Reliability Engineer vs. Maintenance Engineer: What Are the Differences?

Both reliability engineers and maintenance engineers are responsible for ensuring that machines and equipment are running properly. However, their duties and responsibilities differ in several ways. In this article, we compare and contrast the job titles of reliability engineer and maintenance engineer, including their duties, education requirements and salary information.

What is a Reliability Engineer?

Reliability Engineers are responsible for ensuring that products or systems meet all safety and quality requirements. They work in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, aerospace and automotive. Reliability Engineers develop and implement plans to prevent or solve problems. They also use statistical analysis to identify trends and root causes of problems. Reliability Engineers work closely with other engineers, technicians and managers to ensure that products or systems are designed and built to meet all safety and quality requirements.

What is a Maintenance Engineer?

Maintenance Engineers are responsible for ensuring that machinery, equipment and other physical assets are properly maintained and repaired. They develop maintenance schedules, inspect equipment and systems, diagnose problems and perform or oversee repairs. Maintenance Engineers also order replacement parts and track inventory levels. They may work in a variety of industries, such as manufacturing, healthcare, transportation or food and beverage production. In some cases, Maintenance Engineers may be responsible for supervising a team of maintenance workers.

Reliability Engineer vs. Maintenance Engineer

Here are the main differences between a reliability engineer and a maintenance engineer.

Job Duties

Maintenance engineers are responsible for overseeing the maintenance of a facility or system. This can involve identifying issues, creating repair plans and supervising implementation of those plans. They also evaluate the effectiveness of these repairs and make adjustments as needed. Reliability engineers focus more on ensuring a product or process is reliable rather than simply functioning. Their job duties may include conducting testing to determine performance rates and designing processes to ensure effective communication between different departments.

Job Requirements

Reliability engineers typically need a bachelor’s degree in engineering, although some employers may prefer candidates with a master’s degree. These professionals also often pursue certification through the American Society for Quality (ASQ). To become certified, reliability engineers must have at least three years of experience in the field and pass an exam.

Maintenance engineers usually need a bachelor’s degree in engineering as well. However, some employers may be willing to hire candidates with an associate degree or relevant work experience. Maintenance engineers might also pursue certification through ASQ or another organization, such as the Institute of Asset Management (IAM).

Work Environment

Maintenance engineers typically work in manufacturing facilities, construction sites or other locations where machinery is used. They may travel to these locations and spend time on-site performing maintenance activities. Reliability engineers usually work in offices, but they also visit the production floor of a company to observe how products are being used by customers.

Skills

Both reliability engineers and maintenance engineers use problem-solving skills to identify issues and develop solutions. They also both need to have technical skills to understand the systems they are working on and be able to follow safety protocols.

Reliability engineers focus on ensuring that products or systems meet the required level of performance and are available when needed. To do this, they often use statistical analysis and modeling to predict how likely it is for a system to fail. They also develop plans for maintaining and repairing systems. Maintenance engineers carry out these plans and are responsible for keeping systems operational.

Both of these professionals need to be able to communicate effectively, as they often work with other engineers and technicians. Reliability engineers may also need to interact with customers to explain their findings and recommendations. Maintenance engineers typically need interpersonal skills to build relationships with the people they work with, as well as customer service skills when they are dealing with customers who are experiencing problems with their systems.

Salary

Reliability engineers earn an average salary of $100,951 per year, while maintenance engineers earn an average salary of $71,113 per year. Both of these average salaries may vary depending on the size of the company at which you work, location of your job and the level of experience you have prior to pursuing either position.