Maintenance Makes the World a Better Place
Open call as part of the first Global Maintenance Day on 9 June
Today, we are living in a high-tech society. In Europe, about 6 million people work in a technical maintenance function on machine parks worth around € 10.000 billion. According to estimates, € 450 billion is spent annually on industrial maintenance across all sectors. Maintenance is essential to keep our companies profitable and to prevent technical incidents that have potentially serious safety, health and environmental consequences.
Yet technical maintenance is rarely, if ever, covered in the media. That is why the GFMAM, the Global Forum on Maintenance and Asset Management, is seizing the first Global Maintenance Day on Friday 9 June to launch an appeal to the media to highlight the importance of maintenance to the public. After all, there is an acute shortage of maintenance technicians.
The industry is currently grappling with a significant shortage of maintenance technicians, posing a considerable challenge to the smooth operation of various sectors. The rapid advancements in technology, coupled with an aging workforce and limited investment in training programs, have exacerbated the problem. As highly skilled maintenance technicians retire, there is a scarcity of qualified replacements to fill the void. The consequences of this shortage are far-reaching, as equipment breakdowns and prolonged maintenance downtimes can lead to decreased productivity, increased costs, and diminished competitiveness.
Impact of Maintenance on our Daily Lives
If we as a society fail to address this problem, it can have a huge impact on our economy and on everyone's daily life. Technical installations that are not maintained or are poorly maintained will sooner or later suffer a breakdown, with all its consequences and inconveniences.
But common citizens are also affected by the shortage of technicians. For instance, trains are regularly cancelled due to equipment problems. At water treatment companies, for example, a sophisticated maintenance approach helps to prevent environmental damage in watercourses, flooding in streets and homes and negative consequences for public health due to discharge of untreated wastewater, according to a technical manager at a water treatment company. In windmill parks, maintenance is also of great added value. A managing director states that maintenance technicians are vital, because their work is crucial in helping to build a CO2-neutral energy future and the importance of their function will only increase in the coming years.
Appeal to the media: More focus on technical maintenance
PEMAC Asset Management of Canada and the GFMAM are calling on the media to pay more attention to technical maintenance. The Global Maintenance Day on Friday 9 June is the perfect opportunity, but it does not need to end there. Learn more about how maintenance impacts the services you use every day and you will realize it is an import part of all of our lives.
Further information
About PEMAC
PEMAC Asset Management Association is a national not for profit association enabling excellence in maintenance, reliability, and asset management through collaboration, applied learning, and leadership.
About GFMAM
The Global Forum on Maintenance & Asset Management (GFMAM) is a non-profit organization, originally founded in May 2010 in Switzerland. It was re-incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation under the laws of Canada in October 2017.
Since its inception the Global Forum has held two meetings per year in conjunction with the conferences of its member societies and many opportunities to collaborate have been identified and advanced.
About maintenance
Very broadly speaking, maintenance is the total of activities aimed at maintaining or restoring machines, installations, buildings, (traffic) infrastructure, computer programs, nature, etc. to an "acceptable condition" in order to guarantee (immediately and in the long term) the "required level of functionality".
At our local maintenance society, we focus specifically on technical maintenance and asset management of machines, installations, buildings and infrastructure. We firmly believe that professional maintenance and asset management is the key to success for every company and society. A maintenance professional will keep machines operating safely and reliably and will constantly try to increase their efficiency. For example, technicians are able to identify and address potential problems early on, preventing predicted problems from occurring. This saves our companies both time and money. In addition, maintenance is also the first step towards a circular economy: because maintaining and possibly repairing something properly is necessary to make things last longer, not only in a business environment, but also in your home.
Working as a maintenance technician is an attractive career: the job covers a range of different technical challenges and tasks. This allows technicians to continuously improve and expand their skills. With the rise of Industry 4.0 and 5.0, technicians also get the chance to constantly learn and work with innovative state-of-the-art equipment. This keeps the job stimulating and rewarding.
For additional information, contact:
Mbongeni Mtetwa, Marketing Coordinator, PEMAC Asset Management Association of Canada
(905) 823-7255, ext 8, marketing@pemac.org.