The Requirements and Rules to achieve a Certificate as a European
Expert in Maintenance Management
Background
To become competent to manage and develop the maintenance activities and to run a modern cost-effective maintenance organisation, there are several areas of knowledge that has to be assimilated.
The European Federation of National Maintenance Societies, EFNMS, has developed a specification for the minimum requirements of knowledge for an Expert in Maintenance Management.
The EFNMS will also certify those individuals in Europe that can prove to be enough competent (to have the required theoretical knowledge and practical experience) to become a Certified European Expert in Maintenance Management.
The aim has been to specify the theoretical knowledge and the practical experience to be hold by a maintenance manager, thereby assuring that the maintenance activities can be organised and performed in the best possible way in each company.
The objective is a competence assurance of the maintenance activities within Europe.
This document includes:
- the EFNMS minimum Requirements of knowledge for an Expert in Maintenance Management
- the Rules to be able to achieve the EFNMS Certificate as an European Expert in Maintenance Management.
Any individual or organisation is free to use these requirements as a base for their training programmes.
All individuals have their right to apply for the EFNMS Certificate and to join the examinations of the theoretical knowledge that are arranged by a National Member Society of the EFNMS.
These requirements and rules, were accepted by the EFNMS Council on the 17th of April 1993 and amended by the EFNMS Council on the 37th of May 1998.
The EFNMS minimum Requirements of knowledge for an Expert in Maintenance Management.
1. A general approach
The specification contains the minimum requirements of the theoretical knowledge for a maintenance manager in general. Special requirements for maintenance managers in electrical, mechanical, chemical industries or others, are not covered. However, this specification aims to fulfil the intention to be enough comprehensive and include the essential and fundamental knowledge, that any expert in maintenance management has to have, regardless in which company or country he is working.
In short the requirements cover the following areas:
MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION
- Goal, strategies, results
- Organisation, competence
- Procurement, selling of service
- Guiding, control, analysis
- Economical control, LCC, LCP
- Material handling, logistics
RELIABILITY PERFORMANCE OF PRODUCTION PLANTS
- Definitions
- Measurements, mathematical formulas
- Requirements, control, analysis
- Design, procurement, operation
- Laws, regulations
MAINTENANCE INFORMATION SYSTEMS
- Planning, ordering, analysis
- Documentation
- Information systems
- Technical/economical analysis
MAINTENANCE METHODS AND TECHNIQUES
- Remote control, condition monitoring
- Preventive activities
- Repair techniques and methods
The required knowledge mentioned above is general for an Expert in Maintenance Management in any European Country. To be able to achieve the EFNMS Certificate the requirements also include:
MAINTENANCE TERMS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
2. Three levels of knowledge
In the detailed specification the requirements of knowledge has been described in three levels:
Level 1. Very good knowledge
For these subjects the requirements are to have a very good knowledge to be able to handle the special tasks that belong to a maintenance manager.
Level 2. Good knowledge
For these subjects the requirements are to have enough knowledge to be able to manage and develop these activities.
Level 3. Understanding
For these subjects the requirements are to have enough understanding to be able to make the right decisions and to have an insight of the total implications of the maintenance activities inside and outside a company.
3. The detailed specification
Note: The information that are given within brackets () are just examples to clearify the ideas behind the requirements in the specification, and shall not be looked upon as a total list, but just as examples. After some of the detailed text there is a sign [GK] or [U]. These signs indicates that the specified detailed knowledge has a requirement equal to Good Knowledge respectively Understanding.
3.1. Management and Organisation
Within this area it is essential to have a very good knowledge about the importance of maintenance for the economy in the company, for the achievements of the production goals and for the quality of the product, and so on.
It is important to have good knowledge of the organisation of the maintenance activities.
Therefore the following knowledge has to be obtained:
Very good knowledge in:
- How to set up a company management policy in order to be able to participate in its definition as far as maintenance is concerned.
to describe why a policy has to be set up and what the requirements are for a policy
to give examples on in which way the maintenance aspects are in a company management policy
- How to formulate the maintenance policy within a company.
to give an example of a maintenance policy
to describe what the requirements for a maintenance policy
to describe the process of the development of a maintenance policy
- How to formulate the maintenance goals.
to describe the general requirements for maintenance goals
to describe the process of the development of maintenance ogals
to give examples of maintenance goals
to describe the relationship between goals and policy
- Different maintenance strategies and how to choose the right strategy.
to formulate different maintenance strategies
to describe the reasons behind the choice of a certain strategy
- How to specify the requirements for the maintenance activities.
