REStARCH. TECHNOLOGY. OfVElOPMENT ΑΝD xRAINING

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Before emborking οπ sophisticoted ond expensive upgrodes ίπ techn%gico/infrostructure to support osset ond mointenonce monogement, enterprises need toconsider ο bosic ingredient of success: personne/ must hove the right know/edge ond skillsto perform their expeeted functions. The mointenonce function itse/f often Γequίres ο tru/ymu/ti-discip/inory set of skills thot is rΟΓe/Υreodi/y ovoi/ob/e ond thus stoff needs to betroined, most often ofter entering their working /ife. E-/eorning offers f/exib/e ondefficient meons το de/iver such troining. breoking spoce ond time borriers.

CHRISTOS

EMMANOUILIDIS

Dr:Head, ComputationalSystems & ApplicationsCETI/ATHENA Research& Innovation Centrechrisem@ceti.grGreece

Μodern enterprises are paying ία-creasing attention to making ορ-timal use of rheir assers, leading

rhem to adopr adequare mainrenance strar-egies and see them through by putting ίnplace the righr maintenance policies. Ετι-suring that the right maintenance policiesfor human capital management are imple-mented is a fundamental ingredient of suc-cess before even considering advanced andsophisticated technological solutions for ετι-gineering asset management. Α key aim forany human capiral management policy is toensure that personnel have the right knowl-edge and skills το perform their intendedfunction.

The above aim requires το: idenrify therequired competences for differenr mainre-nance functions, deliver the body of knowl-edge needed to attain these comperences andassess personnel comperences ίη an objec-rive way.

This article lσoks Ιτιτο how e-learningtools can offer useful and pracrical meansro deliver training and competence assess-ment services for mainrenance engineeringand managemenr. Firsr, rhe case for employ-

38 MAINTWORLD 1.2009

ing e-leIning for maintenance is examined.Then we 1001< at specific examples of deliver-ing e-learning for maintenance traίning, rak-en from τινο European projecrs, namely Dy-namite and iLearn2Main.

Why e-Training in Maintenance?Enrerprises often do not share common cri-teria for required maintenance comρetences.This affects rheίr capacity to efficiently ίm-plement a chosen maintenance strategy. ΑπΥambiguiry competence requirements affectsalso personnel mobiliry and employability.

The natιιre of the Maintenance function issuch that the required knowledge is drawnfronl a mulrirude of disciplines. TlliS is wellreflected ίυτο rhe EFNMS Requirements andRules to achieve a Cerrificate as a Europe-an Exρert ίn Mainrenance Management, aswell as rhe Regularions for rhe EFNMS Cer-tίficate as a European Maintenance Specialist(see EFNMS documents at www.efnms.org),(Franlund, 2008). These have been impor-tant contributions ίη the direction of esrab-lishing a common qualifications framework.Sucl1 a framework would enable employees

tJ' ILeam2Main Courses

t1' 1. Ρeήοnned activities οη the assets (Asset Care)1.1 Maintenance iιwolνement Ιηdesign, procurement and oρerafion of assets1.2 Preνentίνe and InsρecUon actlνίtles1.3 Repair Techniques and Methods1.4 Goals, Strategies. Results

\.1' 2. Asset Ρeήοnnaηce Evaluation2.1 Auditίng and Benchmarklng Technίques2.3 Condition Monίtoήng2.4 Measurements2.5 Computerized Maintenance Management Systems

t1' 3. ManagementlEconomy of Assets3.1 MaIntenance concepls (Dependabίlily Ι Ανaλabλίly Performance)3.2 Analysis of the economic results3.4 Laws and Regulations

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FIGURE 1. The iLearn2Main e-training showing the Maintenance Management TrainingCurricu/um.

Theoretical 8eckground - Vibration Monitoring

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3.δ. Spec:tnιI Reρresentation and ΑΠ•• Υ.Ι.

Modem data cole<OOn i!strumenls and W>r.ι00n anaIyarι pιoνiόe • _, transronn Iroιn the Ίί'ne _. to lIwt 'Iroqtιency _. to gNe, diro<t readout οΙ the νibιaOOnIrιqueιιoies being geneιated by the _ " the Ιoιm οι an amρitude-ys-Ireuen<:y ρIot. τm Is usuaIy •• Iemd to •••• ..".. ••••• 0<' 'sρe<tnιm' (Fιg. 6) 0<._ usίngan instrurnent wittIdigitat ρrocesshg, a Fasi Fourieι Τransrorm (FFT),

In reaIity. -. WiI onen haνe •••••••••••••• οΙ νibιaOOn. with .acιι cause haW>g its OW!Iιι>Ique Irequency 'tarφ. Wheneνe, '"""' l!Ionone frequoncy ΟΙ νibιati>n ΊsρresenI. the result is called iI comρIex νibr.ιtion.

