Operational Readiness consultants who run your plant from day one.
HolisticAM plans and builds operational readiness for new and expanding mineral processing plants: the readiness framework, the maintenance strategy, the asset register, the CMMS master data, the spares and the work management your operating team needs at first ore. One independent crew from the design drawings to a loaded CMMS. Most consultants hand you one half or the other.
Operational readiness for gold and mineral processing plants, in West Africa and across Australia.
Choosing an operational readiness partner: one question separates them
Ask any operational readiness bidder two things: who they answer to, and who is still on site at first ore. An EPCM assessing readiness is grading its own construction. A large advisory firm can build the maintenance system, but usually across a scope seam and alongside a platform it implements.
The gap that decides your first year is not capability, it is independence and continuity. A readiness plan handed across a scope seam does not survive first ore.
HolisticAM covers the full span independently. We author the asset-management and reliability frameworks and build the maintenance system underneath them: the asset register, the maintenance strategy, the CMMS master data, the spares and the work management that let the operating team run the plant on day one. We answer to the operator, not to the build. When you scope a partner, ask who it answers to. The answer tells you who can carry the risk.
“A readiness plan is only worth the maintenance system built underneath it. If the CMMS is empty on day one, the plan was never real,” said Dave Alexander, Managing Director, HolisticAM.
When should operational readiness start? At design, with construction
Start readiness at design and the maintenance system is ready when the plant is. Leave it to commissioning and the operating team inherits a plant it cannot yet maintain.
Design
Drawings, equipment listsConstruction
Build and installCommissioning
Systems energisedFirst ore
Ramp to nameplateThe maintenance strategy and CMMS data are built from the design drawings while construction runs, so day one is a planned operation.
Your ability to shape cost and reliability is highest at design and falls with every phase the project completes. A readiness decision deferred to commissioning is influence you have already spent. That is why we start at the drawings, not the handover.
Reproduced from the HolisticAM Operational Readiness “Level of Influence” framework. The earlier you engage, the more influence you hold over cost and reliability.
Operational readiness scope: six streams, from design drawings to first work order
Operational readiness spans the whole project: people, safety, operations, procurement, commissioning and asset management. We author the full framework across those domains, and build the asset and maintenance streams that carry the most start-up risk.
Asset management & reliability architecture
Built from your objectives, needs and direction: the asset-management and reliability frameworks, the policies and procedures, the Strategic Asset Management Plan (SAMP) and the supporting Asset Management Plans (AMPs), aligned to the ISO 55000-series standard. The foundation the rest of the build sits on.
Maintenance strategy
Built from the design, asset by asset, before the equipment arrives.
Asset register and hierarchy
Structured for the CMMS, aligned to the functional locations.
CMMS master data
Built and loaded before start-up, so the team opens work orders on day one, not month six.
Maintenance plans, spares and materials
Defined, costed and ready to procure.
Work management and roles
Set up so the team runs a planned operation, not a firefight.
New to the topic? Read the plain-English guide: What is Operational Readiness? For the mining-specific detail, see our full guide to operational readiness for mining assets. If you are weighing scope, maintenance readiness vs operational readiness sets out exactly where the line falls, and the operational readiness framework explains the governance that holds the streams together.
Operational readiness deliverables: a build, not a binder
On a recent iron-ore plant, HolisticAM built 353 planned routine tasks across 23 asset lines as 9 SAP-ready deliverable types, in a 12-week pre-commissioning programme delivered CMMS-ready.
Know where your project actually sits
The free Readiness Scorecard takes about 10 minutes, self-serve. Score your project across the nine readiness areas, from organisational readiness through to supply chain and compliance, and see the result banded against your first ore date. The score shows on the page; the board pack is optional.
Score your readinessOperational readiness delivered before first ore
Anonymised by client agreement.
Gold plant, first ore 2026
We authored the operational readiness plan and built the maintenance system that delivers it, then mobilised the operating and maintenance teams ahead of start-up. Same region, same asset class, same scope a new build faces today.
The OR standard for a major greenfield
We wrote the operational readiness standard a large gold project is being delivered under, aligned to ISO 55001. The framework governs how readiness is scoped, gated and assured across the build.
Expansion readiness on a live plant
Readiness for an expansion tie-in where the new circuit had to reach nameplate without dragging down the running operation.
Trusted on Tier 1 mining assets
Selected HolisticAM clients across Tier 1 mining and mineral processing.
ISO 55001 operational readiness that stands up to audit
ISO 55001 is the line between a readiness plan that reads well and one a procurement analyst can defend. We build readiness against that standard from the start, so the framework you commission is the one your future audit, financier and board already recognise.
Asset management & reliability architecture
- Objectives, needs & direction
- AM & reliability frameworks
- Policies & procedures
- SAMP & Asset Management Plans
Maintenance & operations build
- Asset register & hierarchy
- Maintenance strategy & PMs
- Spares, materials & BOMs
- Work instructions & procedures
How HolisticAM operational readiness builds day-one capability, before first ore.
Recognised, not house-brand
The readiness scope maps to a recognised standard, not a method only we use.
Survives due diligence
The maintenance data and strategy are structured to hold up under scrutiny.
Assured handover
Operations receive an assurance trail, not just a document set.
Know where your project actually sits
The free Readiness Scorecard takes about 10 minutes, self-serve. Score your project across the nine readiness areas, from organisational readiness through to supply chain and compliance, and see the result banded against your first ore date. The score shows on the page; the board pack is optional.
Score your readinessThe operational readiness process: Diagnostic, Blueprint, Build & Assure
You do not commit to the full build to find out if we fit. Readiness starts with a defined, fixed-scope diagnostic.
Readiness diagnostic
A fixed-scope assessment of where your project sits against a start-up-ready plant, and the gap to close. Priced and bounded. See how the diagnostic works.
Readiness blueprint
The framework, scope and plan to first ore, aligned to ISO 55001 and your stage gates.
Build and assure
We build the maintenance system and assure it to handover, so the operating team runs from day one.
West African engagements are contracted and staged accordingly, with milestone payments matched to delivery.
Australian consultants to a West African build
Many of the gold projects building in West Africa run study management and procurement from Perth and Melbourne. You get a partner in your head-office timezone who has already mobilised readiness on a West African plant.
The team behind the framework
HolisticAM is Australia’s leading reliability consultancy. Our people build maintenance systems for a living, which is why our readiness work ends in a running plant rather than a report.
Operational readiness, answered
What does an operational readiness consultant actually deliver?
Why HolisticAM over a Big 4 or EPCM firm?
Can you build the CMMS and maintenance data before plant start-up?
How are engagements scoped and contracted, including in West Africa?
Do you work on West African gold projects?
How does your work relate to ISO 55001?
When should operational readiness start?
Scoping readiness for a new build or expansion?
Tell us where your project is: study, FID, construction or pre-start. We will show you what readiness has to cover by then, and where the risk sits if it does not.
First step is a fixed-scope readiness diagnostic. No open-ended commitment.