to describe the different maintenance activities
to describe different requirements for the maintenance actitivies
to describe the process of the identification, the formulation and the communication of the requirements
- How to organize the maintenance activities, how to choose a suitable organisation and assure the right competence within the organisation.
to describe different types of maintenance organizations (e.g. centralized, decentralized, cooperation with the equipment supplier and/or servicing companies and integration with the production)
to describe the advantages and the disadvantages with the different types of organizations and the combination of them
to describe hoe to develop the competence in all the different types of organizations
- How to determine the human and material resources in order to implement the organisation.
to state the different types of maintenance resources (e.g. tools, material, personnel, transportation, documentation, shops)
to describe how to develop and optimize the maintenance resources (personnel and material), their location, quality and quantity
- How to assure (by maintenance activities) the health and safety and the right environment conditions (inside and outside the company).
to describe different conditions in the production equipment that may cause risks for health, safety and the environment (inside and outside the company)
to describe the possibility to prevent such incidents by maintenance activities, including cooperation with other departments in the company and external parties
- How to guide, control and analyse the maintenance activities.
to describe different methods and techniques to achieve an optimized result for the company by the maintenance activities, including the economical and safety aspects for these methods and techniques
to describe different general aspects that have to be taken into account for analysis
to describe the methods and techniques for analysing and the betterment process
to describe different methods to control the maintenance activities
to understand the different maintenance concepts (e g TPM, RCM, etc)
- How to develop and use key-figures for the economical control.
to describe how to use the key-figures in the control and deveJopment of the maintenance activities
to describe what the fundamental requirements are for key-figures
to describe the most useful key- igures for different maintenance organizations
- LCC/LCP tecniques/methods.
to describe the methods of LCC and LCP, and when they can be used
to be able to make some fundamental calculations of LCC and LCP
to describe how to organize the work when using the concepts of LCC and LCP
to describe how the concepts of LCC and LCP can be used in different situations
to describe how to specify the LCC requirements in a procurement process [GK]
to describe how to verify the LCC values and the consequences if the verified result is not in accordance with the specified requirements [GK]
- Logistics support, material and store handling, methods for spare part calculations
to describe the different factors that will have an influence on an optimized organisation of the spare part consumption (e g cost for lack of spare parts, cost for storage, cost for interest, etc)
to describe routines and organization for an optimized logistic support of spare parts (e g purchasing, quality control, delivery systems inside the maintenance organization, etc)
to describe different ways of organizing the spare part store (e g centralized, decentralized, at the supplier)
to describe how to calculate the total amount of spare parts and how many of each type, inclusive the typical mathematical formulas for this purpose [GK]
- How to measure and analyse the results of the maintenance activities, e.g. efficiency and economy.
to describe different methods to measure the result of the maintenance activities, the advantages and disadvantages with the methods and their handling of the economical aspects
to describe what is not covered by these methods
to understand different economical models regarding maintenance and understand the fundamental principles regarding the economical results for a company
to be able to develop a model for measurement and analysis of the maintenance activites
- The maintenance activites in the development and procurement of new production equipment.
to be able to transfer production requirements into functional requirements (e g equipment dependability) and into quantitative and qualitative maintenace requirements (e g reliability and maintainability) and optimize the resources
to understand the importance for maintenance of taking part in the development phase
to describe how the maintenance experience can be used during the design phase
- How to define the future maintenance needs of a company.
to understand which factors that are important for the need of maintenance activities and how they might be changed in the future (e g new requirements regarding goals, strategies and results)
to understand the future needs of maintenance and its influence on the actual activities in the long run (e g work load, type of work, quality and quantity)
to be able to describe different future scenarios
Good knowledge in:
- How to define and implement human resources development policy.
to describe why a human reources development policy has to be set up and what the fundamental requirements are for such a policy
to give an example of a human resources development policy
to describe the process of the development of a human resources development policy
Understanding in:
- Actual European standards within maintenance.
- Laws and regulations regarding labour, liability, guarantee, environment, energy, etc.
to describe different methods to measure the ful ilment of the laws and regulations with respect to labour, liability, guarantee, environment, energy, etc.
to describe what is not covered by these methods
to know the different unions in the country and the agreed commitments
- The essential contribution from the maintenance activities to achieve good product quality and good production performance.
- to understand the maintenance contribution
3.2 Availability Performance of Production Plants
Within this area it is essential to have knowledge about how to guide, control and develop the availability performance activities, in order to assure the performance of the production, the quality of the products, the safety regulations and the environment conditions.
It is important to have good knowledge of all availability performance activities that shall be taken care of during the entire life cycle of a production system, e.g. during development, procurement, operation and displacement of a production equipment.
