Position Summary
A well-established manufacturing company is seeking an experienced Industrial Maintenance & Controls Technician to support the reliability, performance, and continuous improvement of automated production equipment.
This position is ideal for a hands-on technician who combines strong mechanical ability with electrical, controls, automation, hydraulic, and pneumatic troubleshooting skills.
We are looking for someone who does more than replace parts when equipment stops working. The successful candidate will be able to understand how equipment is intended to operate, recognize abnormal conditions, gather relevant information, systematically diagnose problems, perform effective repairs, verify results, and document significant findings.
The ideal candidate is naturally curious, technically capable, and comfortable working through complex equipment issues involving multiple systems.
Key Responsibilities
Equipment Reliability & Condition Monitoring
- Develop a strong working understanding of assigned production machinery and how each system is intended to operate.
- Regularly observe equipment condition and performance to identify abnormal wear, noise, vibration, movement, heat, pressure, electrical behavior, or other developing conditions.
- Work with machine operators and production personnel to understand equipment behavior and changes in performance.
- Perform routine inspections and condition checks intended to identify potential problems before they result in unplanned downtime.
- Review equipment history, alarms, fault information, and available diagnostic data.
- Help prioritize maintenance activity based on safety, production impact, equipment condition, and risk.
Equipment Issue Triage
When an equipment concern is identified, the technician will evaluate and define the issue before beginning corrective work.
This may include:
- Gathering information from machine operators and other personnel.
- Observing the equipment and confirming the reported condition.
- Reviewing alarms, fault histories, HMI messages, PLC status information, and other available diagnostic data.
- Determining whether the issue appears mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, controls-related, process-related, or a combination of systems.
- Evaluating the severity of the condition and its potential impact on safe operation and production.
- Determining whether equipment can continue operating safely, requires adjustment, should be scheduled for maintenance, or should be removed from service.
The objective is to understand the problem before taking corrective action.
Troubleshooting & Diagnosis
The technician will use a structured diagnostic process:
Observe → Gather Information → Triage → Diagnose → Correct → Verify → Document
Responsibilities include:
- Understanding what the equipment is expected to do at the point where a problem occurs.
- Comparing expected operation with actual equipment behavior.
- Developing possible causes based on symptoms and system knowledge.
- Using measurements, schematics, technical documentation, diagnostic software, and controlled testing to prove or eliminate possible causes.
- Isolating problems to the appropriate system, circuit, device, component, or mechanical condition.
- Avoiding unnecessary component replacement by verifying failures whenever practical.
- Recognizing when mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and control systems interact.
- Escalating to manufacturer or specialized technical support when proprietary knowledge or additional resources are required.
Repair & Corrective Action
- Perform appropriate repairs, adjustments, replacements, and corrective actions.
- Maintain and repair mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and controls-related systems.
- Verify proper equipment operation following maintenance or repair.
- Confirm that the original symptom or condition has been corrected.
- Check related systems when a failure may have caused additional wear or damage.
- Recommend equipment modifications or maintenance changes that may improve reliability or reduce repeat failures.
Mechanical Systems
Maintain and troubleshoot industrial mechanical systems including:
- Bearings and bearing assemblies
- Shafts and couplings
- Gearboxes
- Chains and sprockets
- Belt-drive systems
- Conveyors
- Motors
- Linear-motion components
- Mechanical actuators
- Alignment
- Lubrication systems
- Material-handling equipment
- Machine structures and assemblies
Candidates should understand common mechanical failure modes and be able to recognize conditions such as excessive wear, improper alignment, inadequate lubrication, looseness, binding, overloading, and component fatigue.
Electrical & Controls Systems
Maintain and troubleshoot industrial electrical and machine-control systems including:
- AC and DC control circuits
- Electric motors
- Motor starters
- Relays
- Contactors
- Power supplies
- Variable-frequency drives
- Proximity sensors
- Photoelectric sensors
- Limit switches
- Encoders
- Solenoids
- Control panels
- Safety circuits and interlocks
- Industrial communication systems
Candidates should be capable of reading electrical schematics, tracing circuits, performing appropriate measurements, and determining whether power and control signals are present where expected.
