A Look Inside the world of a RAMS Specialist

Thijs van den Eerenbeemt works as a RAMS Engineer at INNOCY, having progressed from a role as a Maintenance Engineer. As a RAMS specialist, Thijs contributes to the design of large infrastructure projects such as bridges, locks, tunnels, and factories - focusing in particular on the installations that ensure these assets can safely perform their functions. He approaches his work with a long-term perspective: how can smart design choices create the optimal balance between life cycle costs, risks and performance of the asset? How can maintenance be kept to a minimum without compromising availability, reliability or safety? This involves developing maintenance strategies, determining the required spare parts and their storage locations, finding ways to minimize energy consumption and much more.

Key role

“It’s an incredibly varied job,” Thijs says. “You operate in an environment that is complex in terms of technology, organization, and stakeholders. As a RAMS Engineer, you play a key role between the client and the often many different parties involved in a new-build or renovation project.” While new-build projects are already fascinating, renovations bring an extra layer of complexity: How do you ensure that the asset remains functional during the renovation so that users experience minimal disruption and safety is not compromised? And that goes well beyond simply deciding to schedule work in the summer rather than in the winter, Thijs notes. “You have to think about a wide range of topics and bring many moving parts together. Designers don’t always consider the risks that arise during usage. They mainly focus on the functional performance of the installation. A RAMS specialist takes a long-term view on aspects such as maintainability, reliability, availability and safety of the asset in the future. Take a tunnel’s technical installation, for example - you already need to consider what it will mean when more electric cars are on the road, as they pose different fire risks compared to fossil-fuel vehicles.”

Broad skill set required

The role combines expertise from multiple fields: engineering, economics, statistics and even psychology. While many RAMS specialists come from a maintenance engineering background, you also find people from other disciplines, such as electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and aerospace. Thijs explains: “You need a passion for technology, for everything that moves and turns. But you also need people skills, because your role is to bring together many different interests. That only works if you are a strong communicator and can gauge how to convey your message. You also need to be confident, because in the end, you have to stand behind the design. At the end of a design phase, I’m satisfied if we’ve reached the right balance of all RAMS and life cycle aspects and built a solid foundation for management and maintenance activities. Investments in reliability aren’t immediately visible in functionality—they’re more like an insurance policy. And just like with insurance, some people don’t want to take any risks and over-insure, while others push their luck. My role is to take or advise on exactly those measures that are sufficient—without unnecessary expense.”
 

“You need a passion for technology, for everything that moves and turns. But you also need people skills, because your role is to bring together many different interests.”

Thijs van den Eerenbeemt

‘Tinkering’ with large-scale installations

Recently, Thijs has been working on many projects outside his own region—which is probably a good thing for his family, he jokes. “I’m so proud of my work that anyone in my car has to hear about the projects I’ve contributed to.” Fortunately, his children don’t mind hearing about their father’s work from time to time. “I can’t hide my passion, but luckily what we do is quite tangible. As a boy, I loved tinkering with mopeds; now I ‘tinker’ with massive installations that keep our country connected and safe. It really is a dream job.”

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