MAINTENANCE LEAD: FOOD MANUFACTURING

SKILLS CONNECTOR; Gauteng; On-site; ZAR 300,000 - 420,000; Full time

Job summary

SKILLS CONNECTOR is seeking a qualified Mechanical Artisan to lead maintenance for the Production Plant. You will drive routine and predictive maintenance, develop standard procedures, and ensure reliability while coordinating a 4-shift team.

The role emphasises safety, budget adherence, and data-driven decision making, with a focus on minimizing downtime and optimizing plant performance.

Qualifications

• Qualified Mechanical Artisan with at least a National Technical Diploma (NTS 6) and minimum 4 years' experience in a similar role.

Responsibilities

• Drive routine preventive and predictive maintenance.
• Lead development of standard maintenance procedures for Production Plant.
• Ensure problem solving tools are used by the team and participate in problem solving sessions.
• Develop the reliability plan for Production Plant and ensure team competencies.
• Determine material, equipment and supplies needed and ensure availability at site.
• Coordinate daily activities of artisans, operators and assistants using planned maintenance schedules.
• Create daily work schedules to minimize downtime and meet food safety imperatives.
• Supervise and assign maintenance work to contractors with clear accountability.
• Control daily job cards and verify completed work.
• Analyze production performance to identify improvement opportunities.
• Identify and implement cost-saving initiatives within Production Plant.
• Evaluate CAPEX projects and sign off on modifications.
• Evaluate and sign off new equipment and plant modifications.
• Manage maintenance team HR/IR and 4-shift operations.
• Maintain health and safety standards across all equipment.
• Manage maintenance spend vs budget through regular financial reviews.
• Apply structured problem solving to resolve issues during maintenance activities.
• Provide input on feasibility of projects by analyzing technology and resources.
• Coordinate major overhauls and inspect major contract work.
• Control distribution of equipment and supplies among artisans.
• Ensure ethical standards and RPM compliance.
• Capture data for trend analysis and reliable decision making.
• Foster ownership and effective self-management within the team.

Skills

Mechanical knowledge

Maintenance planning

Team leadership

Safety compliance

Education

National Technical Diploma (NTS 6) or equivalent

Job description

Minimum Requirements

Qualified Mechanical Artisan with at least a National Technical Diploma or other relevant diploma (NTS 6) coupled with a minimum of 4 year's experience in a similar role.

Roles & Responsibilities

Production Plant Reliability

• Drive execution of routine preventative and predictive maintenance.
• Lead the development of maintenance standard maintenance procedures for Production Plant.
• Ensure problem solving tools are used by the team and take part in problem solving sessions.
• Lead the development of the reliability plan for Production Plant and ensure maintenance team has the required competencies.
• Determine material, equipment, and supplies to be used and ensure that these are ordered and available at the work site, in conjunction with the input of the asset care planner.
• Use planned maintenance schedules to co-ordinates daily activities of artisans, machine operators and assistants.
• Develop a daily work schedule for all activities to be performed to ensure the smooth operation of the team, minimize downtime and overtime taking food safety imperatives into consideration.
• Supervise and assign maintenance work to contractors daily, ensuring clear allocation of responsibility and accountability.
• Control daily job cards, by issuing to employees, receive back completed ones and verify work is done satisfactorily.

Production Plant Optimization

• Analyse Production Plant performance data to identify opportunities for improvement.
• Identify and implement best in class cost saving initiatives within Production Plant.
• Evaluate and implement performance improvement suggestion CAPEX projects within Production Plant.
• Evaluate and sign off new equipment and all Production Plant modifications.

Engineering Team Leadership

• Management of the Maintenance team with regards to HR and IR issues.
• Management of the day-to-day activities and outputs of all team members across 4 shifts.

Health & Safety

• Responsible for health and safety with regards to all equipment to ensure a safe environment to operate and work on for all staff.

Budgets and Administration

• Management of the maintenance spend against budget through daily review of budget vs. actual financial reports.

Problem Solving

• Where problems have occurred during routine or planned maintenance activities, apply structured problem solving approach to resolve.

Project Management

• Give input to the Plant and Project Engineer on the feasibility of projects by analyzing technology, resources needs and market demands to ensure that project is feasible.

Repairs / Overhauls

• Coordinate major overhauls of existing equipment.
• Coordinate and inspect major contract work in area of responsibility.

Stock Control

• Control the distribution of equipment and supplies amongst artisans.

Governance

• Ensure that Company ethical standards and the requirements of the RPM are adhered to.
• Report and or escape any areas of non- compliance appropriately.

Information and Data Management

• Ensure team members accurately and regularly captures data onto the information
• System to enable access to reliable data and reporting for trend analysis and decision making.
• Share relevant data with management teams to enable reliable business decision making.

Effective Teamwork & Self-Management

• Take ownership and accountability for tasks and activities and demonstrates effective self-management in terms of planning and prioritizing, and self- development.