CTMTDS Newsletter June 2024 - ARC Training Centre for Transforming Maintenance through Data Science

Welcome to the first newsletter for 2024 where we'll cover all of the exciting activities so far in 2024!

IN THE SPOTLIGHT #

Congratulations to Ziyu Zhao, whose thesis was 'passed subject to minor revision'. Well done Ziyu!
Congratulations also to Braden Thorne and Sandy Spiers who both submitted their theses in May 2024!
Congratulations to Sandy Spiers who was awarded the SigmaOpt /MoCaO Student Best Paper Prize for his paper “An exact cutting plane method for the Euclidean max-sum diversity problem”, published in the European Journal of Operational Research. This award is for an exceptional paper in the field of mathematical optimisation, optimal control, operations research or related field published in the last 18 months. SigmaOpt and MoCaO are special interest groups of ANZIAM and the Australian Mathematical Society, respectively. Well done Sandy!

ACTIVITIES #

Masterclass on planning and scheduling #

Yingying Yang, Ponpot Jartnillaphand and Srimali Gunasekara attended the masterclass 'Maintenance Planning and Scheduling' presented by Assetivity. This masterclass emphasised practical applications, from routine maintenance scheduling to spare parts optimisation. Presenter Lucas Céspedes provided practical insights to enrich participants' knowledge of maintenance planning and to equip them with the tools to drive operational excellence in maintenance management, as well as benefit PhD research outcomes.

Tour of Alcoa Pinjarra refinery #

In May 2024, members of the CTMTDS team attended asite tour of the Alcoa Pinjarra Refineryhosted by Alcoa partner investigator Peter Rose. Peter presented the history of Alcoa, the refinery process and maintenance cycles. This was followed by a bus tour through the refinery, stopping at a control room to allow attendees to go inside and experience daily operations. All participants found the time on-site an invaluable experience, providing context for the application of their research. A big thank you to Peter for organising and hosting the tour!

'Conversational data analysis' using ChatGPT #

A/Director Aloke Phatak (and Alex Jenkins of WADSIH) demonstrated how to use ChatGPT for data analysis at the 2024 ResBaz. Aloke's live demonstration showed researchers how the data analysis module of ChatGPT 4.0 could be used to analyse data using natural language, bypassing programming in a computer language such as Python. Doing so allows researchers to focus on the questions that they want to ask of the data, without getting caught up in the details of a computer programming language.

TEAM NEWS #

We welcome back Andrew Rohl from his six-month sabbatical at Oxford in the UK. Andrew will resume his role as Director of the Centre. Thanks to A/Director Aloke Phatak for leading the Centre in Andrew's absence.
The Centre farewelled Natasha Bartlett who was Centre Manager for four-and-a-half years. A heartfelt thank you to Natasha for her incredible contribution, excellence and efforts over the years. A farewell event took place on 24th May at Curtin Library, Lantern space. Thank you to all who were able to attend and make Natasha's last day so special! Natasha is moving on to manage the ITTC in Critical Resources for the Future based at UWA. We wish her all the best!
The Centre also welcomed new Centre Manager, Vanessa MacDonald, who has previously managed two ARC ITTCs at Curtin University. Vanessa looks forward to showcasing the Centre and research over 2024 including a Celebration event later this year.
CTMTDS welcomed a new baby to the team! Tim Pesch and Manou Rosenberg are delighted to announce the arrival of Mila in January. Congratulations!

The Centre bid farewell and best wishes to Natasha Bartlett who has commenced an ITTC Business Manager role at UWA.

Events #

Researchers Catch-Up #

The Researcher Catch-up Seminar series takes place monthly, across Curtin, UWA and virtually, with speakers from the Centre, industry and the academic community.

21 March 2024, hosted by Dr Aloke Phatak #

3 May, 2024, hosted by Dr Michael Stewart #

Braden Thorne presented: Understanding patterns in your maintenance data prevents failures
Shuixiu Lu presented: Optimising failure predictions through data quality control

Researchers Training on Coding with David Glance #

Centre members are invited to attend a workshop on coding to be held over two half-days on the 12th and 17th July.

This workshop will introduce participants to the fundamentals of a risk-based approach to cybersecurity. Participants should understand the terms used in describing vulnerabilities, threats, and risks and how these risks can be managed as part of a risk management process. The principles of a secure software development lifecycle (in this case Microsoft SDLC) will be covered, and participants should understand how they would go about developing software as part of such a process. The concepts of privacy and personal data will be discussed and how developers should be cognisant of the impact their software may have on the privacy of users and people and organisations that have their data as part of the functionality of the application. The legal landscape for both cybersecurity and privacy will be covered to summarise obligations on the developer operating in Australia and potentially other markets.

Date: Day 1 Friday 12th July, Noon – 4pm

Day 2 Wednesday 17th July, 12:30pm - 4:30pm

Curtin 137 St George's Terrace, Perth, upstairs in the ‘Salon Room’.

Participants will be notified of practical requirements closer to the date of the workshop

For further details please contact Centre Manager Vanessa MacDonald.

Stay tuned for our next issue where we will cover:

Training Opportunities for Centre participants
New Atlassian Cloud based platform for Centre data to be launched.
Presentations by Sandy Spiers and Hoa Bui
Special events for 2024
New publications for 2024

Do you have news to share?

Please email [email protected].