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FIGURE 2. Course with g{ossary-integrated content.

to enjoy easier mobility and more transpar-ent recognition οί their skills, making thememployable ίη wider markets. At the sametime, organisations would become more con-fident to invest ίη qualified personne1.

However, tI1e multi-disciplinary τιετυτεof the needed sl<ills rnakes ίι very difficultto include the requil'ed body of knowledgein standard higher education courses andrnore specialised training is often required(Macchi and Ierache 2009) (Starr and Be-vis 2009). Instead, ί! is mostly included ίηvocational education and training curricula.Recent surveys have revealed a clear gap be-tween available competences and requiredskills and llave identified areas where a rea]improvement οα maintenance training canbe made (Bakouros and Panagiotidou 2008),(Emmanouilidis et a1. 2009).

Α signifi.cant difficulty lies wirl1 rhe factthat trainees are often individuals who havealready entered their working life and ίηmost cases cannot take a maintenance train-ing course under pressing time constraints.Το mitigate such pressures, while avoidingthe high costs οΕ on-the job rraining, e-train-ing is considered well suited to the specificneeds for enhancing maintenance employa-ble skills and competences (Emmanouilidiset a1. 2008). Although the cost of developingthe e-training solution is higher than that οίconventional training, the cosrs associatedwith running the rraining, rhe flexibility of-fered to the trainees and rhe facr that e-Iearn-ing is by design an interactive and engagingrraining experience, makes it appropriate formaintenance management training.

Considering the potential impact of e-learning οη maintenance-related training, arecent survey οί 70 professionals involvedία the maintenance function ίη 5 Ευ coun-

tries (υκ, Sνveden, Greece, Latvia and Roma-nia) 11asfound that the likely adoption pros-pects of e-training ίη maintenance are quitepositive (Papathanassiou and Ernmanoui-lidis 2009).

Next we look at two specific exatnplesοί maintenance e-training. The fi.rst is tar-geting generic Maintenance Managementtraining and cornpetence assessment. Thesecond is an exarnple of employing e-learn-ing for specialised subjects, e-maintenanceία this case.

iLearn2Main: Maintenancee-Training and e-Assessment ΙThe iLearn2Main project has developed aflexible e-learning and e-competence assess-ωετιτ εγετσοι for Maintenance Managementtraining (www.ilearn2main.eu). Based ση thepopular open source Learning ManagementSystem platform Moodle, the developed e-Learning toolkit offers customised rnainte-nance management training and automat-ed conlpetence assessment. The targeted us-er group ίη is personnel involved or aimingat becoming involved ίη Maintenance Man-agernent. Αη assessrnent of νΕΤ objectiveswas completed, that has taken into accounta user survey of 70 professionals. Taking ίη-to account the resuIts of survey, as well asthe aforementioned EFNMS requiretnents, aMaintenance Management Training Curric-ulum was defined, FIGURE 1.

The iLearn2Main training toolkit offersan integrated environrnent that supportsrrainees and trainers to enrol and participateίn e-training and e-assesslnenr for Mainte-nance Managell1ent competences. The train-ing rnodules have been developed and de-ployed ίn a Moodle platform that \vas set-up and customised to fit the needs of Main-

tenance Managernent training, as specifiedίn tl1e νΕΤ objectives.

The iLearn2Main courses content wasdeveloped by the University of Ροττεωουτίι,UTEK, ATLANTIS Engineering and ΑΤΗΕ-

ΝΑ Research & Innovation Centre. Learn-ing objectives .have been processed and de-ployed ίη a Moodle platform that was set-ηρ and customised το fit Maintenance Man-agement training needs and is accessible atwww.ilearn2main.en. When a user first ετ-

rives at the project site, they are presentedwith a list οί the offered learnίng courses, asit is shown ίη FIGURE 1.

More courses and training content arecurrently added to this platforrn. Εετ]ιcourse structure consists of an introductionthat surnll1arises the main learning objec-tives and associated courses, the theoreticalpart of the course, as well as implementationtips and case studies. The course is interwo-ven with cornprehension questions, whichassist the learning process and may guidethe trainee to different leal'lling patl1s thatbette1' snit indiYidual needs. The course con-tent includes pointers to 1'eferences 50 thattrainees can seek additio~~l information orresources, sll0uld they wish to do so. Ref-erences can be accessed as a separate webpage, which is convenient fo1' direct linkingfrom tlIe courses but also as a collective ref-erence ίοτ externa! material.

