Overview
Engineers are often required to evaluate the performance of various types of engineering assets. The ability to analyse maintenance data and develop effective maintenance plans are important skills for today’s engineers. This unit will introduce you to asset maintenance standards, strategies, philosophies, and procedures, including the basic principles of asset management systems. You will investigate and report on key concepts relating to asset and maintenance management in engineering organisations. You will learn the fundamentals of asset maintenance and management strategies, reliability, and life cycle engineering of assets to maximise and optimise their value. You will gain insight into the governing ISO standards and their application in real-world scenarios. You will learn how to use different diagnostic tools such as failure mode effect and critical analysis, reliability-centred maintenance, and collect and analyse maintenance data in several engineering contexts. These learning objectives will be achieved through successful completions of online quizzes, a group project, and an individual assignment. This knowledge will help to predict the future reliability performance of operating assets, as well as to develop and recommend appropriate maintenance strategies for different engineering assets.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2025
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from SUTE report
Provide students with up-to-date learning materials.
To ensure students have access to the most relevant and up-to-date learning resources, the unit coordinator should include the latest editions of the recommended textbooks in the unit profile.
- Apply theoretical principles, standards, frameworks, and strategies underpinning engineering asset and maintenance management through group project and individual assignments
- Analyse the performance of engineering assets using different fault detection, diagnostic, and life cycle management tools
- Apply maintenance and reliability methods to predict the useful life of engineering assets
- Model and predict the performance of engineering assets through data acquisition using analytical and statistical tools
- Critique contemporary theories of leadership for effective management of assets
- Work autonomously and as part of a team to deliver high-quality technical reports.
The Learning Outcomes for this unit are linked with the Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standards for Professional Engineers in the areas of 1. Knowledge and Skill Base, 2. Engineering Application Ability, and 3. Professional and Personal Attributes at the following levels:
Intermediate
1.5 Knowledge of engineering design practice and contextual factors impacting the engineering discipline. (LO: 2I 3I)
1.6 Understanding of the scope, principles, norms, accountabilities and bounds of sustainable engineering practice in the specific discipline. (LO: 3I 5I)
2.2 Fluent application of engineering techniques, tools and resources. (LO: 2I 4I)
2.4 Application of systematic approaches to the conduct and management of engineering projects. (LO: 1I 3I)
3.1 Ethical conduct and professional accountability. (LO: 6I)
3.2 Effective oral and written communication in professional and lay domains. (LO: 5I)
3.4 Professional use and management of information. (LO: 4I)
3.5 Orderly management of self and professional conduct. (LO: 5I)
3.6 Effective team membership and team leadership. (LO: 6I)
Advanced
1.2 Conceptual understanding of the mathematics, numerical analysis, statistics, and computer and information sciences that underpin the engineering discipline. (LO: 3A)
1.4 Discernment of knowledge development and research directions within the engineering discipline. (LO: 1A)
Note: LO refers to the Learning Outcomes number(s) that link to the competency and the levels: N – Introductory, I – Intermediate and A – Advanced.
Refer to the Engineering Postgraduate Units Moodle site for further information on the Engineers Australia Stage 1 Competency Standard for Professional Engineers and course-level mapping information https://moodle.cqu.edu.au/course/view.php?id=11382
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Online Test - 30% | ||||||
| 2 - Group Work - 40% | ||||||
| 3 - Project (applied) - 30% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | ||||||
| 2 - Communication | ||||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | ||||||
| 4 - Research | ||||||
| 5 - Self-management | ||||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | ||||||
| 7 - Leadership | ||||||
| 8 - First Nations Knowledges | ||||||
| 9 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Textbooks
Physical Asset Management
- Authors: Hastings, Nicholas Anthony John
- Springer-Verlag
- London London , UK
- ISBN: ISBN: 978-1-84882-751-6
- Binding: eBook
Reliability Centered Maintenance – Implementation Made Simple
- Authors: Neil Bloom
- McGraw-Hill
- ISBN: ISBN – 0 – 07 – 1460 69 – 1
- Binding: eBook
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
n.khandoker@cqu.edu.au
Week 1
Begin Date: 10 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Unit overview.
Importance of asset and maintenance management.
Evolution of maintenance practices.
Chapter
Textbook chapter (Hastings) - 1.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 2
Begin Date: 17 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Role of asset and maintenance management in overall business operations.
Strategies for various maintenance types.
Chapter
Textbook chapters (Hastings) - 2, and 3.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 3
Begin Date: 24 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Maintenance planning and scheduling.
Chapter
Textbook chapter (Hastings) - 7.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 4
Begin Date: 31 Mar 2025Module/Topic
Methods for maintenance plans, and budgets developments.
Chapter
Textbook chapters (Hastings)- 2, 4, 5, 6, 12, and 29.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 5
Begin Date: 07 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Maintenance engineering management principle – 1.
Chapter
Textbook chapters (Hastings) - 4, 5, 6, and 8.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Online quiz #1
Vacation Week
Begin Date: 14 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Vacation Week
Chapter
NA
Events and Submissions/Topic
Vacation Week
Week 6
Begin Date: 21 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Maintenance engineering management principle – 2
Chapter
Textbook Chapters (Hastings) - 4, 5, 6, 8, and 16.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Team Project Report Due: Week 6 Friday (25 Apr 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 7
Begin Date: 28 Apr 2025Module/Topic
Reliability centered maintenance principle – 1.
Chapter
Textbook Chapter (Hastings) – 21
Textbook Chapter (Bloom) – 2
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 8
Begin Date: 05 May 2025Module/Topic
Reliability centered maintenance principle – 2.
Chapter
Textbook Chapters (Bloom) – 4, and 5.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 9
Begin Date: 12 May 2025Module/Topic
Performance measures in maintenance engineering and management.
