'Maintenance problems aren’t always about physics. I look at them from a non-mechanical view and want to bring a more holistic perspective.’ Strange words coming from a mechanical engineer. But Andrea Sánchez, PhD candidate in the new chair Dynamics Based Maintenance, isn’t your typical technician. ‘Technology isn’t the solution. We need less practitioners who fix the problem but more knowledgeable engineers who understand the process.’
To explain her PhD research on machine maintenance, Andrea likes to use a metaphor. ‘When you’re in the hospital with heart failure, the nurse will see peaks on the monitor and she will know that something is off. But the cardiologist will exactly know what’s going on with what reason and with what treatment possibilities.’
Noise means it’s too late
The Colombian researcher compares herself to the cardiologist. ‘I ask fundamental questions about the conditions of machines and look at the environmental factors as well.’ Just like a cardiologist, Andrea wants to identify potential problems before they occur. Instead of listening to heart beats and reading blood pressures, she listens to vibrations. ‘When you hear a noise, it’s usually too late.’ So Andrea and her colleagues focus on the structural dynamics and how components are meant to interact. ‘We are developing a framework to help industry understand the fundamentals of vibration monitoring. Furthermore, we adopt ICT-technologies to develop the new generation of advanced vibration monitoring systems. We bring all cards to the table, so the user becomes more educated and is able to make the best choices.’
Andrea learned to look at problems from an organizational perspective when she did her master in Business Administration. ‘When I worked in industry as an engineer, it saw that managers and engineers have difficulty understanding each other. Studying business helped me to bridge the gap.’ According to Andrea, engineers are usually very creative in finding a technical solution to something that’s broken, but sometimes fail to understand the underlying problem. ‘And the real problem is often of organizational nature.’
Game of business
Andrea is a strong believer of using technology to become better as a human race. ‘I don’t know how exactly, but there’s no question about it that I will start a business one day, where I will add the “human touch” to the technology that we’re developing. I like business, I look at it as a game.’ But the pregnant Andrea predicts that her company wouldn’t keep her preoccupied fulltime, though. ‘I’m not the kind of person who can do only one thing.’