Adequate training requires farniliarisa-tion with the typical terrns relevant to theMaintenance conrse content. This ί5 support-ed by the use of an e-glossary. The e-glossa-ry provides links to definitions for the keyterms that have been used inside the course.This Glossary is integrated with the train-ing content so as to provide direct and easyaccess to any of its terms, FIGURE 2. Theseterms are automatically linked everywherethey exist ίn the lessons, and compl'ίse a fulland analytic reference guide.

E-training has signifi.cant advantagescompared to conventional training. One keybenefit is related to the ability to cιιstom-ise training according to the circurnstancesand the progress achieved by each learner. Inthis way ί! is possible to personalise e-train-ing, οη the basis of user roles, performanceand recognirion of knowledge and cornpe-tence gaps. Through the use of cornprehen-sion and review tests, it is possible to identifyknowledge gaps. Furthernlore, it is possibleto divert the learning sequence to better ad-

MAINTWORLD 1- 2009 ,9

dress the identified gaps. Ιn this way differ-ent trainees can follow distincr training paths,inaking the whole training procedure moreefficient and tailored to individual needs.

Maintenance Management training ία-volves knowledge and skills which are multi-disciplinary by the very nature of the Mainte-nance Management function. Therefore, theability ω offer this level οί custornisation bye-training and knowledge assessment toolsis particularly.

While knowledge testing constitutes anessential Eunction that is blended with thee-training delivery and facilitates efficient e-training and personalisation of the way thisis delivered ω each trainee, there is also aclear need for an independent assessmenr οίMaintenance Management competences. Ιnίίearn2Μaίn, this independent assessmentis offered by a separare τοο],

The underlying design considerarion isthat a number οΕ tests are created, ω coverthe breadth οί the curriculum courses. Thesetests are placed ίη a competence assessmenttests ροοι and rhe e-Assessment toοΙ ran-domly picks a subset οί rhose each rime τοoffer a different competence assessmenr resr.Alrhough the choice is random, care is tak-en so rhat the chosen tests cover the rangeοΕ topics and courses that are deemed essen-tial to successfullyperform the MaintenanceManagement function, FIGURE 3.

DynaTrain:e-Maintenance trainingThe second case study is taken from the Dy-namire projecr (Arnaiz er al., 2006). Dyna-mire advocates the use οί innovative ICT

technologies ω manage and execute a rangeοί maintenance-related actions ίη an inre-grated, efficient and seamless manner ιυι-der an e-maintenance framework. Α rangeοί innovative enabling rechnologies are em-ployed, including (dynamire.vtt.fi):• smart sensing devices,• wireless communications,• portable computing devices and• web-based e-maintenance services

(DynaWeb).Such technologies are poised ω make head-ways ίτιτο the maintenance engineering prac-tice. Yet they are not covered by standardmaintenance educational programmes. In or-der to secure acceptance and adoption ίη ίn-dustry, e-maintenance technologies need tobe incorporated into dedicated maintenancetraining curricula. Incorporating e-mainte-

40 MAINTWORLD 1·2009

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DYNATRAIN

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Τhe following tab&eshαuld allow the tJser ιο diaqnose .and coιτectly ecιion t •.•• majority g( ΙOt<1ting ιuchίnery f.ults:. Onca.again tha U'Set'"is remίnded 10 ,.ι..::ι th.ιcorrect sρeed range MId maclWιe type to rnaxiιnize the acctJracy of ιjjagnosis.

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nance technologies ίτιτο maintenance train-ing can benefit much from employing ίατιο-vative technologies for delivering custom-ised training.

The very narure οί the ICT technologiesemployed ίη e-maintenance lends itself tothe implementation of e-learning technolo-gies to deliver the needed training. The Dy-namite project sought to exploit such oppor-runiries by employing the Moodle platform.ίη order to design, implement and deliver e-maintenance training. The Dynarnite e-learn-ing platform, DynaTrain has been designedand implemented to deliver training dedicat-

ed το the enlployed technologies and practice.The training content includes basic knowl-edge for developing skills to efficiently planand execute the Dynamite - implemented e-maintenance functions. The training contentinvolves both theoretical background as wellas practical examples in the form of "howω" cases to help personnel carry out certaintasks. The training is divided in segments ofeducational c()ntent th"t c"n be studied by

vίeννίng a single web page, with or withoutlimited scrolling involved.

The course topics were developed by theDynamite project partnel's and include νί-

DYNATRAIN

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l~ DtnamiteWeb. one common ΡΟΑ interface ν/iH be used. Thίs is a window mobίlθ irterface that αι'ι caIedd,fferent program deνek>Pθd by dίfferenι ρartιιers and contain a embedded intemet browser ιο oρεn" ρΓojecιweb page. oιrweb aρρlίcation is an instaηce.

