of each certification can easily be integrated and used to bolster an existing management system.

[11:15] The benefit of a maturing management system – Andy is quite keen on learning from their maturing management system. Through effective implementation, you can look back and see what’s working well and where improvements can be made.

Having a certain level of management system maturity enables you to make more informed continual improvement decisions.

[13:20] A structured approach – Prior to ISO 55001 certification, they were still doing everything that was required of them to maintain assets simply because that was the right thing to do.

What they lacked was the structured processes and procedures to support that hard work. It wasn’t as planned and more of a reactionary approach to asset management.

Andy appreciates the clearly defined lines, processes and ability to learn from their mistakes as a result of ISO 55001 implementation. It simply helped provide a more consistent and collaborative base for effective asset management.

[14:25] Other benefits from ISO 55001 certification:-

Improved efficiency: New and improved processes helped to manage both their time and internal resource. They eliminated unnecessary meetings, and consolidated key discussion points for their regular meet-ups to ensure important updates were prioritised.

Risk Mitigation: They now have a structured approach to learning from past mistakes. This is managed via a Lessons Learned Database, which collates the answers to specific questions that get asked after project completion. They make sure to include contractor input so all parties involved feel the benefits. Recently, they’ve also been granted access to Network Rail’s Lesson’s Learned database, so they will benefit from an even wider knowledge base for future projects.

Consistent approach: Their current management system ensures that everyone is following the same policies, processes and procedures. People know what their responsibilities are, who to communicate what to and how they can help contribute to improvement efforts.

Continual Improvement culture shift: The management system doesn’t require everyone to know everything from the get-go. It encourages a culture of learning with the goal of continual improvement, so people aren’t afraid of suggesting actions for innovation.  

[19:45] Lessons learned: Not just from mistakes – Ultimately, from an asset management point of view, Greater Anglia want to maintain or renew an asset as functional and preserve it for as long as possible. They need to intervene as quickly and as efficiently as possible to minimise the impact to people using it.

Minimising the time on site with things like modular construction and hauling large equipment are things we’ve done due to lessons learned from other projects. These were positive changes that we’ve taken on not due to mistakes but simply from trying different things.

A lesson learned doesn’t have to result from a mistake. It’s about learning from both risks and opportunities.

[21:20] Top ISO Implementation tips from Andy –

Do your homework: Have a good understanding of your Management System and take your time to weave it into your day-to-day activities.

A helping hand: Make use of an ISO champion, whether that’s someone internal with ISO knowledge or a 3rd party dedicated ISO consultancy (such as Blackmores) to help you break down an ISO Standard into something you can understand and apply to your way of working.

Recording evidence: Don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk! Once a process or procedure is documented, follow it, and record evidence of this. Same goes for any actions for improvement that are raised, don’t just let it sit there, action it.

[23:45] Andy’s take away from ISO 55001 management – Andy is surprised by how attuned their business is to the Standard. The Standard speak may seem obtuse or vague, but its adaptability is it’s greatest strength. You have the flexibility to apply it in a way that works for your business.

[25:15] Andy’s book recommendations – 1984 by George Orwell and Adolf Hitler: My part in his downfall by Spike Milligan.

[26:35] Andy’s favorite quote – ‘By Failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail’ – Benjamin Franklin

If you’d like to learn more about Greater Anglia, check out their Website and Linkedin.

If you’d like any assistance with ISO 55001 Asset Management, feel free to get in touch with us, we’d be happy to help.

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