Efficient Plant Jan./Feb. 2024 - 20

department | tech horizons
An ongoing look into the
technologies and trends
that will shape your
manufacturing future
UT-RMC:
Training
Tomorrow's
Workers
Dr. Klaus M. Blache
Univ. of Tennessee Reliability
and Maintainability Center
(RMC)
T
HE UNIV. OF Tennessee Reliability
and Maintainability Center
(RMC) is an industry-university
association dedicated to improving industrial
productivity, efficiency, safety, quality,
and profitability through advanced reliability
and maintainability best practices,
technologies, and leadership principles. We
are implementation and ROI (return on
investment) focused.
Most understand the importance of
proper planning before implementing projects,
maintenance, and root-cause analyses.
At the end of the day, it's what you are able
to implement that matters.
That is one of the reasons the UT-Reliability
Certification is implementation
focused. The RMC is an engineering
research center within the Tickle College of
Engineering (TCE) at the Univ. of Tennessee,
Knoxville. The R&M Center has more
than 60 supporting industry members and
exists to advance reliability and maintenance
education and practices within the
academic and industrial communities
The Center has a training factory,
laboratory (for dashboards, best-practice
metrics, and technology software), and
training rooms. We sponsor multiple
senior design projects each year (with
College of Engineering departments such
as Industrial, Mechanical, and Electrical),
focusing on reliability and maintenance
methodologies, all predictive/condition-based
maintenance technologies, and
incorporating it into the training factory
and Industry 4.0 transition.
The training factory is primarily used
The Univ. of Tennessee RMC works closely with
industry partners to equip students with skills
that lead companies to top-quartile status.
20 | EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
to develop industry participants, while
involving engineering students to do
continuous improvements. The university
was the first institution in the U. S. to offer
a Reliability and Maintenance Engineering
minor that can be added to Engineering
degrees. We're also one of the first
institutions to offer a master's degree in
RME (in-person or on-line). Students do
R&M-related summer internships.
In addition, we offer a Reliability and
Maintainability Implementation Certification
(RMIC) to industry, administering
more than 30 classes at the RMC's main
office in Knoxville and many more with
our training partners across North America.
Some examples of topics include Strategic
Implementation in R&M, Transitioning
Your Workforce to Industry 4.0, Leading
Change, FMEAs and PM Optimization,
Root Cause Analysis, Essential Craft-Skills
(Bearings & Lubrication), Technician Core
Concepts, Shutdown Turnaround Optimization,
SAP for Maintenance Planners,
Planning & Scheduling, and Maintenance
Storeroom/Materials Management. Certifications
are also available in technologies
such as ultrasound, vibration analysis,
thermography, oil analysis, electric-motor
testing, and motion amplification, with
support from our many training partners.
Classes requiring plant-floor skills are as
much as 50% hands-on.
About 70% of the factory assets are
mobile to accommodate specific class
needs. More than 100 classes are available.
The Training Factory focuses on:
Practical, affordable, and implementable
solutions
Professional-development training
and certification (RMIC) for industry and
government
Applied research, innovation, and proofof-concept
Preparation
of industry participants and
College of Engineering students with the
JAN/FEB 2024
http://www.EFFICIENTPLANTMAG.COM
Efficient Plant Jan./Feb. 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Efficient Plant Jan./Feb. 2024
