Reddit mentions of Maintenance and Reliability Best Practices (Volume 1)

I have been a maintenance engineer for nearly 3 years now, ever since graduation from university, however I grew up around mechanics and rednecks so I felt like I had a good feel for basic equipment when I accepted this position. My current professional experience is all in the oil and gas sector, so I am for sure not the subject matter expert on rotating equipment or really anything for that matter, however ill chime in my two cents and hopefully it'll help you out in some manner.

For the couple of maintenance engineers with less experience and knowledge of basic equipment that I have mentored or helped in some sort of way, I have really pushed for them to search youtube and google to see how similar systems work when they have questions on how the equipment we use works. Generally there is always some detailed video online which shows a similar comparable system to what we use, the difference for us is generally just how we use or apply it. I am sure the same applies in some manner for chemical/manufacturing plants as well.

One of the websites I use sometimes for reference is http://barringer1.com/. On this site there is an excellent pdf of Reliability Centered Maintenance and how the airlines developed their programs back in the 1970's (http://www.barringer1.com/mil_files/AD-A066579.pdf) its a long read but well worth it, as it gives in my opinion a good look into maintenance/reliability engineering and the theories behind it, which is applicable whether you are in the oil and gas industry or the chemical/manufacturing/airline industry. There are ton of old military reliability documents here as well, which should also provide plenty of reading material (http://www.barringer1.com/mil.htm) however they do tend to be pretty dry reads, and in all honesty I have only attempted to read portions here and there.

Another website which may be helpful and reads a bit more like a magazine is (http://www.reliableplant.com/), just found this one recently! Here is also a relatively cheap book which should be helpful to you in your role as a maintenance engineer (https://www.amazon.com/Maintenance-Best-Practices-Ramesh-Gulati/dp/0831134348).

Lastly in my opinion, if you don't have a lot of experience with the equipment that is in use at a chemical or manufacturing plant, don't worry. Learning the ins and outs of the equipment and how it works takes time around it, monitoring it, getting dirty with it, wrenching on it, operating it, and performing failure analysis on it. Spend this time that you have now to learn the basic theories of maintenance engineering such as reliability centered maintenance, that way when you get your shot at an interview it'll be smooth sailing!

Here are some of the metrics producing formulas a maintenance/reliability engineer can benefit from being familiar with.

http://www.six-sigma-material.com/TPM.html

There are also some good books here are three that I use:
Uptime: Strategies for Excellence in Maintenance Management, Third Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/1482252376/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_hQdEDbJED1HVW

Reliability-Centered Maintenance Second Edition https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831131462/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_UQdEDbZMFWPZT

Maintenance Best Practices https://www.amazon.com/dp/0831134348/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_dRdEDbZ4QH9YH