Postgraduate Certificate: Smart Operations & Maintenance in Industry

The postgraduate studies in Smart Operations and Maintenance (O&M) in Industry allows engineers to specialize in the field of Smart O&M. The programme is developed to equip recent graduates, professionals, and international students with solid academic knowledge of the most essential concepts and technologies in Smart O&M. The set of courses forms an integral part of the Advanced Master of Science in Smart Operations and Maintenance in Industry.

Info

• Start of the programme: Tuesday 26 September 2023
• End of the programme: Thursday 27 June 2024
• Timing of the lectures: Tuesdays (15:00 – 19:15) and Thursdays (12:45 – 17:30) Lecturers will make optimal use of educational technology to guarantee an optimal combination of work and/or family and study, and to maximize engagement and interaction between participants and lecturers.
• Location(s):
• KU Leuven Campus Bruges, Spoorwegstraat 12, 8200 Bruges
• Ghent University Campus Kortrijk, Sint-Martens-Latemlaan 2B, 8500 Kortrijk
• Evaluation format: Both final and permanent evaluation
• Number of credits: 24 ECTS
• Contact hours: 240
• Tuition fee: € 3.800

​Purpose of the programme

Industry is digitally transforming, and actionable intelligence is key to implement the right technologies in a broader transformation strategy. This postgraduate programme is jointly organized by KU Leuven and Ghent University. It focuses on the most relevant and essential industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies and concepts related to operations and maintenance, for an industrial production context.

‘Operational excellence’ is an omnipresent objective in industry and is especially relevant for operationally intensive sectors, such as the manufacturing industry. They are subject to the I4.0 transformation, because operations in particular lend themselves to (flexible) automation. Operations are inextricably linked to the maintenance phase. Maintenance is aimed at allowing operational processes to run as smoothly and undisturbed as possible by ensuring that all equipment and infrastructure required for production is always working 100% efficiently.

This programme teaches how both operational and maintenance processes can be optimised by making them 'smart', using new (I4.0) technologies, such as robotics, big-data analytics, digital twins, cloud computing, etc. The programme covers technologies that facilitate an advanced digitalisation of product and process information (e.g., smart sensors), technologies that are used in production and maintenance (e.g., cobots), and technologies that connect production equipment/assets and people (e.g., Industrial IoT platforms).

The postgraduate programme stands firmly on its own, but also opens the door to more. The programme forms an integral part of the Advanced Master of Science in Smart Operations and Maintenance in Industry (starting in September 2023), in which students will be able to register for one of three in-depth and hands-on elective tracks, and further improve themselves as Smart O&M specialists. Participants who successfully complete the courses in the postgraduate programme will be granted exemptions in pursuing the homonymous advanced master’s degree.  

​Target audience & admission requirements

Target audience and eligibility

The postgraduate programme Smart O&M focuses on the higher technical profiles and aims at three types of students:

• recent graduates
• international students
• professionals 

Immediate admission is granted to those holding a master’s degree in Engineering or Industrial Engineering with majors in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Electromechanics, Machine and Production Automation, Electronics-ICT, Energy, and Business Systems Engineering and Operations Research.

If you do not hold one of the aforementioned master’s degrees, or if you hold a degree in an entirely different field of study, your application will still be considered if you can demonstrate the necessary academic requirements, equal to having a solid engineering background, through a CV and letter of motivation. The interuniversity programme committee will assess your application.

Graduates are qualified to take up different roles in different (industrial) sectors, ranging from SMEs to international Captains of Industry. The skills developed, and the knowledge obtained will be more widely applicable than in the manufacturing industry alone. All operationally intensive sectors, including for example the food and pharmaceutical sector are eager to recruit engineers with a solid background in Smart O&M who can be the foundation of and an advisor in their digital transformation process.

​Programme structure

The one year postgraduate programme consists of four courses of 6 ECTS, 24 ECTS in total, spread evenly over two semesters.

First semester (Sept – Dec):

• Digital Twin
• Operations Management Strategies (pt. I)
• Monitoring & Prognostics (pt. I)

Second semester (Jan-Jun):

• Smart Factory Design
• Operations Management Strategies (pt. II)
• Monitoring & Prognostics (pt. II) 

For a detailed overview of the programme, please visit www.smart-OM.eu.

​Partners

The Postgraduate Certificate Smart Operations and Maintenance in Industry is a collaboration between the Faculties of Engineering Science and Engineering Technology of KU Leuven and the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Ghent University. It has the administrative-organizational support of the Post University Centre (PUC) of KU Leuven and the Academy for Lifelong Learning for Engineers (UGain) of Ghent University.

​Want to know more?

https://smart-om.eu/
Contact: info@smart-OM.eu