Demand for maintenance engineers
When people are wanted in maintenance, they very often talk about 'maintenance engineers'.
But what kind of people are these and where should they come from? The Maintenance Department of KIVI NIRIA had organised a meeting on 26 March about that question. Apparently a relevant question, because 50 people attended, almost all of whom actively participated and talked along.
Rene Strijbosch (World Class Maintenance) was the first speaker. He gave the following profile of a maintenance engineer: HBO engineering, a good professional, solid knowledge of maintenance management, communicative, and in terms of work mainly concerned with analysis and improvement. What was especially widely endorsed by those present was that he must master a trade, such as mechanical or electrical engineering. Furthermore, people appear to do very diverse work under the heading of maintenance engineer, including things like work preparation and (small) projects. Rene also addressed the supply and demand of maintenance professionals, which are not really expected to be in balance in the coming years. At MBO level, there is a solid shortage looming, but at HBO level there seems to be a surplus. There are no further details within these figures (e.g. on training directions). As a result, there is also no clarity on the exact demand for maintenance engineers.
The second speaker was Sil Bruijsten (Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, who also hosted). He explained what training courses there are for maintenance engineers. In any case, no maintenance engineers are trained in regular MBO or HBO courses. There are only post-MBO and post-HBO courses, and always part-time. To make the picture even bleaker: only 3 HBOs in the Netherlands deal with this: Hogeschool Utrecht, Avans and Hogeschool Rotterdam.
There used to be the HBO course AOT (Algemene Operationele Technieken). People with that degree had an excellent entry into maintenance. That course is no longer there. Before that, many marine engineers ended up in maintenance, but that stream also dried up a long time ago. Recently, Avans started the full-time HBO course International Maintenance Management. It is still unclear what that will mean in practice, but at least it exists.
All in all, therefore, there is no clear "inflow" of new maintenance engineers from education. That means, they mostly "emerge" in practice, by getting that cap on their head and starting to do the work.
That was also the content of Ad de Ruiter's (Akzo Nobel Deventer) contribution. He addressed the question of what someone has to bring and still has to learn in order to become a fully-fledged maintenance engineer from maintenance practice. Incidentally, Akzo Nobel sees a maintenance engineer mainly working on the shorter-term issues, such as analyses and improvement projects. For them, the longer term, e.g. drawing up maintenance plans, is for a "reliability engineer". At many other companies, this distinction is not made and everything is for the maintenance engineer. For the maintenance engineer, Ad has developed a complete pathway. Someone can enter that track with an MBO education in E or W and quite a few years of experience, preferably as a mechanic and as a work planner. After that, he will learn a lot over several years. A very thorough approach, which met with broad approval from those present.
After the lectures, there was ample time for discussion with the three speakers together, led by Arend Bos (MMC, also a board member of KIVI NIRIA Maintenance). This discussion was very lively: really almost everyone joined in! There was fairly broad consensus on the fact, that a maintenance engineer should function at HBO level. It was also clear, that the current training opportunities are insufficient. Arend Bos indicated that, in his opinion, a new HBO education should be created for the cluster Maintenance, Engineering and Projects. This opinion was echoed, although it also became clear that realising this will be very difficult in the current educational landscape.
Clearly, we are not finished with this subject, but a lot has to be done for the coming years: many maintenance engineers are needed, but the 'supply' is far from assured. This meeting did not provide ready-made solutions for this, but it did provide clarity and food for thought.
Click here for the presentation.
Description
KIVI NIRIA Maintenance meeting:
Where should all maintenance engineers come from?
Maintenance engineers are in very high demand. From the looks of it, they should become the new mainstays of maintenance. But where should they come from? Are people being trained as maintenance engineers? Can you become one through knowledge and experience?
And is there consensus on what a maintenance engineer should be able to do?
Anyone who thinks they need maintenance engineers should not miss this meeting!
We will try to get an overall picture based on the following contributions:
Emmy Bakker (World Class Maintenance) has many contacts in the industry. On this basis, she has mapped the demand side and translated it to education: what is the need for maintenance engineers and what kind of profile goes with it.
Sil Bruijsten (HU) has been in technical HBO for a long time. He has mapped the range of courses on offer: which courses claim to be able to deliver "maintenance engineers" and what do they look like. And how many people become available this way?
Ad de Ruiter (AKZO Nobel) has been leading Technical Services for years. He gives his views on the question: what does someone with 10 years' experience in maintenance need to be allowed to call himself a maintenance engineer?
The meeting is led by Arend Bos (MMC). He has been working in many places as interim Head of TD and has also been giving courses on maintenance management for years.
Because we expect that there will also be a lot of experience in the audience, the programme will allow plenty of time for discussion.
Contact person at the HU: Sil Bruijsten,tel.088-4818931
16.00-16.30 Receptionst
16.30-17.15 What is the demand for Maintenance Engineers?
Emmy Bakker,World Class Maintenance
17.15-18.00 Which undergraduate and graduate programmes in the Netherlands train as Maintenance Engineers?
Sil Bruijsten, HU
18.00-18.30 Break with a sandwich
18.30 19.15 How do you become a "Maintenance engineer" from practice?
Ad de Ruiter, Akzo Nobel
19.15-20.00 Discussion with panel of the three speakers:
all space is available for you and your questions
20.00-20.30 After-show and drinks
Location
Hogeschool Utrecht, location Domstad
Koningsbergerstraat 9, 3531 AJ Utrecht
Organiser
Maintenance
Name and contact details for information
Dr Arend Bos, t 06 54248007