»»The progress from an industrial society to a knowledge society and the rapidly increasing of globalization has led to a series of new challenges for the companies. They have to optimize productivity and reduce the use of resources in order to be interesting business partners.

In Denmark and other European countries high labor costs promotes companies to increase the use of expensive and sophisticated production facilities. These technological developments increase the competence demands of the maintenance employee. He has evolved from being a skilled craftsman doing repairs to a highly specialized maintenance technician.

The newest trends in Denmark do not stop here, advanced companies have seen the advantage in a flat organizational structure with high flexibility, rapid decision- making and employees being motivated through the possibility of influencing their daily life.

This leads to a situation where the maintenance managers set the direction, set the strategic goals and define the framework for the maintenance organization. They also provide the connection between the maintenance function and the rest of the organization.

The work life of the highly specialized maintenance technician is wide ranging. With a craft background and several maintenance courses, their job now comprises much more than craft related maintenance activities as cleaning, lubrication, retightening, troubleshooting, repair and change of parts.

Important and basic maintenance activities as cleaning, lubrication and retightening is handed over to employees with a lower maintenance competence level. Through a thorough system setup and sufficient instruction (supported by the maintenance technicians) this leads to a situation where the control and execution of these basic maintenance tasks are taken care of without spending the time of the highly competent maintenance employees.

They have to spend their time focusing on more directly value adding tasks. Among other things they have to support a development of systems which supplies transparency in the production plant data which is the base for a strategic approach towards optimization of the maintenance related productivity reduction. If data collection is not providing a clear view of where money is used, where time is spent and where faults are occurring, the highly specialized maintenance employee have to work for its development.

They also have to define the most suitable maintenance type for the various items – in accordance with the criticality. Furthermore they have to be competent within the areas of strategic management, maintenance organization, optimization, cooperation, economy, project management, legal and quality system demands and energy optimization.

Their competence levels within the above mentioned topics are not on a managerial level but on such a level that they support the organization. And most importantly they are on such a level that the highly specialized maintenance technician is able to focus his efforts on activities which provide the highest value adding to the company.

How Does this Employee Fit in the EQF?

Looking into the EQF (See article regarding the EQF in Maintenance at page XX) this highly specialized maintenance employee holds a competence level which is comparable to maintenance supervisors.

Even though they are working with craft related maintenance tasks, such as troubleshooting and specialized maintenance tasks, they also hold competences making them capable of planning their own days in a way so their efforts are placed where they add most value. They are also drivers in the maintenance organization towards well functioning maintenance and optimization systems which support development of higher productivity and lower resource consumption.

The EQF defined competences can also be developed through your work life. This means that this highly competent maintenance technician with a craft background, some maintenance and organizational courses and a lot of experience is at EQF level 6. He might not have a bachelor degree but by adding various courses and experience to his craft background, he has developed from an EQF level 3 as newly graduated craftsman to a highly specialized maintenance technician at EQF level 6.