From the environment to economics, maintenance engineering has a vital role to play in tackling some of today’s biggest challenges
“My mother doesn’t like it when I describe myself as a maintenance engineer because she says people will think I’m a mechanic,” jokes Richard Jeffers, Managing Director of RS Industria.
While most people don’t understand what a maintenance engineer does, without them many aspects of modern life including food production and transport systems would quickly grind to a halt.
“I think the maintenance engineering community to an extent deserves the perception of society that we’re the grubby end of the world because we as a profession talk about ourselves in that way,” acknowledges Jeffers.
Maintenance engineering academic Dr Moray Kidd agrees. Although effective maintenance engineering makes a significant contribution to twenty-first-century society, its importance isn’t widely recognised. “Maintenance engineering has historically had a bit of an image problem,” he explains.
“It’s rarely taught in higher education at undergraduate or postgraduate level and this leads to some confusion about the discipline. In many cases it’s not seen as a career choice or a role that requires innovative thinking, and that’s not the case.”
Tackling its image problem
The profession needs to do more to raise public awareness of its positive impact, argues Jeffers.
There are some industry-level efforts. The Society of Operations Engineers’ Sir Moir Lockhead Safety Award, for instance, honours outstanding work in improving maintenance safety and the Royal Academy of Engineering, an umbrella body bringing together 39 engineering organisations, has a programme that partners with teachers of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to raise the profile of engineering and attract the next generation into the profession.
“They become seen as a cost centre rather than a value centre”
Richard Jeffers, Managing Director, RS Industria
Individuals have a role to play too. “Maintenance engineers are not good at talking the language of business and as a result they become seen as a cost centre rather than a value centre,” says Jeffers. They can, however, change the conversation to focus on value instead.
He offers an example from a scenario familiar to many maintenance engineers. “An industrial steam boiler consumes its own capital cost in gas every year – and that was before this year’s price increases,” he says. “So probably it now consumes twice its capital value in gas annually.
“The cost of maintenance is a fraction of the cost of the gas. So don’t talk about having an extra 20 grand’s worth of maintenance spend – talk about reducing your gas consumption by 3%. And then suddenly, it’s an easy conversation.”
Tackling the climate crisis
Reducing gas consumption is by no means the only contribution that maintenance engineers can make to improve sustainability.
As the Royal Academy of Engineering points out in its study “Engineering Priorities for Our Future Economy and Society,” engineers are well placed to play a critical role in addressing environmental and other contemporary challenges – including the transition to net zero.
“In terms of the environment and sustainability, there are a lot of exciting opportunities”
Dr Moray Kidd, maintenance engineering academic
Kidd is also keen to emphasise the positive contribution that maintenance engineering can make to sustainability. “You’re often involved in the design of new assets and you’re responsible for maintaining complex technologies,” he says. “In terms of the environment and sustainability, there are a lot of exciting opportunities, especially with Industry 4.0 and the application of machine learning to process data.
“Changing components just because the schedule says so is wasteful from a sustainability perspective,” he continues. This means moving from preventative maintenance to condition-based maintenance using digital monitoring to understand asset performance in real-time can reduce the impact of your operations on the environment.
“We live at a really exciting time for engineering,” agrees Ian Clarke, CEO of Velocumen, a consultancy that advises manufacturers about future technology. “One of the big drivers for industry for the next five years will be energy. A lot of companies will be pivoting from caring about productivity to caring about energy.”
This pivot will include moving away from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, but it doesn’t stop there. “If you think that’s solved the net zero problem you could still be chucking loads of electricity away by inefficient operations,” observes Jeffers.
“Increased energy consumption is almost always related to some sort of maintenance issue”
Richard Jeffers, Managing Director, RS Industria
Energy-efficient improvements represent a major area of influence. “Maintenance engineers are doing a lot of this stuff anyway,” says Jeffers. “They are already focused on energy consumption because increased energy consumption is almost always related to some sort of maintenance issue.
“If you’ve got an electric motor on a steady load and the current consumption goes up, that’s because there’s either an electrical or mechanical fault on that system. So, tracking the electricity consumption of any asset will not only help manage your utility costs, but it is also a very effective leading indicator of failure.”
Tackling economic stagnation
The positive contribution that maintenance engineering can make to the world goes beyond the environment and into economics too.
Maintenance engineers keep manufacturing operations running – and manufacturing is a vital part of the UK’s economy. According to Make UK, the national association of manufacturers, this sector contributes £191 billion to UK GDP and since as far back as the 1980s, its productivity has grown two times faster than in other areas of business.
Furthermore, states Make UK, manufacturing in this country employs 2.7 million people and pays starting wages that are 13% higher than the national average. Britain also has a total of 450,000 engineers, says the Royal Academy of Engineering.
These figures make a difference to people’s everyday lives by creating more jobs and higher wages. At stake, claims the Royal Academy of Engineering report, is the nation’s “prosperity, security and wellbeing.”
“As engineers, we are problem-solvers and innovators, with a unique perspective on the world”
The Royal Academy of Engineering, “Engineering Priorities for Our Future Economy and Society”
What’s more, continues the report, “Engineers have the skills, insights and ingenuity to help tackle many of these challenges in ways that optimise efficiency, economy, safety and reliability.
“As engineers, we are problem-solvers and innovators, with a unique perspective on the world. From increasing productivity and renewing our infrastructure, to the skills gap and the threat of climate change, these challenges rightly lie at the heart of the UK’s Industrial Strategy.”