How to get started as a Maintenance Engineer?
Maintenance Engineers have an undeniably important role within asset-intensive organisations. Besides the daily follow-up of the maintenance, he or she also takes care of the continuous improvement of the maintenance process, cost management, etc...
Justien Kint knows better than anyone how challenging it is to successfully fulfil the extensive function of Maintenance Engineer, both at an organisational and human level. He started his career as a Maintenance Engineer more than ten years ago and has since become an experienced and especially passionate maintenance specialist. That is why he likes to share with us his knowledge and the tips and tricks he has acquired in various sectors.
the Maintenance Engineer's range of tasks
The interpretation of the role of ME naturally differs per company and sector. In general terms, we can say that he or she plays a mainly tactical role within the organisation, in which analysing and advising are of paramount importance. The executive tasks are mainly focused on:
- Determining the root causes of failures
- Converting risk-based maintenance concepts into logically executable plans
- Preparing KPI reports
- Providing input with regard to the maintenance budget
- Drawing up multi-year maintenance plans
- ...
In this way, the Maintenance Engineer is responsible for the reliability and availability of the installations and for implementing the correct maintenance strategy. This requires regular evaluation in order to be able to make continuous improvements. As a pivot between different departments (operators, purchasing department, management, etc.), all these tasks can only be completed successfully thanks to open communication and the necessary social skills.
"The maintenance engineer is the 'spider in the web' within the maintenance organisation. Theory and practice are closely connected and a lot of contact is needed with other departments. This makes the work fun, challenging and varied."
Tips for a smooth start as a Maintenance Engineer
Anyone starting out as a Maintenance Engineer can apply the following tips:
- Study the organisation chart to know who does what, and talk to colleagues of the departments you will be working closely with;
- Spend a day with a shutdown or turnaround manager;
- Study the work processes, you might see some potential for improvement;
- Study the schedules of the assets you are responsible for;
- Spend a day with the fault-clearing service and the production service, so you can get to know their operations and tools.
- Be on the shop floor regularly to keep in touch with the operators and to see recurring malfunctions up close.
- Indicate your limits. As an expert, you will often be called upon, but make sure that your range of tasks does not overload with tasks that do not actually fall under your authority.
Maintenance Engineer colleague:
- Make a handbook with process descriptions, useful links and contact persons, ...
- Appoint a buddy (mentor) who can show the new ME around the organisation during the first weeks.
What’s in a name? Maintenance Engineer vs. Reliability Engineer
But what is the difference between an ME and a reliability engineer? Depending on the type or size of an organisation, the interpretation of this function will (partly) overlap or not always be easy to subdivide. They obviously have a common goal, and that is to eliminate and prevent failures.
In general terms, we can say that a Reliability Engineer is mainly concerned with strategy and ensuring that a system fulfils the desired functions in the long term. He or she thus studies reliability and devises ways to optimise it, often based on mathematical models and reliability block diagrams.
The Maintenance Engineer has a more tactical and technical approach, focusing on the application of engineering concepts and the operation of an installation in the medium term.
Would you like to hear from Justien how you can make a smooth start in the world of Maintenance Engineering? Then be sure to check out this (dutch) BEMAS webinar "Hoe van start gaan als Maintenance Engineer" (How to get started as a Maintenance Engineer).
Download "Hét praktijkboek voor de startende maintenance engineer”, a practical book for the starting maintenance engineer (in dutch).
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