ABOUT WESTERN STATES
Since 1956, Western States Equipment Company has been a leading employer across Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming. We are driven by our mission of solving our customers’ toughest challenges, guided by our core values of Safety, Excellence, Teamwork, Integrity, Accountability, and Innovation.
By joining Western States, you commit to upholding these values while contributing to our purpose of building our communities for a better tomorrow. Safety and our Customer Care Commitment remain foundational to our mission and the standard by which we measure our success.
Safety
- Actively cares, promotes, manages, and advocates for safety at Western States. As a team member in the organization, it is critical to ensure all employees, vendors, and clients have a safe work environment while adhering to all applicable safety policies, procedures and standards.
- Embraces our caring culture where we each care to adhere with applicable safety policies, PPE expectations and stop work authority.
Customer Care Commitments
- Convey Warmth and Empathy – Acknowledge customers and greet everyone with an authentic smile.
- Actively Listen – Give your full attention, make eye contact, avoid interrupting, and ask clarifying questions.
- Build Trust – Take ownership, act with urgency, and follow through on commitments.
- Say Thank you – Express genuine appreciation for effort, feedback, and collaboration.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
- Serve as the primary on-site contact between Western States Equipment and mine operations.
- Lead daily coordination of maintenance, repair, troubleshooting, and product support activities for mining equipment.
- Support the management of safety for all Western States Equipment personnel on site, including residents, visitors, technicians, and support teams, by partnering with WSECO and mine site leaders and site personnel to ensure safety expectations, procedures, and accountability are followed the right way every day.
- Support equipment availability, reliability, cost-per-hour, total cost of ownership, and productivity goals.
- Helps coordinate field technicians with the field service supervisors, parts support, technical communicators, and other dealership resources.
- Partners with maintenance and operations teams to prioritize repairs, planned maintenance, backlog work, and equipment downtime events.
- Monitor machine health, telematics/connectivity, condition monitoring alerts, inspections, and failure trends.
- Collaborate with the Mining Technology team to support the proper functioning of onboard mining technology systems and leverage operational data to help manage asset availability in alignment with site expectations.
- Work with the Product Support team to increase on-site technician knowledge and capability, enabling seamless support of all onboard technology solutions.
- Communicate repair status, risks, delays, parts needs, and recommended actions to customer and dealer leadership.
- Ensure work is performed safely and in compliance with MSHA, customer site requirements, dealership policies, and applicable regulations.
- Review work orders, repair estimates, documentation, warranty information, and invoicing accuracy.
- Identify opportunities to improve machine performance, maintenance practices, parts availability, and service efficiency.
- Partner with Mining Account Manager to support machine sales and product support opportunities through a unified approach.
- Collaborate with product support sales representatives, technology specialists, and service teams to ensure successful solution delivery.
- Support technician productivity, quality of repairs, coaching, performance feedback, and workforce development.
- Participate in customer meetings, planning sessions, safety meetings, and operational reviews.
- Escalate technical, commercial, or customer satisfaction issues as needed.
- Maintain a strong customer relationship by demonstrating ownership, urgency, professionalism, and follow-through.
KNOWLEDGE SKILLS AND ABILITIES:
- Strong knowledge of Caterpillar mining equipment, heavy equipment maintenance, and dealer product support operations.
- Understanding of mine site safety requirements, MSHA standards, and remote-site operating conditions.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities in a high-pressure production environment.
- Strong communication, leadership, planning, and problem-solving skills.
- Ability to analyze equipment performance, downtime, repair history, cost trends, and operational data.
- Working knowledge of service systems, work orders, parts processes, warranty procedures, condition monitoring tools, and Microsoft Office.
- Understanding of mining technology solutions and offerings to effectively support and collaborate with the Mining Technology team.
- Ability to build trust with customer leadership, technicians, dealer personnel, and Caterpillar representatives.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE:
- High school diploma or GED required; technical degree, trade certification, or related college coursework preferred.
- Five or more years of experience in heavy equipment service, mining equipment maintenance, field operations, or dealer product support, preferred.
- Prior leadership, supervisory, or site-management experience preferred.
- Caterpillar equipment experience is strongly preferred.
- Experience working in mining, quarry, construction, or remote industrial environments preferred.
- Valid driver’s license required.
- MSHA certification required or ability to obtain.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:
- Ability to stand for long periods of time along with walking, sitting, repetitively climbing stairs, reaching (including but not limited to above-shoulder reaching), repetitive bending, stooping, pushing, pulling, leaning and twisting.
- Ability to generate 97 ft./lbs. of force, by pushing and pulling.
- Ability to repeatedly lift up to 60lbs from the ground and place on a shelf/platform set up to 65 inches off the ground.
- Ability to carry up to 20 lbs. while repeatedly ascending/descending a minimum of ten, 8” stair steps.
- Ability to repeatedly ascend/descend a minimum of 10 rungs on various ladders.
- Ability to assemble/disassemble various sizes of nuts and bolts, while repeatedly bending, stooping, squatting, kneeling, and/or crouching.
- Exposure to extreme temperatures and environment.
- Must be able to meet all safety requirements for applicable safety policies.
Disclaimer: The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees assigned to this classification. It is not intended be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of employees in this classification.
This role is designated as safety-sensitive.
Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities
This employer is required to notify all applicants of their rights pursuant to federal employment laws. For further information, please review the Know Your Rights (https://www.eeoc.gov/poster) notice from the Department of Labor.
