Urban Farmer
Plant Reliability and Maintenance Operations Manager (Food Manufacturing)
Urban Farmer, Manteno, Illinois, United States, 60950
Job Description
Job Description Lead the heartbeat of our plant Picture your day starting with a quick floor walk. You greet technicians at the morning huddle, review overnight work orders in the CMMS, and align the team on priorities. You adjust the schedule to avoid disrupting production, then partner with the Director to fine-tune a proactive maintenance roadmap that keeps our lines humming and our facility audit-ready. By mid-morning, you’re coordinating a complex repair, ensuring the right parts and specialists are on hand. You negotiate a spare parts purchase, verify GMP and Food Safety practices during a safety walk, and coach a tech through a troubleshooting sequence. Before you wrap, you capture wins, issues, and corrective actions in a clear maintenance report. What you’ll own
Build and run a preventive maintenance program that cuts downtime and boosts asset reliability across machinery, utilities, and building systems. Plan and sequence maintenance work to protect production schedules, including hands-on oversight of a team of skilled and semi-skilled technicians. Champion a safe workplace: uphold company policies, OSHA requirements, food safety, and quality standards in partnership with the Director. Keep our facility compliant with industry, local, state, and federal regulations; collaborate closely with the Director on audits and documentation. Manage spare parts: create purchase orders, negotiate pricing, and oversee procurement to ensure availability without excess inventory. Contribute to a proactive maintenance strategy with the Director, focusing on reliability engineering principles and continuous improvement. Support people leadership: help evaluate performance, set schedules, participate in hiring, and assist with corrective actions as needed. Direct and coordinate complex repairs, bringing in subcontractors for specialized work and administering maintenance contracts. Drive productivity and cost savings through new tools, methods, and process improvements. Document maintenance activities, incidents, and resolutions with clear, timely reporting. Enforce safety rules and OSHA compliance for all maintenance tasks; model best practices at all times. Promote GMP, Food Safety, and Plant Safety adherence and foster immediate reporting of any Food Safety or Quality concerns. Take on additional assignments from your Manager as needs evolve. What you bring
Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related discipline preferred. 5+ years of maintenance leadership, ideally within food manufacturing. Strong grasp of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems; adept at troubleshooting and root-cause analysis. Proven team leadership with excellent communication skills. Experience with preventive maintenance software/CMMS. Working knowledge of food manufacturing safety and sanitation requirements. Comfort thriving both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment. Physical demands
Frequent movement across the facility to inspect equipment and supervise work; walking, standing, and occasional ladder or stair climbing. Manual dexterity for tool and equipment use, including small component handling. Occasional lifting/carrying up to 50 lbs. (tools, parts, materials). Adaptability to variable conditions: high noise, hot/cold temperatures, wet/humid areas,
fumes/dust/airborne
particles; potential confined space and height work. Consistent safety awareness, proper PPE use, and adherence to all safety protocols.
Job Description Lead the heartbeat of our plant Picture your day starting with a quick floor walk. You greet technicians at the morning huddle, review overnight work orders in the CMMS, and align the team on priorities. You adjust the schedule to avoid disrupting production, then partner with the Director to fine-tune a proactive maintenance roadmap that keeps our lines humming and our facility audit-ready. By mid-morning, you’re coordinating a complex repair, ensuring the right parts and specialists are on hand. You negotiate a spare parts purchase, verify GMP and Food Safety practices during a safety walk, and coach a tech through a troubleshooting sequence. Before you wrap, you capture wins, issues, and corrective actions in a clear maintenance report. What you’ll own
Build and run a preventive maintenance program that cuts downtime and boosts asset reliability across machinery, utilities, and building systems. Plan and sequence maintenance work to protect production schedules, including hands-on oversight of a team of skilled and semi-skilled technicians. Champion a safe workplace: uphold company policies, OSHA requirements, food safety, and quality standards in partnership with the Director. Keep our facility compliant with industry, local, state, and federal regulations; collaborate closely with the Director on audits and documentation. Manage spare parts: create purchase orders, negotiate pricing, and oversee procurement to ensure availability without excess inventory. Contribute to a proactive maintenance strategy with the Director, focusing on reliability engineering principles and continuous improvement. Support people leadership: help evaluate performance, set schedules, participate in hiring, and assist with corrective actions as needed. Direct and coordinate complex repairs, bringing in subcontractors for specialized work and administering maintenance contracts. Drive productivity and cost savings through new tools, methods, and process improvements. Document maintenance activities, incidents, and resolutions with clear, timely reporting. Enforce safety rules and OSHA compliance for all maintenance tasks; model best practices at all times. Promote GMP, Food Safety, and Plant Safety adherence and foster immediate reporting of any Food Safety or Quality concerns. Take on additional assignments from your Manager as needs evolve. What you bring
Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or related discipline preferred. 5+ years of maintenance leadership, ideally within food manufacturing. Strong grasp of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems; adept at troubleshooting and root-cause analysis. Proven team leadership with excellent communication skills. Experience with preventive maintenance software/CMMS. Working knowledge of food manufacturing safety and sanitation requirements. Comfort thriving both independently and collaboratively in a fast-paced environment. Physical demands
Frequent movement across the facility to inspect equipment and supervise work; walking, standing, and occasional ladder or stair climbing. Manual dexterity for tool and equipment use, including small component handling. Occasional lifting/carrying up to 50 lbs. (tools, parts, materials). Adaptability to variable conditions: high noise, hot/cold temperatures, wet/humid areas,
fumes/dust/airborne
particles; potential confined space and height work. Consistent safety awareness, proper PPE use, and adherence to all safety protocols.