Chapter
Textbook Chapter (Hastings) – 28.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 10
Begin Date: 19 May 2025Module/Topic
Technologies in maintenance management, and engineering practices.
Chapter
Textbook Chapter (Hastings) - 13, and 21.
Textbook Chapter (Bloom) – 7, and 9.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Online quiz #2
Week 11
Begin Date: 26 May 2025Module/Topic
Safety issues in maintenance engineering, and managements.
Chapter
Textbook Chapters (Hastings) - 15, and 22.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Lecture and Tutorial classes.
Week 12
Begin Date: 02 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Guest lecture, and revision.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Sharing industrial experiences with students.
Applied individual project Due: Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Review/Exam Week
Begin Date: 09 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Exam Week
Begin Date: 16 Jun 2025Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Online Test
This assessment item includes two online quizzes, which can be accessed via the Moodle site. A set of true-false and multiple-choice questions will be assigned. Each online quiz will cover the learning content of the previous four weeks and the corresponding week (i.e. Online Quiz 1 covers the contents from Week 1 to Week 5, and Online Quiz 2 covers the contents from Week 6 to Week 10).
Every online quiz will stay open from Wednesday in the testing weeks until midnight Sunday the following week so that you can take it whenever you are ready and available. You can attempt each quiz twice, and the highest mark for each of the two attempts will be registered in the Moodle Gradebook. The time limit for 20 questions will be an hour for each quiz. Once started, it cannot be paused, and it will become unavailable after its closing. There will be no restrictions on the venue and materials you can use. However, you are highly recommended to prepare for the quizzes due to their limited time.
Quizzes will be held on teaching Week 5 & Week 10, respectively. The due date and time will be available on Moodle for the corresponding week.
Students will receive the marks at the end of the attempt.
- The total marks of each of two online quizzes will be scaled to out of 30 marks for the unit total.
- Numerical answers must be entered to 3 significant figures.
- Apply theoretical principles, standards, frameworks, and strategies underpinning engineering asset and maintenance management through group project and individual assignments
- Apply maintenance and reliability methods to predict the useful life of engineering assets
- Critique contemporary theories of leadership for effective management of assets
2 Group Work
In this team assessment, students will form a team of 2 to 4 members to work on an engineering asset and maintenance management project of their choice. They will produce a high-quality report of their findings. This assessment will give students an opportunity to showcase their team idea and concept in applying asset management tools for effective decision-making. This will implicitly assess a student's perseverance in the team, including conducting background research, retrieving and processing information, undertaking original engineering information analysis and logical interpretation, conclusions and recommendations.
The submission will be a group report containing elements of analysing a problem leading towards possible solutions, analysis, discussion, conclusions and recommendations. The report should also be professionally presented, clearly showing, and explaining the development strategy of the solution including any assumptions or limitations. To maximize time spent on the unit's core aim it is recommended that diagrams are hand-drawn, and any mathematical equations or working be handwritten and scanned into the document. The report should be written and contain enough detail such that an engineer can understand, check and if necessary, repeat the work described. A detailed marking criteria specific to the project elements is available on the Moodle site.
Week 6 Friday (25 Apr 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Only one report from each Team should be submitted via the Moodle submission link.
Week 8 Friday (9 May 2025)
A criteria-referenced assessment practice will be used to assess this task. This assessment's philosophy is to determine students' ability to work in a small team, use technical tools to analyse and evaluate information or data, and communication tools to showcase their problem-solving and communication skills.
Although this is a group submission, each member of the group may receive varying grades. In the final report, the group will be asked to specify each members percentage contribution in the project. This percentage contribution will be used to determine the grade of each student. To help with team management, the percentage of contribution should be discussed at the beginning and end of the project. Each team member should reference their own contributions in the team report by use of the Harvard author-date system.
The group report will be marked on the main elements of analysing a problem leading towards possible solutions, discussion, and conclusions. The report should also be professionally presented, clearly showing, and explaining the development strategy of the solution including any assumptions or limitations. The report should be written and contain enough detail so that an engineer can understand the work described. Detailed marking criteria specific to this assessment are available on the Moodle site.
- Apply maintenance and reliability methods to predict the useful life of engineering assets
- Model and predict the performance of engineering assets through data acquisition using analytical and statistical tools
- Work autonomously and as part of a team to deliver high-quality technical reports.
3 Project (applied)
Each student will work on an engineering situation where they will have to model and predict the performance of an engineering asset. The project will investigate failures of relevant engineering components or failures of a related product in a facility. The aim of the undertaken project work is to present a complete solution to the problem in a cohesive and holistic manner. They must thoroughly research the situation, apply relevant theories and asset and maintenance management frameworks, and recommend the most appropriate solution. Thus, in researching, examining, and obtaining an achievable result, students will need to use proper analytical techniques extensively (e.g. Work Study, Queuing Theory, FMECA, Planned Maintenance Optimisation, Pareto Analysis, Control Charts, etc.). The submission will be in the form of an individual report. Detailed marking criteria for the project elements are available on the Moodle site.
Week 12 Friday (6 June 2025) 11:45 pm AEST
Each student should submit an individual report via the Moodle site.
Students will receive their grades after the Certification of Grades.
The individual report will assess the gain in knowledge, effective self-management, communication, and technical work documentation. This must be substantiated with evidence of individual work. The submission will be assessed based on how well the material in the report demonstrates the student’s ability and understanding of the engineering problem and strategic approach of the maintenance management for the engineering assets. Detailed marking criteria specific to the project elements are available on the Moodle site.
- Analyse the performance of engineering assets using different fault detection, diagnostic, and life cycle management tools
- Model and predict the performance of engineering assets through data acquisition using analytical and statistical tools
- Work autonomously and as part of a team to deliver high-quality technical reports.
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
