On 8 March the University of Twente (Dr.ir. Alberto Martinetti, Maintenance Engineering Group and Dr.ir Dario Di Mario, Dynamic-based Maintenance Groups) organised the third Maintenance Research Day at the NS Trefpunt in Utrecht.
The event served as an overview of all the research that is currently being undertaken in the Netherlands and Flanders in maintenance-related fields. Sixty participants (PhD students, researchers and interested companies) attended the day. Two excellent researchers contributed to the event: Dr.ir. Wim Verhagen from TU Delft and Cock Liefting from Netherlands Railways (NS) acted as plenary speakers, presenting their research and project on Aircraft Maintenance and on Maintenance Organization, respectively.
In addition, 15 young researchers discussed their own research during 4 different parallel sessions on various topics. A discussion panel chaired by Dr. ir. Rob Bosman (UT), Dr.ir. Bob Huisman (NS) and prof. Erik Skov Madsen (Southern University of Denmark) highlighted the future directions of the maintenance research. The Day was sponsored by the World Class Maintenance (WCM) and hosted by NS represented by Prof. Henk Akkermans (Tilburg University, WCM) and by Prof. dr.ir. Leo van Dongen (UT / NS).
Maintenance world-class research
The Dutch and Flemish universities have an impressive record of research into maintenance aspects: at least eight universities perform maintenance research on topics/in areas such as the analysis of failure mechanisms, maintenance interval optimisation, spare parts logistics, condition-based maintenance, and the use of new business models to increase the maintenance effectiveness of capital-intensive installations.
Finally, to enhance the important and essential connections between researches and industries, this year the Maintenance Research Day hosted the Alumni Day of the WCM Summer School organised since 2012.
