Maintenance & Automation Technician

Zina's Fine Foods; SOUTH PLAINFIELD (NJ); On-site; USD 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k)

401(k) matching

Employee discounts

Free food & snacks

Paid time off

Job summary

Zina's Fine Foods in South Plainfield, NJ, seeks a skilled maintenance technician to keep production running and bring new equipment online. You will troubleshoot, install, align, and commission machines, often without manuals or vendors, and ensure first production runs.

You'll work on fillers, labelers, conveyors and other line equipment, read schematics, and improve reliability in a wet, GMP/SQF environment. This first-shift, on-site role offers growth as we expand lines and capacity.

Qualifications

• Several years maintaining production equipment in a plant, food, beverage or wet manufacturing environment strongly preferred.
• Strong mechanical ability: bearings, drives, belts, chains, gearboxes, pneumatics, hydraulics.
• Electrical troubleshooting up to 480V three phase.
• Experience with PLCs and VFDs (Allen-Bradley or Siemens).

Responsibilities

• Troubleshoot and repair production equipment: mechanical, electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic.
• Set up, level, align and time machines so they run correctly, not just run.
• Install and commission new and used equipment from uncrating through the first production run.
• Work on fillers, labelers, checkweighers, conveyors and related line equipment.
• Read electrical schematics and wire or modify control panels.
• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled equipment and VFDs and make program changes.
• Identify root causes of failures and ensure fixes are lasting.
• Educate operators on how to run and set equipment, document changes.
• Maintain safety in a wet, washdown GMP/SQF environment.

Skills

Mechanical aptitude

Electrical troubleshooting

PLCs and VFDs

Education

Mechatronics/Electrical/Mechanical qualification

Tools

Allen-Bradley

Siemens

Job description

About Us

Zina's Fine Foods makes refrigerated ready-to-eat meals, salads and side dishes at our South Plainfield plant. We are SQF certified and we are expanding into more space and more lines, which means more equipment to install, improve and keep running.

Benefits:

• 401(k)


• 401(k) matching


• Employee discounts


• Free food & snacks


• Paid time off

About Us

Zina's Fine Foods makes refrigerated ready-to-eat meals, salads and side dishes at our South Plainfield plant. We are SQF certified and we are expanding into more space and more lines, which means more equipment to install, improve and keep running.

The Job

We are looking for a technician who is happiest with tools in hand and a panel open. You will keep production running day to day, and you will help bring new equipment online.

Some of our machines arrive secondhand. No manual, no drawings, no vendor to call. Working out how a machine is meant to run, setting it correctly and getting it into production is a real part of this job, and it is the part we value most.

First shift, on site, roughly 7:30 AM to 5:00 PM.

What You Will Do

• Troubleshoot and repair production equipment: mechanical, electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic


• Set up, level, align and time machines so they run right, not just run


• Install and commission new and used equipment, from uncrating through the first production run


• Work on fillers, depositors, labelers, checkweighers, metal detectors, cookers, coolers, conveyors, weighers and wrappers


• Read and correct electrical schematics, and wire or modify control panels


• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled equipment and VFDs, and make program changes where needed


• Find the real cause when a machine keeps failing, fix it, and confirm it stayed fixed


• Show operators how to run and set the equipment, and write down what you did so the knowledge does not live only in your head


• Work safely in a wet, cold, washdown environment under GMP and SQF rules

What You Need

• Several years maintaining production equipment in a plant. Food, beverage or another wet manufacturing environment is a strong plus


• Real mechanical ability: bearings, drives, belts, chains, gearboxes, pneumatics, hydraulics


• Electrical troubleshooting through 480V three phase


• Ability to work with PLCs and VFDs, Allen-Bradley or Siemens


• Comfortable working from the machine and a meter when there is no documentation


• Able to work on your own when a line goes down

Nice To Have

• Experience commissioning, rebuilding or retrofitting used equipment


• Panel building or machine building experience


• Electrical license or certification


• Spanish


• SQF, HACCP or GMP experience


• A degree or trade qualification in mechatronics, electrical or mechanical

How To Tell If This Is You

The best person for this job has walked up to a machine nobody understood, figured it out, and had it making product by the end of the week. If that sounds like your kind of problem, we want to talk to you.