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Due to some Inherent technoIogIcaI IimItatIons (Iow memory, Iow processing capabiIitles,programmIng IIbraries ...), some actors, IIke MEMS,may not be abIe to connect such adatabase. Α software soIution, MIMOSA transIator, has been Implemented to allow actors toInteract with the database. The software moduie resIdes between actors and MIMOSAdatabase and Ιs desσIbed Ιη detalIs ίη the foIIowlng parts.

Iι\ΣMOSATroιιs:JoΙor

FIGURE 6. MIMOSA translation ΓαΓdata interoperability.

bration sensing (Diagnostic 50-lutions Ltd), data acquisition,(WyseIec ΟΥ), PDA and RFID

inventory tracking (Uηiversiryof Sunderland), prognosis webservices and MIMOSA translaror(Universiry Henri Ροίασετέ). Εχ-amples of these specialised cours-es are shown ίη FIGURES 4 ... 6.

assessment. As Maintenance andAsset Managemenr curricula areίη most cases αοτ incllJded in for-mal education and trainees areoften people who Ιιενε alreadyentered their working life, main-tenance training is usually pro-vided within vocationaI educa-ίίοη and training schemes. Οη-the-job training is ackno\vledgedto be among the most efficientmeans for delivering profession-al training. But tlliS, especially ίηmainrenance, involves high costs

ConclusionThis article has looked ίnto theusage of e-learning for mainte-nance training and competence

and inflexible traIΠlng hours.Trainees often cannot afford thetirne to enter courses that areinflexible ίn terms of tirne andplace scheduling. E-training of-fers a viable alternative that isboth flexible and cost-efficient .Ιτι addition, competence assess-ment ίn the maintenance engi-neering field can benefίt from theintroduction of automated e-as-sessment rools, meeting demandsfor streamlining and standard-ising maintenance managementand engineering competence as-sessment.

AcknowledgementsThe aut110r acknowledges finan-cial support received tllrough tlleprojects iLearn2Main (Industri-al Training System for ModernEnterprise Maintenance, GrantΝο ΤΟ1-004_2007, UΚ LdV)and Dynamite (Dynamic De-cisions in Maintenance, GrantΝο ΡΡ6 ΙΡ017498), as well asthe great collaboration with aUpartners ίn both projects. Par-ticular tllanks are due το Mr.Nikos Papfbanassiou at οετι/R.C.ATHENA and Vassilis 5paisat Zenon SA for their involve-ment towards the developmentοΕ the e-Iearning solutions. 8

» REFERENCES

Arnaiz, Α, Jantunen, Ε.,

Emmanoulidis, C. & lung, Β.(2006) Mobile MaintenanceManagement. Journal ofInternational Technology andInformation Management - JITlM15(2006)4' ρρ. 11-22.ISBN 1063-

519ΧEFNMSvzw Competence

Specifιcations at www.efnms.org/publications

Bakouros, Υ., andPanagiotidou, S. (2008) Απanalysis of maintenanceeducation and training needsίπ European SMEs and an ΙΤplatform eΠΓίchίng maintenancecurricula with industrialexpertise. Proc. ΟΙ CM-MFPT2008, 5th lnt. Conf. οπ Condition

Monitoring & Machinery FailurePrevention Technologies, 15.-18.μο08, Edinburgh, υκ

Emmanouilidis, C., Labib,Α, Franlund, J., Dontsiou, Μ.,Elina, L. Borcos, Μ., (2009).«iLearn2Main: an e-LearningSystem for MaintenanceManagement Training», Proc. 4thWorld Congress οπ EngineeringAsset Management (WCEAM2009), Athens 28·-30.9.2009.

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Machinery Failure PreventionTechnologies, 15.-18.μο08,Edinburgh, υκ

Franlund, J. (2008) SomeEuropean initiatives ίπrequirements of competenceίπ maintenance, Proc. of CM-MFPT 2008, 5th Int. Conf.οπ Condition Monitoring &Machinery FaίlUΓePreventionTechnologies, 15.-18.μ008,Edinburgh, υκ

Macchi, Μ. and lerace, S.(2009) Education ίπ industrialmaintenance management:Feedback from an Italianexperience, Proc. 4th WorldCongress οπ Engineering AssetManagement, 28.-30.9.2009,Athens, Greece

Papathanassiou, Ν. andEmmanouilidis, C., (2009),e-Iearning for MaintenanceManagement Training andCompetence Assessment:development anddemonstration, Proc. 4th WorldCongress οπ Engineering AssetManagement, 28.-30.9.2009,Athens, Greece.

Starr Α and Bevis Κ (2009)The role of education ίπindustrial maintenance: thepathway to a sustainable future.Proc. 4th World Congress οπEngineering As-set Management.28.-30.9.2009, Athens, Greece

MAINTWORLD 1.2009 41