Maintenance Excellence & Engineering Manager

Flagstone Foods:

At Flagstone Foods, we believe appreciation grows goodness. It shows every day in how we work —by looking out for one another, taking pride in what we produce, and doing the job right.

We’re one of North America’s largest manufacturers of snack nuts, trail mixes, and dried fruits, with plants in Robersonville, NC; El Paso, TX; and Dothan, AL, and a headquarters in Minneapolis. Our teams keep our lines running, our food safe, and our quality high.

We’re growing and adding to our team. We’re looking for reliable, dedicated people who value teamwork, safety, and consistency. If you want work you can take pride in, a supportive team, and a company that respects the people on the floor, you may find your home at Flagstone Foods.

POSITION: Maintenance Excellence & Engineering Manager

REPORTS TO: Plant Director

Position Summary

The Maintenance Excellence and Engineering Manager will be responsible for TPM implementation, capital management, and maintenance excellence. This role involves driving a cultural shift from emergency maintenance to planned maintenance, enhancing equipment reliability, and optimizing manufacturing processes.

Essential Functions

• Develop and lead plant engineering strategies to achieve key performance goals and ensure future business needs are met.
• Lead the transition from emergency maintenance (EM) to planned maintenance (PM), predictive maintenance, and reliability-centered maintenance, aligning with TPM principles.
• Drive the implementation of TPM across all facilities, focusing on early stages such as moving from reactive "emergency maintenance" to proactive "planned maintenance".
• Collaborate with the Maintenance Manager to develop the structure, computer systems, tracking, and technical skills evolution, fostering a strong relationship between maintenance and operations.
• Oversee the execution of capital plans at the site level, including infrastructure and continuous improvement projects, dedicating approximately 25% to 50% of the role to capital project execution.
• Partner with Plant Management and Corporate Engineering to develop and implement technical strategies that improve line performance metrics such as OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness), UPM (Units Per Minute), and uptime.
• Work with plant managers to define strategy, budget, and direction, contributing to the leadership team alongside plant managers and the corporate team.
• Identify, justify, and implement manufacturing improvements and provide sustaining engineering support to production to improve manufacturing costs.
• Evaluate and recommend upgrades to current systems to optimize performance.
• Maintain site facility drawings, new equipment documentation library, and project-related documentation.
• Drive design for manufacturability best practices and partner closely with manufacturing leadership to ensure the smooth introduction of products into volume production.
• Comply with all food safety requirements, training, policies, and procedures.
• Understanding of maintenance best practices, MRO management, Preventative Maintenance practices and scheduling.

• OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) measurements: This is a critical KPI that reflects the overall performance of equipment, taking into account availability, performance, and quality.
• Uptime/Downtime: Monitoring uptime and downtime helps to assess the reliability and availability of equipment.
• Planned Work Effectiveness of PMs (Preventative Maintenance): This KPI measures how well preventative maintenance tasks are planned and executed, ensuring that they contribute to preventing equipment failures.
• Skills Assessment, Skills Training, Skills Growth for Technicians: This reflects the development of technical skills within the maintenance team, ensuring they can effectively maintain and improve equipment reliability.
• Percentage of Workload that Moves from Maintenance Activity to an Operations Activity (Autonomous Maintenance): This KPI tracks the transition of simple maintenance tasks to operations, empowering operators to take ownership of basic maintenance and freeing up the maintenance team to focus on more complex tasks.
• Effective Capital Management: Proactive capital management in the prevention of failure of building and assets.
• From Emergency Maintenance to Planned Maintenance (EM to PM): The early phases of TPM implementation requires a transition from emergency maintenance to planned maintenance.
• Structure and evaluation of assets: Structure and evaluate assets to clearly articulate the proper capital that is needed.
• Safety: Incorporate safety as a culture and strategy in all aspects of the technical and operations areas. Understanding of OSHA and EPA standards as they relate to the plant environment.
• Project Management:
  • Develop, monitor, and maintain project budgets and schedules.
  • Manage capital projects from conceptual design through installation in a food, pharmaceutical, chemical, solids handling FDA/USDA processing and/or packaging manufacturing facility.
  • Participate in strategic planning sessions with Finance, Business Development, and Manufacturing on Annual CapEx plans.
  • Lead the monthly Plant CapEx priority planning review and provide oversight on the prioritization of projects moving into the approval and implementation phases with the Capital Review Board (CRB).
• Perform other job-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications (Education/Experience)

• B.S. Degree in Engineering: mechanical or electrical engineering preferred; or commensurate experience.
• 5 years of previous experience in manufacturing and/or engineering, preferably within the food or consumer products industry.
• Strong knowledge and experience in project work and understanding of electronic principles is required.
• In-depth working knowledge of the plant SAP Maintenance processes.
• Design through installation of capital projects in a Food, Pharmaceutical, Chemical, solids handling FDA/USDA processing and/or packaging manufacturing facility.
• Knowledge of FDA, USDA or GMP requirements is preferred.
• Experience with conveying equipment, packaging equipment, capital project engineering and maintenance experience is preferred.
• Understanding of maintenance best practices, MRO management, Preventative Maintenance practices and scheduling.
• Exceptional analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong project management skills.
• Strong statistics, data modeling/analysis skills.
• Leadership to advocate, stand up for processes/programs, and document plans.
• Ability to see the holistic picture and break it down into manageable chunks.
• Salesmanship and leadership to cast the vision and explain the reasons.
• Ability to build relationships with the maintenance manager and manufacturing teams.

Supervises – Yes

Physical Requirements 

This role has certain physical demands outlined in the Essential Functions section, which reflect what’s needed to successfully perform the job. You may be asked to assist with other tasks as needed, and job duties may change over time. Reasonable accommodations will be provided, when needed, to help individuals with disabilities perform these essential functions. While performing these duties, employees are expected to:

• Communicate with others both verbally and in writing. 
• Be independently mobile.
• Use a computer and keyboard.
• Regularly sit, stand, walk, reach, stretch, stoop, bend, for extended periods.
• Ability to lift/carry 25 to 50 lbs.
• Exposure to noise levels requiring hearing protection.

 FLSA Designation: This position is Exempt and is not eligible for overtime.

Work Location: Dothan, AL

Benefits You’ll Enjoy:

At Flagstone Foods, we take care of our team. You’ll have access to medical, dental, and HSA options, a 401(k) plan with company match, and company-paid life and disability coverage. Benefits begin on the first of the month after 60 days of employment, giving you peace of mind while you focus on the work you take pride in. Participation in Flagstone Foods’ benefits programs is subject to the terms and conditions of each plan.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.