Therefore the following knowledge has to be obtained:
Very good knowledge in:
to understand that this has to do with the number of failures and the disabled states due to maintenance activities
to be able to define reliability
to describe some different measures of reliability (e g MTBF, MTTF, etc)
to be able to calculate the reliability
to be able to describe the mechanism that causes the failures
to describe the different redundancies [U]
to be able to draw a reliability block diagram with serial and parallel systems and for active and passive redundancies[U]
to be able to calculate the reliability probability for a serial and parallel system and for active and passive redundancies [U]
to be aware of the different statistial distributions for failures (e g Exponential, Lognormal, Weibull, etc) [U]
to understand that this has to do with active time for maintenance
to be able to define maintainability
to describe some different measures of maintaiability (e g MTTR, M, etc)
to be able to calculate the maintainability
to describe which time elements that are included and not included in the calculation (e g preparation time, functional check out, waiting for resources) [GK]
to be able to analyse what causes the length of active maintenance times
to understand that this has to do with waiting times for maintenance resources
to be able to define supportability
to describe some different measures of supportability (e g MLDT, MWT, etc)
to be able to calculate the supportability
to be able to analyse what causes the length of the waiting times
to understand that this has to do with the time of the ready state for the equipment
to be able to define availability
to describe the connection and differences between dependability, availability, reliability, maintainability and supportability
to be able to calculate the availability with respect to down time, running time, operational cycles, production, calender time, etc [GK]
to be able to analyse what causes low availability [GK]
to understand the influence of availability on the production [GK]
- Improvements of the availability performance
to understand in which different ways it is possible to improve the availability
to understand in which different wavs it is possible to improve the reliability (e g the choice of components, redundancies, design, preventive maintenance, better operational use, etc)
to understand in which different ways it is possible to improve the maintainability (e g design, documentation, maintenance equipment, education, etc)
to understand in which different ways it is possible to improve the supportability (e g assure faster access of personnel, documentation, spare parts, maintenance equipment, transports and assure faster administrative routines, etc)
Good knowledge in:
- The mathematical and statistical formulas to be used in the specifications and for verifications.
to able to specify requirements regarding reliability performance (e g what is regarded as failures, active maintenance time, waiting time and how the availibility is defined, etc)
to describe the basic mathematical formulas within availability, reliability, maintainability and supportability
to be able to specify how the verification will be performed
to descride the different consequences if the verified results are different from the requirements [U]
to describe the different types of human failures
to describe what causes human failures
to understand how human failures can be prevented and avoided
to describe the different types of incidents that the maintenance activities shall prevent (e g consequences on health, safety and environment)
to understand how to predict and prevent such consequences
to give examples of external parties interested in those preventions
to be able to define risk
to describe the different steps in a general risk analysis
to be able to calculate risks
to describe some different methods for risk analysis and when they can be used (e g FMEA and Fault-tree)[U]
to be able to judge on the quality of a performed risk analysis [U]
Understanding in:
to define quality and quality assurance
to mention some standards and methods for quality assurance regarding maintenance
to describe how the maintenance activities will have an influence on the quality assurance
- Laws and regulations (technical aspects)
to exemplify governmental organizations that are responsible for laws and regulations regarding maintenance
to exemplify organizations that are checking the application of these laws and regulations
to exemplify laws and regulations that have a direct influence on the maintenace activities
3.3 Maintenance Information Systems
Within this area it is essential to have knowledge about the different methods and systems that can be used in the decision making process, to be able assure that the maintenance activities are costeffective and are supporting the company profit.
It is important to have good knowledge of how to specify the system requirements and how to develop and use the information systems for planning, control, feedback analysis and improvements.
Therefore the following knowledge has to be obtained:
Very good knowledge in:
- Maintenance Management Information Systems (key-figures, guidance tables and so on).
- to describe differnt types of information systems and be able to combine these (e g the customer requirements on maintenance, the efticiency of the plant equipment and the machineries, the different contracts for the maintenance performance)
- to be able to specify the requirements for an information system
Good knowledge in:
- Maintenance Information Systems (for planning, work order, technical/economical analysis, and so on).
to describe different types of information for maintenace activities (e g workorder, work control, planning, work preparation, spare parts, LCC/LCP, safety, risks, environment, production results, betterments, modifications, investments, etc)
to be able to specify the requirements for information systems that will handle the above
to describe the limits and the uncertainities that might exist in these systems
to be able to combine, prioritize and argue regarding the use of these systems
to be able to describe the different modules in a maintenance information system
- Technical documentation/information systems.
