Ramin Karim Editor & Author

Ramin Karim is a PhD in Operation and Maintenance Engineering with specialisation in Industrial AI & eMaintenance. Currently, he is a Professor of Operation and Maintenance Engineering at Luleå University and Director of the Centre of Maintenance and Industrial Services. He has more than 15 years of work experience in IT industry after obtaining his degree in computer science. He is the head of for the eMaintenance LAB, an applied laboratory for research and innovation in Industrial AI and eMaintenance. His research interest includes AI, digitalisation, asset management, enhanced hybrid analytics (based model-driven and data-driven approaches), and predictive technology in industrial asset management.

Prof. Karim has initiated and developed the concept and platform called ‘AI Factory’, which is a universal concept for cross-industrial data and model sharing based on digital and AI technologies. Today, the toolkit of ‘AI Factory’ has been adapted to several industrial sectors, such as railway, mining, construction, and aviation. Professor Ramin Karim has demonstrated with his creative thinking and innovation-driven personality how excellence in research can lead to sustainable development in society and benefits for business. This in the contexts of digitalization, Industrial AI, and eMaintenance. Prof. Karim with his commitment, goal-oriented action, innovative thinking and enthusiasm has created a dynamic research environment that has been a model for useful research.

His research results have resulted in a number of innovations. Prof. Karim is the founder of a spin-off company from LTU, i.e., 'Predge AB' (formerly eMaintenance365 AB), which provides advanced analytics based on cloud/edge-technologies and artificial intelligence. The company has been listed on Swedish ‘33-listan’, which a list of the most promising start-ups in Sweden, two years in a row.

Prof. Karim’s research has attracted national and international attention. Prof. Karim has been an in-demand lecturer and advisor in various contexts. Some of these are: (i) 'Industrial Advisory Board of IMS Center in the USA'; (ii) 'VALE (Brazil Mining Comapny)'; (iii) 'Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre'; (iv) 'Future Committee of the National Organisation of Swedish Maintenance'; (v) 'Board member of sustainability circle'. Ramin's work has also attracted the attention of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). On behalf of OCED, Ramin has produced a report for policymakers, focusing on data-driven technology and solutions in transport.

Furthermore, Prof. Karim's research results, i.e., 'AI Factory', have been recognized two (2) years in a row on IVA's 100 list in 2020 and 2021, where projects with the potential to create benefits in the foreseeable future through industrial commercialization, business and method development and societal impact are represented.

Diego Galar is Full Professor of Condition Monitoring in the Division of Operation and Maintenance Engineering at LTU, Luleå University of Technology where he is coordinating several H2020 projects related to different aspects of cyber physical systems, Industry 4.0, IoT or Industrial AI and Big Data. He was also involved in the SKF UTC centre located in Lulea focused on SMART bearings and also actively involved in national projects with the Swedish industry or funded by Swedish national agencies like Vinnova.

He is also principal researcher in Tecnalia (Spain), heading the Maintenance and Reliability research group within the Division of Industry and Transport.

He has authored more than five hundred journal and conference papers, books and technical reports in the field of maintenance, working also as member of editorial boards, scientific committees and chairing international journals and conferences and actively participating in national and international committees for standardization and R&D in the topics of reliability and maintenance.

In the international arena, he has been visiting Professor in the Polytechnic of Braganza (Portugal), University of Valencia and NIU (USA) and the Universidad Pontificia Católica de Chile. Currently, he is visiting professor in University of Sunderland (UK), University of Maryland (USA), and Chongqing University in China.

Uday Kumar is the Chair Professor of Operation and Maintenance Engineering, Director of Research and Innovation (Sustainable Transport) at Luleå University of Technology and Director of Luleå Railway Research Center.

His teaching, research & consulting interests are equipment maintenance, reliability and maintainability analysis, product support, Life Cycle Costing (LCC), Risk analysis, system analysis, eMaintenance, asset management etc.

He is visiting faculty at the Center of Intelligent Maintenance System (IMS)- a centre sponsored by National Science Foundation, Cincinnati, USA since 2011, External examiner and Program Reviewer for Reliability and Asset Management Program of The University of Manchester, Distinguished visiting Professor at Tsinghua University Beijing, Honorary Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, etc. Earlier he has been visiting faculty at Imperial College London, Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki, Univ. of Stavanger, Norway, etc.

He has more than 30 years of experiences in consulting and finding solutions to industrial problems directly or indirectly related to maintenance of engineering asserts. He has published more than 300 papers in International Journals and Conference Proceedings dealing with various aspects of maintenance of engineering systems and has co-authored 4 books on Maintenance Engineering and contributed to World Encyclopaedia on Risk Management.

He is an elected member of Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.