AI Factory

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

Professor Karim initiated and developed the concept and platform called AI Factory, 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, including railway, mining, construction, and aviation. With his creative thinking and innovation-driven personality, Professor Karim has demonstrated how excellence in research can lead to sustainable development in society and benefits for business. This is in the context of digitalisation, Industrial AI, and eMaintenance. With his commitment, goal-oriented action, innovative thinking, and enthusiasm, he has created a dynamic research environment that has been a model for useful research.

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

Professor Karim's research has attracted national and international attention. He is 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 Company); (iii) Swedish-Brazilian Research and Innovation Centre; (iv) Future Committee of the National Organisation of Swedish Maintenance; and (v) Board member of the Sustainability Circle. His work has attracted the attention of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). On behalf of OCED, he produced a report for policymakers, focusing on data-driven technology and solutions in transport.

Furthermore, Professor Karim's research results with respect to AI Factory have been recognised two years in a row on IVA's 100 list in 2020 and 2021. The list includes projects with the potential to create benefits in the foreseeable future through industrial commercialisation, business and method development and societal impact.

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

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

Professor Diego has authored more than 500 journal and conference papers, books, and technical

reports in the field of maintenance, working also as a member of editorial boards and scientific committees, chairing international journals and conferences, and actively participating in national and international committees for standardisation and R&D in the topics of reliability and maintenance.

In the international arena, Professor Galar has been a visiting Professor at Polytechnic of Braganza (Portugal), University of Valencia, NIU (USA), and Universidad Pontificia Catolica de Chile. Currently, he is a visiting professor at 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 Lulea University of Technology, and Director of Lulea Railway Research Center.

His teaching, research, and consulting interests are equipment maintenance, reliability and maintainability analysis, product support, lifecycle costing (LCC), risk analysis, system analysis, eMaintenance, asset management, etc.

He has been visiting faculty at the Center of Intelligent Maintenance System (IMS), a centre sponsored by National Science Foundation, Cincinnati, USA, since 2011. He is also an external examiner and program reviewer for the Reliability and Asset Management Program at University of Manchester, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University Beijing, and Honorary Professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, among others. Earlier he was visiting faculty at Imperial College London, Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki, and University of Stavanger,Norway, among others.

Professor Kuman has more than 30 years of experience in consulting and finding solutions to industrial problems directly or indirectly related to maintenance of engineering assets. He has published more than 300 papers in international journals and conference proceedings dealing with various aspects of maintenance of engineering systems, co-authored four books on maintenance engineering, and contributed to World Encyclopaedia on risk management.

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