Maintenance or Reliability Engineering
The Maintenance or Reliability Engineering role is charged with becoming the quality control point for Maintenance processes,
seeking precision maintenance activities. In this role, the Maintenance or Reliability Engineer reviews the PM and PdM program
for the correct actions at the proper frequency, with the ultimate goal to find equipment in the act of failure before
functional failure occurs.
Additionally, who better to administer the apprenticeship or craft training program and interface with Project Engineering
to ensure proper equipment selection and installation? The Maintenance or Reliability Engineer also champions the use of
Predictive Maintenance (PdM) technologies and the lubrication practices. In effect, by mining equipment history and
eliminating failures in a proactive manner, this individual is free to the organization; replacing their salary 2 to 3
times over in reduced operations and maintenance costs.
Look in your own organization, who is responsible for the execution and results of the Preventive Maintenance (PM) program? Is
it a single point of contact (typically the Maintenance or Reliability Engineer) or is it spread across the maintenance
workforce? What if you have a question, which individual do you ask? The Maintenance or Reliability Engineer is the owner of
the maintenance programs, oversees and reviews the results from, vibration analysis, thermography, oil analysis, etc. Who owns
and manages your lubrication program ensuring the latest and best lubricates are utilized while minimizing the number of
required lubricants? Again, a Maintenance or Reliability Engineering activity that typically goes un-managed in most
organizations.
Preventive Maintenance and Predictive Maintenance (PdM) programs are your most expensive programs to execute. Who's managing
yours? Few organizations can afford to not have this critical function staffed.
People and Processes provides education, along with coaching and mentoring for the Maintenance or Reliability Engineering
function. Using Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM) methodologies, we teach individuals and specific groups the function
and the activities of the Maintenance or Reliability Engineering role.