Equipment Reliability Engineer

Jacklinksproteinsnacks; Perry (GA); On-site; USD 75,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Jacklinksproteinsnacks in Perry, GA is seeking a Reliability Engineer to oversee asset reliability, maintenance optimization, and risk reduction across manufacturing assets. You will lead failure elimination initiatives, maintain asset health, and partner with FSQ, Operations, and Maintenance to reduce downtime and improve throughput.

The role requires a Bachelor's degree in a technical field and strong data‑driven problem solving, with a focus on startup excellence, MTBF/MTTR improvements, and

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or a related technical field.

Responsibilities

• Lead Asset Reliability Management for critical manufacturing equipment in Perry, GA.
• Drive Failure Elimination via RCA, FMEA, and repeat‑failure investigations.
• Develop and maintain asset criticality rankings and risk‑based maintenance strategies.
• Optimize preventive maintenance, condition‑based maintenance, and predictive maintenance programs.
• Collaborate with FSQ, Operations, and Maintenance to improve asset health and throughput.

Education

Mechanical/Electrical/Industrial Eng

Job description

The Reliability Engineer is responsible for improving the reliability, maintainability, operational performance, food safety integrity, and lifecycle management of manufacturing assets across the facility. This role serves as the technical leader for failure elimination, asset health management, equipment-based food safety risk reduction, startup excellence, preventive maintenance optimization, and reliability improvement initiatives.

The Reliability Engineer works closely with Operations, Maintenance, Controls, FSQ, Sanitation, and Operational Excellence to improve asset performance, reduce losses, eliminate repeat failures, and increase operational stability. The Reliability Engineer is expected to spend significant time in production areas identifying equipment losses, validating root causes, and implementing sustainable corrective actions.

Primary Responsibilities

• Asset Reliability Management

  Lead reliability efforts for critical manufacturing assets

  • Ovens
  • Packaging Equipment
  • Material Handling Systems
  • Detection Systems
  • Utilities

  Responsibilities include:

  • Asset health monitoring
  • Reliability strategy development
  • Failure trend analysis
  • Life cycle management
  • Equipment criticality assessments

• Failure Elimination

  Lead structured problem‑solving for recurring failures.

  Responsible for:

  • Root Cause Analysis (RCA)
  • Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
  • Repeat failure investigations
  • Corrective action implementation

  Expected Results:

  • Reduced downtime
  • Increased MTBF
  • Elimination of repeat failures

• Asset Criticality Program

  Develop and maintain criticality rankings for all plant assets.

  • Identify: Critical Assets
  • Equipment impacting:
  • Food safety
  • Throughput
  • Safety
  • Regulatory compliance

  Develop risk-based maintenance strategies based on asset criticality.

• Preventive Maintenance Optimization

  Evaluate and improve PM effectiveness.

  Responsibilities include:

  • PM optimization
  • PM frequency evaluation
  • Condition‑based maintenance development
  • Predictive maintenance deployment
  • Ensure PMs address actual failure modes.

• Food Safety & Quality Reliability

  Partner with FSQ to develop and maintain an Equipment‑Based FSQ Prevention Program.

  Focus Areas:

  • Product Contact Equipment
  • Belts
  • Conveyors
  • Rollers
  • Guides
  • Packaging Systems
  • Seal systems
  • Vacuum systems
  • Detection systems
  • Environmental Systems
  • Refrigeration
  • Air handling
  • Condensation control

  Develop controls that prevent food safety risks from equipment deterioration.

• Startup Excellence Program

  Support and improve startup performance across all assets.

  Responsibilities include:

  • Startup readiness audits
  • Startup failure analysis
  • Startup loss tracking
  • Startup standardization

  Target:

  • Right First Time Startup >95%

• Reliability Data Analysis

  Analyze equipment performance data. Monitor:

  • MTBF
  • MTTR
  • OEE losses
  • Downtime drivers
  • PM compliance
  • PM effectiveness
  • Failure frequency

  Generate actionable recommendations based on data analysis.

• Predictive Maintenance Program

  Support development and expansion of predictive maintenance initiatives.

  Technologies may include:

  • Vibration analysis
  • Thermography
  • Ultrasonics
  • Oil analysis
  • Motor circuit testing

  Assist in identifying deteriorating equipment before failure occurs.

• Asset Team Participation

  Serve as technical reliability leader on Asset Teams.

  Provide:

  • Failure analysis
  • Reliability planning
  • Equipment risk assessment
  • Capital recommendations

• Capital Planning Support

  Support Engineering and Maintenance leadership in developing capital plans.

  Identify opportunities related to:

  • Reliability improvements
  • Obsolescence risks
  • Capacity constraints
  • FSQ risk reduction

  Develop business cases and ROI analyses.

• Controls and Automation Reliability

  Partner with Controls Engineering to improve automation reliability.

  Focus Areas:

  • Sensor failure reduction
  • Network reliability
  • PLC stability
  • Detection systems
  • Startup controls

• Continuous Improvement

  Support TPM and Operational Excellence initiatives.

  Lead improvements in:

  • Reliability systems
  • Equipment performance
  • Loss elimination
  • Equipment ownership

• Leadership Expectations

  Although not a direct supervisory role, the Reliability Engineer is expected to influence and lead through technical expertise.

  Expected to:

  • Drive accountability
  • Challenge ineffective practices
  • Influence cross-functional teams
  • Facilitate technical decision making
  • Lead reliability initiatives

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Reliability Metrics

  • MTBF improvement
  • MTTR reduction
  • Downtime reduction
  • Repeat failure elimination
  • Asset Performance
  • OEE improvement
  • Throughput improvement
  • Startup reliability
  • Maintenance Performance
  • PM effectiveness
  • Predictive maintenance effectiveness
  • Planned maintenance percentage
  • Food Safety
  • Equipment‑related FSQ incidents
  • Foreign material events
  • Equipment‑related quality deviations
  • Financial
  • Maintenance cost reduction
  • Reliability project ROI
  • Capital project effectiveness

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Reliability Engineering, or a related techni