Maintenance engineers plan the routine maintenance of plant, equipment and machinery. They also attend breakdowns, diagnose faults and oversee time-critical repairs. In modern, complex plants, maintenance engineers employ sophisticated, computerized systems to schedule the work. They may oversee the work of teams of maintenance personnel, such as fitters and technicians. Maintenance engineers may be involved in all stages of manufacturing.
In equipment development, they work to incorporate efficient methods of maintaining new equipment or plant, and may be involved in the installation and commissioning process. Through the production phase, they work to improve the useful life of plant, equipment and machinery. Maintenance engineering plays a vital role in the efficiency, development and progress of manufacturing/processing industries.
Maintenance engineer’s work with other professionals, such as manufacturing systems engineers and production managers, to improve production facilities, reduce the incidence of costly breakdowns, and develop strategies to improve overall reliability and safety of plant, personnel and production processes. High-risk industries, such as nuclear, petro-chemical and aviation, have well-developed reliability strategies. In traditional manufacturing, maintenance engineers promote the improvement of overall reliability, in addition to responding to breakdowns.
Maintenance engineers may also be called upon to develop plant asset care policies, which mean liaising closely with suppliers, customers, other departments and senior managers. In some posts, the work involves practical, hands-on engineering, problem-solving, and supervising technical staff. Work activities include: designing maintenance strategies, procedures and methods; planning and scheduling planned and unplanned work, monitoring and controlling maintenance costs.
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