Title: Packaging Maintenance Supervisor
Location: Scottsbluff, Nebraska
Position Overview
The Western Sugar Cooperative is seeking a results-driven Packaging Maintenance Supervisor to lead maintenance planning, execution, and reliability improvement within our packaging and warehouse facility in Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Reporting to the Packaging/Bulk and Terminals Director, with a strong dotted-line partnership to the Maintenance Manager, this role owns the maintenance strategy for packaging line equipment — driving Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), disciplined maintenance planning and scheduling, and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) improvement across all packaging assets. The ideal candidate is a hands-on, reliability-minded leader who understands value stream thinking, champions waste elimination, and builds operator ownership of equipment care through a mature TPM program.
Essential Functions
Maintenance Planning & Scheduling (Primary Focus)
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Own maintenance planning and scheduling for all packaging line equipment — building weekly and daily schedules that balance preventive maintenance (PM), predictive maintenance (PdM), and corrective work orders against the production plan.
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Maintain a prioritized maintenance backlog, ranking work orders by risk, criticality, and impact on line uptime, and coordinating planned downtime windows with the packaging schedule.
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Ensure parts, tools, and procedures are fully kitted ahead of scheduled work to eliminate wrench-time delays.
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Partner with Procurement and the central Maintenance team on spare parts inventory, applying pull-system and min/max principles to ensure critical packaging spares are available without excess carrying cost.
Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) Leadership
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Lead the site's TPM program on packaging lines by championing the Autonomous Maintenance pillar — training and coaching packaging shift leads and operators to perform basic cleaning, inspection, lubrication, and minor adjustments (CIL) as part of daily standard work.
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Own OEE for assigned packaging lines, systematically attacking the six big losses (breakdowns, setup/adjustment, minor stops, reduced speed, startup rejects, process rejects) through structured problem-solving and data-driven prioritization.
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Apply structured root cause analysis methodologies (5-Why, fishbone/Ishikawa, A3 thinking) to chronic equipment failures, driving permanent corrective actions and updating PM plans to prevent recurrence.
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Collaborate closely with the Maintenance Manager and reliability resources to continuously mature the TPM program, including Planned Maintenance and Focused Improvement pillar activities, reducing unplanned downtime and improving OEE.
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Develop, standardize, and sustain PM procedures, CIL checklists, and maintenance Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs); train personnel to standard and hold teams accountable to consistent execution.
Team Supervision & Development
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Lead and develop packaging maintenance technicians and shift leads using lean leadership principles — setting clear expectations, supporting daily accountability, and coaching teams to drive measurable improvements in safety, quality, delivery, and cost (SQDC).
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Foster a culture of employee engagement and continuous improvement by actively listening to frontline ideas on equipment reliability, facilitating problem-solving, and recognizing contributions at all levels.
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Ensure seamless shift-to-shift transitions for open work orders and equipment condition through structured shift handoff processes and visual management tools (equipment tags, OEE boards, backlog boards).
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Partner with Procurement to maintain reliable packaging material flow, applying pull-system and inventory management principles to minimize shortages and excess.
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Collaborate closely with the Maintenance team to execute and continuously improve a robust Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) program, reducing unplanned downtime and improving overall equipment effectiveness (OEE).
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Lead by example in demonstrating the Cooperative's Core Values: Safety, Integrity, Openness & Trust, Teamwork, Entrepreneurship, and Social Responsibility.
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Ensure compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Third-Party Audit standards; treat audit readiness as a daily operating standard, not a periodic event.
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Partner with the Quality Manager and Process Operations staff to sustain product quality, using data-driven decision making and defect prevention over detection.
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Drive a customer-first mindset across the team, using customer complaint data as an input to continuous improvement priorities and root cause investigations.
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Spend the majority of time (80%+) on the floor conducting gemba walks, engaging with employees, removing barriers, and coaching in the moment — leading from where the work happens.
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Demonstrate the commitment and flexibility required to support operations beyond standard hours when business needs demand it.
Safety, Quality & Compliance
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Model and champion a zero-injury safety culture by embedding safety into daily standard work, participating in gemba walks, and reinforcing safe behaviors — including lockout/tagout (LOTO) and machine guarding compliance — during all maintenance and PM activities.
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Sustain a clean, organized, and hazard-free maintenance and packaging environment through rigorous 5S discipline and regular equipment and workplace audits.
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Ensure maintenance practices support compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) and Third-Party Audit standards; treat equipment and documentation audit readiness as a daily operating standard, not a periodic event.
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Partner with the Quality Manager and Process Operations staff to sustain product quality, ensuring equipment condition and maintenance execution support defect prevention over detection
Production Support
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Drive a customer-first mindset across the team, using downtime and defect data as inputs to continuous improvement priorities and root cause investigations.
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Spend the majority of time (80%+) on the floor conducting gemba walks, engaging with technicians and operators, removing barriers to planned maintenance execution, and coaching in the moment — leading from where the work happens.
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Lead by example in demonstrating the Cooperative's Core Values: Safety, Integrity, Openness & Trust, Teamwork, Entrepreneurship, and Social Responsibility.
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Demonstrate the commitment and flexibility required to support operations beyond standard hours when business needs demand it, including maintenance emergencies and planned outage windows.
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Associate or bachelor's degree preferred (Industrial, Mechanical, or Electrical discipline a plus); equivalent hands-on experience in a lean manufacturing or maintenance environment will be considered.
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Minimum 2 years of proven supervisory leadership in maintenance, packaging, food manufacturing, or a comparable production environment.
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Hands-on experience implementing or sustaining a TPM program, including Autonomous Maintenance and OEE improvement.
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Strong working knowledge of packaging equipment and their common failure modes.
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Demonstrated track record of leading continuous improvement initiatives with measurable results in equipment reliability, safety, quality, productivity, and waste reduction.
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Ability to work on a manufacturing floor with exposure to moving machinery, noise, and varying temperatures.
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Ability to stand, walk, bend, and climb for extended periods; occasional lifting up to 50 lbs.
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Flexibility to support multiple shifts, including occasional nights, weekends, or on-call coverage for maintenance emergencies.
Travel Requirements: None
It is the policy of The Western Sugar Cooperative not to discriminate against any employee or any applicant for employment because of age, race, religion, color, handicap, sex, physical condition, developmental disability, sexual orientation or national origin. This policy shall include, but not be limited to, the following: recruitment and employment, promotion, demotion, transfer, compensation, selection for training, layoff and termination.