PLC & Automation Systems
The technician should have a working understanding of automated and PLC-controlled equipment, including:
- PLC inputs and outputs
- Basic ladder logic
- Machine sequences
- Interlocks
- Fault conditions
- HMI interfaces
- Sensor feedback
- Output commands
- Automated machine states
- Basic industrial communications
Advanced PLC programming experience is beneficial but is not required.
The primary expectation is the ability to understand how the control system interacts with the physical equipment and to use PLC and HMI information as part of the troubleshooting process.
Hydraulic & Pneumatic Systems
Maintain and troubleshoot industrial hydraulic and pneumatic systems including:
- Pumps
- Cylinders
- Valves
- Solenoids
- Pressure regulators
- Relief valves
- Flow controls
- Filters
- Valve manifolds
- Air-preparation equipment
- Hoses and fittings
Candidates should understand the relationship between pressure, flow, electrical control, mechanical load, and actuator operation.
Preventive Maintenance & Reliability Improvement
This position is not intended to function solely as a reactive repair role.
Responsibilities include:
- Performing scheduled equipment inspections and preventive maintenance.
- Completing manufacturer-recommended maintenance activities.
- Monitoring wear components and consumable items.
- Identifying developing equipment conditions before they result in downtime.
- Reviewing maintenance intervals based on actual equipment experience.
- Recommending improvements to preventive maintenance procedures.
- Helping identify critical spare parts and appropriate inventory levels.
- Investigating recurring failures and recommending corrective actions.
When appropriate, the technician should consider:
- What failed?
- Why did it fail?
- Could the issue have been detected sooner?
- What can be changed to reduce the likelihood of recurrence?
Technical Documentation
The technician should be comfortable reading and interpreting:
- Electrical schematics
- Wiring diagrams
- Mechanical drawings
- Hydraulic schematics
- Pneumatic schematics
- Equipment manuals
- Parts diagrams
- Technical specifications
- Manufacturer service information
- Machine settings and configuration information
Significant maintenance activity should be documented to create useful equipment history for future troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, spare-parts planning, and reliability improvement.
Required Qualifications
- Demonstrated experience in industrial maintenance, electromechanical systems, automation, controls, or a closely related technical field.
- Strong mechanical troubleshooting ability.
- Working knowledge of industrial electrical systems.
- Experience with automated or PLC-controlled machinery.
- Ability to read electrical schematics and technical drawings.
- Working knowledge of hydraulic and pneumatic systems.
- Ability to safely use electrical and mechanical diagnostic tools.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to troubleshoot equipment systematically rather than relying solely on component replacement.
- Ability to learn unfamiliar machinery and technical systems.
- Ability to work independently while collaborating effectively with production personnel, maintenance personnel, vendors, and equipment manufacturers.
- Ability to clearly communicate technical findings.
Preferred Experience
Experience with any of the following is beneficial:
- Automated manufacturing equipment
- CNC or computer-controlled machinery
- Material-handling systems
- Conveyor systems
- PLC diagnostics
- HMI systems
- Variable-frequency drives
- Industrial networking
- Preventive or predictive maintenance programs
- Root-cause analysis
- Equipment reliability programs
- Manufacturer diagnostic software
Relevant experience from automotive manufacturing, packaging, food production, metal fabrication, distribution automation, material handling, or similar industrial environments is highly applicable.
What Success Looks Like
Success in this role means becoming a trusted technical resource for production-equipment reliability and contributing to:
- Increased equipment reliability and availability
- Earlier identification of developing equipment issues
- More effective preventive maintenance
- Faster and more accurate troubleshooting
- Reduced repeat failures
- Reduced unnecessary parts replacement
- Better equipment and maintenance documentation
- Increased internal technical capability
- Improved use of manufacturer technical resources
- Reduced unplanned production interruptions
The long-term objective is not simply to repair equipment when it fails, but to understand, maintain, diagnose, and continuously improve the systems that keep production operating effectively.
Pay: $40,000.00 - $70,000.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
