HBO Product Engineering Thesis Assignment

Location: Schiphol Rijk
Hours per week: 40
Education level: HBO (Higher Professional Education)
Apply until: 30-06-2026

During this HBO thesis assignment (January 2027-June 2027), you will work on determining the optimal removal timing of an APU gas turbine (Auxiliary Power Unit) based on turbine efficiency and Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) to achieve maximum profit and prevent Beyond Economical Repair (BER) and abnormal wear.

EPCOR is a subsidiary of Air France Industries & KLM Engineering & Maintenance and specializes in the maintenance and repair of aircraft components, with a strong focus on APUs. These are small gas turbines that provide electricity and air on board aircraft for air conditioning and starting main engines.

Within EPCOR, there is currently insufficient insight into the optimal moment to remove an APU from an aircraft with a view to maximizing profitability. If an APU remains on-wing for too long, the risk of abnormal wear or even BER increases. This leads not only to higher repair costs but also to customer dissatisfaction due to unexpected costs.

On the other hand, removing an APU too early ensures that the maximum economic potential is not utilized. Therefore, there is a need for a clear assessment based on measurable performance indicators.

In this thesis assignment, you will be developing a decision-making framework or overview with which EPCOR can determine at which values of turbine efficiency and/or Exhaust Gas Temperature (EGT) an APU can best be removed. This framework must, on one hand, contribute to maximizing EPCOR's profit and, on the other hand, prevent an APU from returning in a state of BER or with abnormal wear, which causes extra costs and customer dissatisfaction.

During this thesis assignment, you will focus on:

• Analyzing historical data from Prognos for APU (e.g., EGT trends and turbine efficiency) from various APUs.
• Determining at which values of EGT and/or turbine efficiency APUs were removed in the past and what the consequence was (economically repairable, BER, degree of wear).
• Establishing threshold values at which an APU should ideally be removed.
• Without being too late with excessive damage and additional costs for the customer.
• Without being too early with minor wear and relatively high costs for EPCOR.
• Providing an overview (per APU type) with recommended removal timings based on these parameters.

This should lead to:

A clear advisory document (or dashboard) in which the critical EGT and turbine efficiency limits are displayed per APU type (or even per individual unit or customer/region), including a substantiation. This document must be usable by Operations or Engineering to make substantiated decisions regarding the timing of removal. This can lead to the following for EPCOR:

• Increased profitability through optimal utilization of APUs;
• Reduction of BER cases and abnormal wear;
• Improved customer satisfaction and transparency towards the customer.

• You are following a technical HBO Engineering degree and have an affinity for IT or Technical Business Administration or a similar technical education and are in the thesis phase;
• You have an interest in aeronautical engineering, maintenance engineering, data analysis, and information systems;
• You enjoy working with data and establishing connections between technical performance and maintenance costs;
• You can analyze in a structured manner and present results insightfully, for example using Power BI;
• You work independently, are analytical, and want to make a visible impact in practice with your thesis research.

• A substantively strong and practice-oriented HBO thesis assignment within an international aviation maintenance environment;
• Guidance by experienced specialists in the field of APU maintenance, data analysis, and information systems;
• The opportunity to work with realistic industrial data and gas turbine health monitoring systems.
• A direct contribution to the further development of predictive and condition-based maintenance within EPCOR.
• A professional and collegial working environment at Schiphol-Rijk with access to a very modern workshop, where technology, collaboration, and knowledge sharing are central.

Are you an HBO student who wants to combine technology, data, and aviation in a challenging thesis assignment with impact? Then we would like to meet you. Upload your CV and a clear motivation to our portal and discover how you can contribute to the future of maintenance within EPCOR with your thesis research.

Do you have questions? Email humanresources@epcor.nl. We will do our best to answer them as well as possible!