to be able to specify the requirements for a documentation system and give some examples of how the different documents shall look like (e g maintenace instructions, equipment lists, drawings, spare part lists, education/personnel informations, handbooks, etc)
to describe how to organize the work to keep the systems updated
- Technical process control systems.
to be able to specify these systems
to describe the limits and the uncertainities that might exist in these systems
to be able to combine, prioritize and argue regarding the use of these systems
to describe the relationship between the process control system and the maintenance information system
Understanding in:
to define and describe the principle of an expert system, inclusive the different types of such systems
to describe the problems regarding the use of such systems
- Basics concerning the computer support for the topics above.
to describe the basic ideas how to combine and prioritize the information systems mentioned above
to describe different ideas regarding the documentation system (e g paper - computerized, local - central, advantages - disadvantages, etc)
to be able to adapt the systems to the actual circumstances
to be able to indicate actual costs for these systems and the advantages to use them
to know the fundamental requirements regarding the security for information systems and the need of backup for computer systems
to describe how to use the results from these information systems
to describe the difficulties with these systems (e g collecting data, present data, etc)
to describe the principle concept how to handle a project regarding the implementation of a new system (e g the choice of system, preparation, installation, training, etc)
3.4 Maintenance Methods and Techniques
Within this area it is essential to have knowledge about the theories and methods that are used to optimise the mix between corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance (predetermined or conditions based) and modifications.
It is important to have knowledge about how to choose the right methods for the best cost effectiveness.
Therefore the following knowledge has to be obtained:
Good knowledge in:
- The theory of the failure patterns
- to define a fault
- to describe the different causes for a fault (e g specification, design, installation, operation, maintenace)
- to understand the statistical distributions for failures
- to be able to choose the appropriate maintenance method depending on the actual failure distribution (e g corrective, preventive, condition based, modification)
- to be able to classify and take into account the different consequenses of a fault
- to descripe the different causes of wear and tear
- to describe the different possibilities to prevent that
- Improvement techniques (aiming at reducing failure rates and down times)
to know and understand different methods of fault finding
to understand different methods of improvements due to maintenace requirements
to be able to specify, plan, control and follow up improvements
to describe methods and techniques for preventive and condition based maintenance
to understand and be able to decide about the intervals between preventive maintenance actions
to be able to choose a suitable preventive maintenance program (e g activities, intervals, etc)
to describe methods and techniques for inspection (condition based maintenance)
to understand and be able to decide about the intervals between inspections
to be able to choose a suitable inspection system
- Condition monitoring techniques
(see "Inspection techniques" above)
- Methods of life extensions
to know different methods of life extensions, and how to execute them
to be able to describe in a visual way how different maintenance activities will have an influence on the life time of the production equipment
to understand the principles of measurement systems with indication and presentation for the purpose of maintenance
to describe typical methods to measure different technical conditions
to be able to describe different types of condition monitoring systems (e g continous, by intervals, on request, centralized or decentralized)
Understanding in:
- Performance improvement techniques.
to know and judge on the importance of different fault finding methods
to understand different methods of improvements due to maintenance requirements
to be able to specify, plan, execute and up performance improvements
to be able to plan, execute and follow up repair work
to be able to give examples of repair techniques
3.5 Maintenance terms in the English language
Within the language area it is essential to have good knowledge about the maintenance terms in the English language, in order to be able to handle international maintenance management matters within Europe. (This requirement only applies to those that like to have an EFNMS European Certificate, and does not apply for a National Certificate.)
Therefore the following knowledge has to be obtained:
Good knowledge in:
- The understanding of maintenance terms in the English language.
The Rules to be able to achieve the EFNMS Certificate as a “European Expert in Maintenance Management”
1. General
An applicant has to fulfil the requirements regarding the theoretical knowledge and the practical experiences (as specified below) within one year to be able to get the EFNMS Certificate. The date of the certification will be the date when the last of the requirements is fulfilled.
2. The requirements of theoretical knowledge
2.1. An examination
2.1.1. Each National Maintenance Society that is a member of the EFNMS will, on behalf of the EFNMS, arrange written examinations of the theoretical knowledge in each societies own language. (These tests can be arranged at intervals that will suit each society.)
2.1.2. The examination has to be arranged accordin g to national university standards
2.1.3. The examination shall include:
[A] questions that cover the subjects in the detailed specification,
[B] one maintenance article in English, from which the students shall write an abstract in their own language.
