With the recent developments of Industry 4.0 technologies, maintenance can be improved significantly by making it "smart", proactive and even self-aware. This paper introduces a new cutting-edge interfacing technology that enables smart active remote maintenance right on the machine in real-time while allowing integration of smart automated decision making and Industrial Internet of Things to upgrade existing legacy equipment through latest Industry 4.0 technology. This interfacing technology enables remote sensing and actuation access to legacy equipment for smart maintenance by entirely non-intrusive means, i.e. the original equipment does not have to be modified. The design was implemented in a real-world manufacturing environment.

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COVID-19 and the resulting restrictions have had a massive impact on engineering education, particularly vocational and practical aspects of training. In this study, we present a novel mixed reality (MR) tool to simulate and guide learners through a simple fault diagnosis task of a three-phase power supply. The tool was created as a web-based application that could be accessed from budget smartphones in order to cover the majority of users. Comparisons were made between novices using MR guidance and those with more experience in the task who did not have additional guidance, finding that the novices outperformed the experts across all metrics measured. This indicates that MR could be a valuable tool to supplement traditional vocational learning methods, particularly at a time when physical access to equipment and facilities is scarce. MR has applications across the engineering industry, but the target task of a three-phase power supply was chosen as it has particular relevance to the offshore wind industry, which faces a shortage of skilled engineers and technicians in the coming years.