Congress of Road Infrastructure Management (KZID) focuses on Asset Management topics - Part 2/2

In the first part of this interview, Dr. Sławomir Heller, PIARC delegate and co-founder of the Infrastructure Asset Management Academy (INFRAMA), spoke about what asset management is and the importance of this discipline for road management. In this part, Dr. Heller talks about what to expect at the upcoming Congress of Road Infrastructure Management (KZID) in Warsaw, which is dedicated exclusively to asset and infrastructure management.

To read the first part of the interview, please click here.

Who is the Congress of Road Infrastructure Management (KZID) addressing? How will the participants benefit?

Asset management is clearly a management discipline. Therefore, the question often arises as to whether only managers should deal with this discipline. During my lectures in various countries, I like to answer this question with the following anecdote: Two stonemasons each work on a block of stone on a construction site. A stranger asks them what they are doing. The first stonemason answers: "I am working on a stone", while the second stonemason proudly says: "I am building a cathedral". This story illustrates the need to always have the organization's goals in mind in every workplace and to act accordingly. During the congress, we will show how to apply the fundamental principles of asset management in order to drastically increase the efficiency of actions in the workplace and to obtain additional resources, e.g. for the construction and maintenance of roads.

From my many years of experience I know that this discipline motivates a lot of, often young, employees in administrations to further educate and train themselves in order to promote their careers. Asset management includes not only technical qualifications, but also general basics of management, human asset management, elements of profitability analysis and risk management. A combination that should be interesting for ambitious employees of any administration.

What kind of topics will be discussed during the congress?

On the first day, there will be a series of plenary sessions and discussions. Since it is not possible to present the entire spectrum of asset management in one day, we have tried to concentrate on the most challenging topics and win prominent speakers. I think our program is proof that we have succeeded. See for yourself: kongreszid.pl.

The second day of the congress will be dedicated to practical workshops. We will focus on the tasks we all face on a daily basis, such as condition assessment, maintenance planning, road safety and risk management. We will always look at these questions from the perspective of the respective organization, as asset management demands, and notice that we get very different answers to the same question - depending on the context of the respective organization.

How does the Congress differ from other events in the road sector? What will surprise us?

On the first day, after each of the three plenary sessions, there will be comprehensive debates of 30-40 minutes in which all participants are welcome to participate. We expect exciting, often controversial statements and a lively exchange of opinions. So, there will certainly be surprises. At the end of the first day, you can also look forward to a role play with three actors: a politician, an engineer and a driver who will talk about the work of the road administration. Surprises are guaranteed here as well. But the biggest surprises await us on the second day of the congress. All four workshops are packed with business games in which the participants have to solve various management tasks in groups. Within the INFRAMA, we have been organizing such games for a long time, but we are always surprised by their outcome.

All of this makes the congress unique. In addition, we have selected all contributions and speakers solely for their relevance and professional qualifications. There are no sponsored contributions. The partner companies, such as TPA, IBDiM, ITS or PwC, with whom we prepare the workshops, have also refrained from advertising their own products.

What are INFRAMA’s plans for the future? Will there be more events?

INFRAMA is currently restructuring and considerably expanding its fields of activities, also in Germany. One of our goals is to promote the combination of Asset Management and Building Information Modeling (BIM), because for us, this simply belongs together. During the international BIM conference in Gliwice in May 2020, INFRAMA will organize a workshop on "BIM for Road Infrastructure". We will also continue our cooperation with PIARC. In this new future-oriented discipline we need good guidance which PIARC provides with the Technical Committee Asset Management and the orientation on the international standard ISO 55000.

Thank you for your time, Dr. Heller. We are looking forward to the congress and are excited to find out with what INFRAMA will surprise us next.