2.1.4. The complete examination of [A] above, shall last no more than 8 hours. The examination can be divided into two parts, with two different questionaries. (E.g. one part with questions covering "Management and Organization" + "Maintenance Information Systems" and another part covering "Reliability Performance of Production Plants" + "Maintenance Methods and Techniques".)
2.1.5. The complete examination of [A] above, give 100 points. To pass the examination a candidate has to achieve 70 points. If the examination is divided into two parts, as described in 1.1.4. above, the first part can give 55 points (to pass 40 points) and the second part 45 points (to pass 30 points.)
2.1.6. A separate examination of [B] above is allowed for 1 hour.
2.1.7. Regarding the examination of [B] above, a candidate shall prove a fully understanding of the maintenance terms in English to pass the test.
2.1.8. Present at the examination have to be the National Examinator (see 2.2.1. below), the EFNMS observer (see 2.4.2. below) and a member from the board of the National Maintenance Society.
2.2. A questionaire preparation group for the examination
2.2.1. For the preparation of the questions in an actual examination, the National Maintenance Society has to select a group of professionals who are authorities within the area of maintenance management.
This group has to include as a minimum:
- a professor and/or a teacher from a university
- a maintenance manager from a medium or large company
- a representative from the board of the National Maintenance Society
(In some cases the same person can cover more than one of the criterias above. However, the group shall not conslst of less than three people and each of them has to fulfil at least one of the criterias above, and all the mentioned criterias have to be covered by the group.)
Among the above professionals a National Examinator shall be appointed.
2.2.2. The final proposal for the questionaire has to be sent to an EFNMS observer (see 2.2.2. below) for approval. The approval has to be done by the signature of the observer on each sheet of the questionaire.
A questionaire that is not approved by the EFNMS observer is not valid for the purpose of the EFNMS certification.
2.2.3. The questions for the written examinations have to be treated confidential. Nobody outside the preparation group and the EFNMS observers shall be able to know anything about the questions prior to the actual examination.
2.3. The questionaire
2.3.1. The examination for [A] above shall include questions that cover the subjects in the detailed specification. All subjects under the beadins "Very good knowledge" have to be covered by the questions.
The examination for [B] above can consist of an article in English, where the maintenance management aspects are covered. To pass the examination a fully understanding of the article and the right translation of the maintenance terms has to be proved.
2.3.2. The questionaire has to be arranged according to national university standards.
2.4. The National Examinator and the EFNMS observer
2.4.1. The National Examinator will be selected among the members of the group of professionals (defined in 2.2. l. above) and will be in charge for running the examination according to 2. l. above.
2.4.2. The selected EFNMS observer has to be a member of the EFNMS Certification Committee and belong to another National Society than the Society which conducts the examination.
The EFNMS observer shall understand the language in which the examination is done. His costs shall be paid by the Society which conducts the examination.
2.5. The evaluation of the examination
2.5.1. The evaluation of the examination has to be done by the National Examinator a member from the board of the National Society and the EFNMS observer.
2.5.2. The result has to be written down on each candidates answer form and signed by the National Examinator and the EFNMS observer (the EFNMS Examination Executor). Unless both these signatures are present on the answer form, the examinatlon result is not valid for the purpose of the EFNMS examination.
2.5.3. The result of the examination is final and can not be a subject of any appeal against.
3. The requirements of practical experience
The applicant shall fulfil the following practical experiences:
At last 5 years experience in the field of maintenance, inclusive at least 2 years experience in a managing position in the field of maintenance. (At least one of these years should have occurred during the last 18 months.)
4. The EFNMS Certificate
The EFNMS will issue the Certificate (diploma), that will be signed by the EFNMS President, The National Society President and the EFNMS Examination Executor.
5. A register of Certified Experts in Maintenance Management
The EFNMS will make a register of all certified European Experts in Maintenance Management's that are certified according to these rules.
The names of the certified individuals may be published. (The names of those that not passed the test shall not be published.)
6. The certification costs
For each issued certificate the National Society has to pay 50 ECU to the EFNMS.
This amount and a sum for the administration of the National Society has to be paid by the applicant (student). (The sum for administration is to be decided by each National Society.)
7. Certificates from a National Maintenance Society
An individual who has fulfilled the requirement 2. [A] above will receive a national certificate from his (her) National Society that proves that he (she) has passed this examination.
Each national member society of the EFNMS has its right to issue a National Maintenance Society Certificate (diploma) as a "National Expert in Maintenance Management" for each national individual which has fulfilled the requirements 1., 2. [A] and 3 above. (The requirements regarding the EngIish language and the EFNMS quality control are not included.)
The sum for administration to be paid by the applicant (student) is to be decided by each National Society.
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