Maintenance Manager

Maintenance Department Manager

Department: Maintenance
Reports To: Plant Manager / Operations Manager
Location: [Facility Location]
Employment Type: Full-Time

Position Summary

The Maintenance Department Manager is responsible for leading and managing all maintenance activities for a high-volume granola/nutrition bar manufacturing facility operating three production lines. This position oversees preventive and corrective maintenance, equipment reliability, facility maintenance, spare parts, maintenance personnel, and continuous improvement initiatives.

The Maintenance Manager will work closely with Production, Quality, Sanitation, Engineering, and Safety to ensure that all production equipment operates safely, reliably, and efficiently while minimizing unplanned downtime.

Key ResponsibilitiesMaintenance Operations

• Lead the day-to-day maintenance activities for three production lines and supporting facility equipment.
• Ensure production equipment is maintained in a safe, reliable, and efficient condition.
• Respond to equipment breakdowns and coordinate troubleshooting and repairs.
• Prioritize maintenance activities based on production needs, safety, quality, and equipment reliability.
• Develop and maintain an effective preventive and predictive maintenance program.
• Establish maintenance standards and procedures for production and facility equipment.
• Monitor equipment downtime and identify recurring failures.

Production Equipment

Oversee maintenance of equipment such as:

• Ingredient handling and conveying systems
• Mixers and blending equipment
• Bar forming and sheeting equipment
• Extruders and depositing systems
• Cutting equipment
• Enrobing/coating equipment, where applicable
• Ovens and baking equipment, where applicable
• Cooling conveyors and refrigeration systems
• Packaging and wrapping equipment
• Checkweighers, metal detectors, and inspection equipment
• Motors, gearboxes, pumps, pneumatics, hydraulics, and electrical systems
• PLCs, HMIs, sensors, VFDs, and automated controls

Team Leadership

• Supervise, train, and develop maintenance technicians and other maintenance personnel.
• Establish work assignments, priorities, and schedules.
• Develop technician skills through hands-on training and formal training programs.
• Establish clear expectations for safety, workmanship, documentation, and response time.
• Participate in hiring, performance evaluations, disciplinary actions, and employee development.
• Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

Preventive & Predictive Maintenance

• Maintain an effective PM schedule for all critical production and facility equipment.
• Ensure PMs are completed accurately and on schedule.
• Review PM results and modify schedules based on equipment history and failure trends.
• Implement predictive maintenance techniques where appropriate, including vibration analysis, thermal inspections, lubrication programs, and equipment condition monitoring.
• Track equipment history and use maintenance data to reduce recurring failures.

Electrical & Automation

• Provide leadership for electrical and controls-related maintenance.
• Troubleshoot PLCs, HMIs, VFDs, sensors, instrumentation, and automated systems.
• Coordinate with automation personnel and outside contractors when advanced controls support is required.
• Maintain appropriate documentation for electrical and control systems.
• Support equipment upgrades, automation projects, and production-line improvements.

Spare Parts & Maintenance Inventory

• Establish and maintain an organized spare-parts inventory.
• Identify critical spare parts for production equipment.
• Maintain appropriate inventory levels for critical components.
• Work with Purchasing and suppliers to obtain parts and services cost-effectively.
• Develop preferred vendors and maintain supplier relationships.
• Control maintenance-related spending and stay within the department budget.

Food Safety & Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure maintenance activities support the facility's food-safety and quality programs.
• Follow GMP, HACCP, food-safety, and sanitation requirements.
• Ensure maintenance work does not create product contamination risks.
• Maintain proper procedures for tools, lubricants, parts, and equipment used in food-production areas.
• Ensure maintenance personnel follow required hygiene and food-safety practices.
• Support internal and external audits as required.

Safety

• Maintain a strong safety culture within the maintenance department.
• Ensure employees follow Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) procedures.
• Ensure proper machine guarding and electrical safety practices.
• Conduct or participate in safety inspections and corrective actions.
• Ensure technicians are properly trained on applicable safety procedures.
• Address unsafe equipment conditions immediately.

Reliability & Continuous Improvement

• Analyze downtime data and identify opportunities to improve equipment reliability.
• Lead root-cause analysis on major or recurring equipment failures.
• Develop corrective-action plans to eliminate chronic maintenance problems.
• Work with Production to improve Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
• Identify opportunities to reduce maintenance costs, energy consumption, waste, and downtime.
• Participate in capital projects and equipment installations.
• Evaluate new equipment and recommend upgrades when appropriate.

Performance Metrics

The Maintenance Manager will be responsible for monitoring and improving metrics including:

• Unplanned equipment downtime
• Preventive maintenance completion rate
• Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF)
• Mean Time To Repair (MTTR)
• Production-line availability
• OEE
• Maintenance cost per unit produced
• Emergency/breakdown maintenance hours
• Spare-parts inventory and costs
• Safety incidents
• Equipment-related quality issues

QualificationsRequired

• 5 years of industrial maintenance experience, preferably in food or consumer packaged goods manufacturing.
• 2 years of maintenance supervisory or management experience.
• Strong mechanical and electrical troubleshooting skills.
• Experience with PLC-controlled equipment and automated production systems.
• Experience with preventive maintenance programs.
• Strong understanding of industrial electrical systems, motors, drives, pneumatics, hydraulics, and mechanical systems.
• Strong leadership and communication skills.
• Ability to work effectively in a fast-paced manufacturing environment.
• Strong problem-solving and organizational skills.

Preferred

• Experience in food, snack, granola, cereal, bakery, or nutrition-bar manufacturing.
• Experience with packaging machinery.
• Experience with PLCs, HMIs, VFDs, and industrial automation.
• CMMS experience.
• Experience with Lean Manufacturing, TPM, or other reliability programs.
• Experience managing contractors and capital projects.
• Technical degree, engineering degree, or industrial maintenance certification.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to work in a manufacturing environment with exposure to machinery, noise, heat, dust, and varying temperatures.
• Ability to stand and walk throughout the production facility for extended periods.
• Ability to climb stairs, ladders, and platforms when required.
• Ability to occasionally lift and carry maintenance tools, parts, and equipment.
• Ability to wear required PPE and follow all food-safety and safety requirements.

Schedule

This position will primarily work during normal operating hours but must be available to respond to significant equipment breakdowns, production emergencies, and maintenance issues outside of normal hours when necessary.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate is a hands-on maintenance leader who understands both the technical and management sides of manufacturing maintenance. They should be comfortable troubleshooting equipment with technicians, managing a maintenance team, working with Production leadership, controlling costs, and developing systems that prevent problems rather than simply reacting to breakdowns.

The successful candidate will take ownership of equipment reliability across all three production lines and build a maintenance department focused on safety, uptime, food safety, quality, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Pay: $75,000.00 - $85,200.00 per year

Benefits:

• 401(k)
• 401(k) matching
• Dental insurance
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Referral program
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person

Salary : $75,000 - $85,200