Instrument Technician

PepsiCo; Durban; On-site; ZAR 550,000 - 900,000; Full time

Job summary

PepsiCo in Durban, South Africa seeks an experienced Electrical & Instrumentation Technician to maintain process and packaging plants, ensuring maximum uptime. You will lead maintenance in electrical, instrumentation, and control systems, diagnose faults, calibrate equipment, and implement improvements to meet KPI targets in safety, quality, and output.

You will monitor downtime, drive root-cause analyses, manage spares, and participate in commissioning of modifications while aligning with MES

Qualifications

• Electrical trade tested with N6/S4 diploma in Electrical: Instrumentation and control.
• Minimum 5 years maintenance experience in the Production/FMCG environment.
• Advanced computer literacy with Microsoft Office 365 and SAP maintenance management system.
• Extensive knowledge of maintaining electrical, instrumentation and control systems and ability to read electrical diagrams and P&IDs.
• Strong PLC fault finding and troubleshooting skills; knowledge of operator interfaces and HMIs.
• Experience with PLCs, SCADA, VSDs, Servo systems, HMI systems and robotics.
• Experience with industrial communication methods (Ethernet, CANBUS, RS-232, ASI, Devicenet).
• Maintenance and reliability focus to improve equipment quality and safety results.

Responsibilities

• Performs electrical and instrumentation maintenance activities for process, packaging, palletising, wastewater, utilities and facilities.
• Experience with vertical filling machines, automatic case packaging machines and robotic palletising systems.
• Lead all electrical and instrumentation repairs and maintenance in designated area.
• Monitor daily downtime and implement corrective action plans to prevent breakdowns.
• Calibrate, repair and maintain instrumentation, control and electrical equipment to set standards.
• Perform root cause analysis to address asset performance problems and reduce cost.
• Maintain PLCs, SCADA systems and networks; perform changes/modifications as required.
• Continuously evaluate equipment control philosophies and initiate improvements to achieve targets.
• Implement continuous improvement on all electrical and electronic equipment.
• Assist in commissioning of modifications/projects; document changes and perform internal audits.
• Fault find and repair electrical/electronic systems to component level.
• Ensure availability of spares for all electrical/electronic/control systems.
• Report deviations to stakeholders to improve availability and reliability targets.
• Back-up PLC programs and maintain upgrade records.
• Ensure plant adheres to MES standards and safe operation of process control systems.
• Audit electrical/instrumentation/control equipment; calibrate instrumentation.

Skills

Maintenance leadership

PLC fault finding

Instrumentation & control

SCADA systems

HMI systems

Robotics

Electrical diagrams & P&IDs

Industrial networks

Education

Electrical trade tested with N6/S4 diploma in Electrical: Instrumentation and control

Tools

SAP maintenance management

SCADA

PLC

HMI

Job description

• The main purpose is primarily to ensure maximum plant uptime is achieved continuously.
• The individual must be a leader in maintenance and troubleshooting of electrical, instrumentation and control systems equipment.
• The individual must ensure that the factory meets its key KPIs which include but are not limited to production volume, safety and quality compliance, cost reduction, equipment reliability improvement and downtime reduction.

Overview

• The main purpose is primarily to ensure maximum plant uptime is achieved continuously.
• The individual must be a leader in maintenance and troubleshooting of electrical, instrumentation and control systems equipment.
• The individual must ensure that the factory meets its key KPIs which include but are not limited to production volume, safety and quality compliance, cost reduction, equipment reliability improvement and downtime reduction.

Responsibilities

• Performs electrical and instrumentation maintenance activities associated with process plant, packaging plant; palletizing plant, wastewater plant, utilities and facilities
• Experience with Vertical filling machines, Automatic case packaging machines and robotic Palletising systems.
• Leading all electrical and instrumentation repairs and maintenance activities in designated area of responsibility.
• Monitors daily downtime and institutes corrective action plans to prevent recurrences of breakdowns.
• Calibrates, repairs and maintains instrumentation, control and electrical associated equipment to ensure operation within set standards.
• Perform root cause analysis to address asset performance problems and/or reduce cost.
• Maintains PLCs, SCADA systems and networks (hardware and software) and perform changes/modifications as required.
• Continuously evaluates the equipment control philosophies and initiates improvement actions in order to achieve asset performance targets.
• Implements continuous improvement on all electrical and electronic equipment in the plant.
• Assist in commissioning of modifications/projects.
• Ensures proper documentation of changes/modifications and perform internal audits.
• Fault finding and repair of electrical and electronic systems to the component level.
• Ensure availability of spares for all electrical, electronic and control systems in the plant.
• Accurately and timeously reports equipment deviations to stakeholders to meet/improve equipment availability and reliability targets.
• Ensure proper back-up of all PLC programs and maintain records of all upgrades.
• Ensure that plant adheres to MESS standards and practice safe operations of process control systems.
• Audit of electrical, instrumentation and control system equipment.
• Calibration of all instrumentation and control equipment.
• Complete required testing and safety checks on all instrumentation equipment.
• Conducts all scheduled maintenance within required timeframes.
• Recording all work activities on the SAP computerized maintenance management system
• Working with suppliers and contractors as required to complete assigned work tasks.
• Communicates with production staff during shift to identify possible failures before they occur (Proactive maintenance mindset).
• Continuous shift cover, standby cover and overtime as per business requirement.

Qualifications

• Electrical trade tested with at least N6/S4 diploma qualification in Electrical: Instrumentation and control.
• Minimum 5 years maintenance experience in the Production/FMCG environment.
• Advanced computer literacy and document management skills with knowledge of Microsoft Office 365 and SAP maintenance management system
• Must have extensive knowledge of maintaining electrical, instrumentation and electrical systems. Ability to read and interpret electrical diagram, P&IDs, equipment manuals, with a high quality of work.
• Strong PLC fault finding and troubleshooting skills and thorough knowledge of operator interfaces and HMIs.
• Experience in control systems - PLCs, SCADA, VSDs, Servo systems, HMI systems, standalone controllers, high speed printers and robotics.
• Working experience with industrial communication methodologies (Ethernet, CANBUS, RS-232, ASI, Devicenet)
• Highly maintenance and reliability focused to improve equipment quality and safety results.