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Maintenance Engineering & Operations

Come up with innovative solutions to improve the maintenance and the management of machinery, structures, production facilities and services and enhance environmental and economic performance.

Maintenance is a key element of modern industrial processes and operations. Over the years, maintenance has become increasingly predictive, intelligent and strategic. Good maintenance practices are essential to ensure the availability, reliability and cost-effectiveness of technical systems. So how do you predict and anticipate the failure of a system or an asset? How can new technologies such as Virtual/Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, or sensor technologies help to monitor structural health and condition of these systems and optimise the resources to maintain them? And what is needed to extend the lifecycle of assets and improve their sustainability and economic performance? The specialisation in Maintenance Engineering & Operations will help you propose and develop innovative solutions to improve the maintenance of machinery, structures, production facilities and services and to contribute to the improvement of environmental and economic performance.

"If you want to be involved in the full spectrum of maintenance, from tribology to operations management, this highly multidisciplinary specialisation is for you, as it not only covers the core disciplines of mechanical engineering, but many other disciplines as well.”

Dr. Ir. Willem Haanstra, specialisation coordinator Maintenance Engineering & Operations

What is Maintenance Engineering & Operations?

This specialisation will give you a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of the field of maintenance and reliability engineering. From technical facets like failure mechanisms and the underlying physical phenomena to structural health and condition monitoring and prediction, and understanding and using smart technologies and digitisation in maintenance operations to managerial aspects like asset management, logistics, and decision-making. You will not only learn to apply your knowledge in the operational phase of a technical facility but also in the design phase: how can you design specific components in such a way that it extends the useful lifetime of a product? Because of course, in essence, you want to make sure to keep equipment functional and tackle equipment problems before it causes downtime.

Examples of courses you might follow during this specialisation:
  • How can you identify wear and deterioration factors? And can you use a sensor system to assess the health and condition of a system? You will deal with these and more questions in the course Structural Health and Condition Monitoring.
  • The course After Sales Service Logistics will familiarise you with concepts and methods for the design and optimisation of the after-sales service supply chain for maintaining advanced capital goods.
  • What is the relation between maintenance engineering and asset management, and how can you incorporate this in a final maintenance plan? You will discover this in the course Maintenance Engineering & Management.

The University of Twente is the place to study the field of maintenance engineering and operations, as it is the only university in the Netherlands to offer this programme at a master’s level. You will find yourself among leading professors in key domains, such as predictive maintenance, production technology, ICT, supply chains and business modelling – and thanks to close ties with the industry, you will be sure to gain a hands-on approach and work on a lot of real-life cases. For example, can you gain a better understanding of the deterioration of wind turbine blades made of composite materials? Can you use data from sensors to track asset conditions and automatically align the spare parts inventory accordingly? Or what about implementing blockchain technology to make aircraft or train maintenance more reliable? If you want to make valuable improvements in the industry, this specialisation is right for you!

What will you learn?

As a graduate of this Master's and this specialisation, you have acquired specific, scientific knowledge, skills and values, which you can put to good use in your future job.

  • Knowledge

    After completing this Master’s specialisation, you:

    • have a solid knowledge of the techniques, technology and approaches that are necessary for efficient maintenance operations;
    • have a broad overview of the different aspects of maintenance engineering (condition monitoring, maintenance management, spare parts and logistics, design for maintenance etc.);
    • have a fundamental understanding of various aspects of failure mechanisms, tribology and other physical phenomena that characterise asset reliability.
  • Skills

    After successfully finishing this Master’s specialisation, you:

    • can involve multiple scientific disciplines when conducting research in the field of maintenance engineering and asset management;
    • are able to design and plan maintenance operations;
    • can analyse the aspects that are affecting reliability, not only in terms of availability and maintainability but also in terms of team and asset management.
  • Values

    After completing this Master’s specialisation, you:

    • are aware of the importance of correct design and plan of maintenance operations to extend the lifetime of a product or an asset;
    • are aware of social, environmental, sustainability and safety aspects of maintenance operations and you are able to analyse and understand these aspects and integrate these elements in your scientific work;
    • can identify gaps in your knowledge, and you have a mindset to enhance and extend your knowledge through study.

Other master’s and specialisations

Is this specialisation not exactly what you’re looking for? Maybe one of the other specialisations suits you better. Or find out more about these other master's: