The outcome of the project will be disseminated through the European Federation of National Maintenance Societies, EFNMS, and it‘s National Maintenance Societies
Maintenance is not adequately emphasized in the academic world, there is a need for validation of non-formal and informal maintenance learning and experience together with formal learning. With other words, certified objective maintenance competences are needed for the individuals and companies concerned, within and across European nations.
To achieve this, EFNMS has for many years certified Maintenance Managers and Maintenance Technician Specialist. This has been done in cooperation with some of the National Maintenance Societies based on standardized exams. However, the question database is somewhat limited, largely based on written questions and it is restricted who can take part. This has been identified as one of the main reasons why the European EFNMS certificates have not become widespread certificates recognised by individuals and companies around Europe as the symbol for objective maintenance competences.
However, the EFNMS certificates are known and respected in the societies where they are used, they are based on a good foundation and issued by a respected party, the EFNMS and the National Maintenance Societies involved. The aim of this project is to get past the limitations mentioned above, that it to create a database of multiple-choice questions that will be disseminated through EFNMS, its European Certification Committee (ECC) and its National Maintenance Societies around Europe. The dissemination will be in the form of European Maintenance Certificates issued by EFNMS to maintenance professionals around Europe seeking employment and working for European companies.
For the dissemination to be successful several measures have been taken, including:
- To use a channel that is already established and respected i.e. the EFNMS channel as mentioned above. This greatly improves the chances for a successful dissemination as it would require a lot of work to establish a new channel and it would involve a lot of risk
- To have a strong connection with ECC, which will, on behalf of EFNMS, be the owner of the questions, maintaining questions and adding questions for years to come
- To use the connection to EFNMS, ECC and the National Maintenance Societies in Europe to lobby for the Maintenance Certification in Europe
- To make use of and connect to other related current European initiatives in the field of maintenance, e.g. by making use of the newly established EFNMS Body of Knowledge when defining the qualification framework and also as a reference for questions
- To make use of European standards in the field of asset and maintenance management establishing the quality framework and while creating questions. The standards used and referred to include:
- EN 15628: Maintenance – Qualification of maintenance personnel
- EN 17007: Maintenance process and associated indicators
- EN 13306: Maintenance terminology
- EN 16646: Maintenance within physical asset management
- ISO 55000/1/2: Asset management
- To create pilot cases where exams have been tested by professional maintenance personnel
- To have two folded quality assurance for questions created, firstly be each nation/ participant in the project and secondly by a separate quality assurance team
- To install the questions in a ready – to – use system for preparing, facilitating, and executing exams and issuing certifications and knowledge tests before and after training
- To involve persons from the industry in the project, bearing in mind that the certifications will be of importance to:
- Individual maintenance professionals
- Training/Educational companies, public and private
- Companies hiring maintenance professionals
- To have two – level certification
- Knowledge passport based on answering one minute multiple choice questions from the defined subjects within the qualification framework. The exam will be carried out few times per year in many countries at the same time and there are no restrictions, meaning that anyone can take the exam and get a “European Maintenance Knowledge Passport” if he/she passes. Training companies can offer preparation courses for this exam, companies in the industry can use it to find out where their employees need additional support and individual can use the exam / the passport to get a better position. All in all, this will allow for a bigger market, more efficient marketing and greater spread than the current EFNMS certification process offers
- Certification based on more complex multiple-choice questions. The student must first pass the first level, the knowledge passport, and must also have experience within the field before he/she will be allowed to take the exam. Such measures are important to secure the quality of the certificate
- Build up an organization med Test Centres in Europe to support the industry’s competence improvements in modern maintenance. Testing before and after training optimizes the effort.
- To make use of Industry 4.0, by including it in the subjects / questions. The work in Europe in relation to Industry 4.0 has had positive effect on modern production using automation and reliable maintenance. Production without costly stop and defect products will be the best way for Europe to be reindustrialized. High standard for personnel in maintenance are one tool in this process. This project is one important step in this process. If the industry can identify a cost effective way to improve the manpower they will use it.
- To create a bridge between maintenance and physical asset management, through the definition of the framework and subjects / questions. The project members and EFNMS is involved in development of Asset management following ISO 55000 family. A part of these activities are related to overall maintenance understanding in the complete process from early planning through investments, production, maintenance and scraping/settlement
The EFNMS´s role
As mentioned before, EFNMS will be the owner of the results from the project, through it’s ECC committee.
After the new certification process will be established, based on the results from this project, it will be presented at EFNMS homepage and in other EFNMS publications.
There is an increased demand for certified maintenance personnel throughout Europe and thanks to the compliance to the EFNMS Body of Knowledge (BoK), European CEN standards and the EFNMS exam used for this the dissemination will be easier to achieve.
Twice a year the EFNMS has a Genereal Assembly with a common meeting and committee meetings. These meetings are very important for dissemination results from this project and for future success of the European Maintenance Certificate. The NMS´s also have national maintenance conferences where the European Maintenance Certificate will be presented.