Maintenance and repair engineer

Description

Maintenance and repair engineers focus on the optimization of equipment, procedures, machineries and infrastructure. They ensure their maximum availability at minimum costs.

Other titles

The following job titles also refer to maintenance and repair engineer:

mechanical engineer
equipment engineer
maintenance engineer
maintenance and repair manager
site superintendent
production engineer
machine engineer
repair engineer
maintenance and repair superintendent
manufacturing systems engineer
plant engineer
engineering manager
manufacturing engineer
plant maintenance engineer
plant repair engineer

Minimum qualifications

Bachelor’s degree is generally required to work as maintenance and repair engineer. However, this requirement may differ in some countries.

ISCO skill level

ISCO skill level is defined as a function of the complexity and range of tasks and duties to be performed in an occupation. It is measured on a scale from 1 to 4, with 1 the lowest level and 4 the highest, by considering:

  • the nature of the work performed in an occupation in relation to the characteristic tasks and duties
  • the level of formal education required for competent performance of the tasks and duties involved and
  • the amount of informal on-the-job training and/or previous experience in a related occupation required for competent performance of these tasks and duties.

Maintenance and repair engineer is a Skill level 4 occupation.

Maintenance and repair engineer career path

Similar occupations

These occupations, although different, require a lot of knowledge and skills similar to maintenance and repair engineer.

steam engineer
commissioning engineer
precision engineer
mine ventilation engineer
installation engineer

Long term prospects

These occupations require some skills and knowledge of maintenance and repair engineer. They also require other skills and knowledge, but at a higher ISCO skill level, meaning these occupations are accessible from a position of maintenance and repair engineer with a significant experience and/or extensive training.

Essential knowledge and skills

Essential knowledge

This knowledge should be acquired through learning to fulfill the role of maintenance and repair engineer.

Quality assurance procedures: The procedures to inspect a product or system to ensure that it is according to specifications and requirements.
Engineering principles: The engineering elements like functionality, replicability, and costs in relation to the design and how they are applied in the completion of engineering projects.
Maintenance and repair: The preservation and restoration of products and systems, and the methods and logistics of these practices.
Engineering processes: The systematic approach to the development and maintenance of engineering systems.
Mechanics: Theoretical and practical applications of the science studying the action of displacements and forces on physical bodies to the development of machinery and mechanical devices.

Essential skills and competences

These skills are necessary for the role of maintenance and repair engineer.

Create solutions to problems: Solve problems which arise in planning, prioritising, organising, directing/facilitating action and evaluating performance. Use systematic processes of collecting, analysing, and synthesising information to evaluate current practice and generate new understandings about practice.
Resolve equipment malfunctions: Identify, report and repair equipment damage and malfunctions; communicate with field representatives and manufacturers to obtain repair and replacement components.
Manage budgets: Plan, monitor and report on the budget.
Troubleshoot: Identify operating problems, decide what to do about it and report accordingly.
Conduct quality control analysis: Conduct inspections and tests of services, processes, or products to evaluate quality.
Perform test run: Perform tests putting a system, machine, tool or other equipment through a series of actions under actual operating conditions in order to assess its reliability and suitability to realise its tasks, and adjust settings accordingly.
Work safely with machines: Check and safely operate machines and equipment required for your work according to manuals and instructions.
Maintain equipment: Regularly inspect and perform all required activities to maintain the equipment in functional order prior or after its use.
Maintain machinery: Maintain machinery and equipment in order to ensure that it is clean and in safe, working order. Perform routine maintenance on equipment and adjust or repair when necessary, using hand and power tools. Replace defective parts components or systems.
Conduct routine machinery checks: Check machinery and equipment to ensure reliable performance during use and operations in worksites.
Use testing equipment: Use equipment to test performance and operation of machinery.
Perform machine maintenance: Perform regular maintenance, possibly including corrections and alterations, on a machine or machine tool to ensure it remains in a proper productive state.
Advise on efficiency improvements: Analyse information and details of processes and products in order to advise on possible efficiency improvements that could be implemented and would signify a better use of resources.
Write technical reports: Compose technical customer reports understandable for people without technical background.
Inspect industrial equipment: Inspect equipment used during industrial activities such as manufacturing or construction equipment in order to ensure that the equipment complies with health, safety, and environmental legislation.
Inspect machinery: Check machine equipment for proper performance and detect faults and malfunctions. Diagnose malfunctions using testing equipment to determine the required repair.

Optional knowledge and skills

Optional knowledge

This knowledge is sometimes, but not always, required for the role of maintenance and repair engineer. However, mastering this knowledge allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Communication: Exchanging and conveying information, ideas, concepts, thoughts, and feelings through the use of a shared system of words, signs, and semiotic rules via a medium.
Hydraulics: The power transmission systems that use the force of flowing liquids to transmit power.
Nuclear energy: The generation of electrical energy through the use of nuclear reactors, by converting the energy released from nuclei of atoms in reactors which generate heat. This heat subsequently generates steam which can power a steam turbine to generate electricity.
Total quality control: The quality control philosophy that expects each part to be of top quality, without any tolerance for subpar materials or methods. The mindset of striving to deliver top quality work without compromises.
Quality standards: The national and international requirements, specifications and guidelines to ensure that products, services and processes are of good quality and fit for purpose.
Electronics: The functioning of electronic circuit boards, processors, chips, and computer hardware and software, including programming and applications. Apply this knowledge to ensure electronic equipment runs smoothly.
Pneumatics: The application of pressurised gas to produce mechanical motion.
Electricity: Understand the principles of electricity and electrical power circuits, as well as the associated risks.
Mechatronics: Multidisciplinary field of engineering that combines principles of electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering, computer engineering, and mechanical engineering in the design of products and manufacturing processes. The combination of these areas of engineering allows for the design and development of “smart” devices and the achievement of an optimal balance between mechanical structure and control.
Automation technology: Set of technologies that make a process, system, or apparatus operate automatically through the use of control systems.

Optional skills and competences

These skills and competences are sometimes, but not always, required for the role of maintenance and repair engineer. However, mastering these skills and competences allows you to have more opportunities for career development.

Provide technical documentation: Prepare documentation for existing and upcoming products or services, describing their functionality and composition in such a way that it is understandable for a wide audience without technical background and compliant with defined requirements and standards. Keep documentation up to date.
Optimise production processes parameters: Optimise and maintain the parameters of the production process such as flow, temperature or pressure.
Lead process optimisation: Lead process optimisation using statistical data. Design experiments on the production line and functional process control models.
Use a computer: Utilise computer equipment or digital devices to facilitate quality control, data management, and communication. Follow instructions given by a computer programme, create computer files or documents.
Perform risk analysis: Identify and assess factors that may jeopardise the success of a project or threaten the organisation’s functioning. Implement procedures to avoid or minimise their impact.
Maintain nuclear reactors: Repair and perform routine maintenance on equipment which controls nuclear chain reactions to generate electricity, ensure that the equipment functions safely and compliant with legislation.
Record test data: Record data which has been identified specifically during preceding tests in order to verify that outputs of the test produce specific results or to review the reaction of the subject under exceptional or unusual input.
Read standard blueprints: Read and comprehend standard blueprints, machine, and process drawings.
Optimise production: Analyse and identify the strengths and weaknesses of solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems; formulate and plan alternatives.
Perform maintenance on installed equipment: Perform the maintenance on installed equipment on-site. Follow procedures to avoid uninstalling equipment from machinery or vehicles.
Estimate restoration costs: Estimate the cost implications of restoring and replacing products or parts.
Maintain power plants: Repair and perform routine maintenance on equipment and systems in power plants to ensure that everything functions safely and is compliant with legislation.
Use computerised maintenance management systems: Use computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS) in order to facilitate effective follow up of the work undertaken in maintenance facilities.
Provide customer information related to repairs: Inform customers about necessary repairs or replacements, discuss products, services and costs, include accurate technical information.
Apply technical communication skills: Explain technical details to non-technical customers, stakeholders, or any other interested parties in a clear and concise manner.
Write records for repairs: Write records of the repairs and maintenance interventions undertaken, of parts and materials used, and other repair facts.

ISCO group and title

2141 – Industrial and production engineers

 

 


 

 

References
  1. Maintenance and repair engineer – ESCO
Last updated on August 8, 2022