THE COMPANY
Little Rapids Corporation (LRC) is a specialty paper manufacturer and converter of paper, film, cotton, and nonwoven materials. The company's headquarters is in Green Bay and is privately held with annual sales of over $200 million and 450 employees at three Wisconsin locations. The business has two divisions that sell a wide variety of products in the healthcare, beauty, flexographic printing, and specialty paper markets. Rapids Green Bay supplies printed film, paper, and nonwovens. Rapids Shawano has three paper machines that manufacture tissue, machine glazed, and wet crepe paper. Graham Professional manufactures and sells one-time use products into the healthcare and beauty markets through a network of national and regional distributors.
With its family ownership dating back to 1947, the company is guided by a strong and positive culture. LRC's purpose is remarkably simple: to bring together all their people's talents and energies to create an outstanding organization that delivers true value to their customers. The four core values of the business are lived out by ownership and top leadership and serve as a guide to all interactions, behavior, expectations, and strategic initiatives. These values are:
- Care: Take Care of One Another & Always Be Transparent
- Act: Dream Big, Think Big, Act Big, Create Contagious Energy
- Learn: Improve Every Day while Being Humble
- Serve: Do Great Things & Be Easy to Work With
Position Summary:
The Maintenance Manager leads a team of union-represented millwrights and Electrical & Instrumentation (E&I) technicians in a continuous paper mill environment. Additionally, this role has oversight of overall maintenance planning, storeroom operations, and mangement of maintenance budget. This role is responsible for safe, reliable, and cost-effective maintenance execution, ensuring equipment uptime through effective preventive/predictive maintenance and strong workforce leadership.
Key Responsibilities:
Leadership & Workforce Management
- Lead and supervise union-represented maintenance employees in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), ensuring fair, consistent application of work practices and policies
- Provide coaching, training, and performance management to develop workforce capability and accountability
- Assign and prioritize work to ensure safe, timely, and high-quality execution
- Identify and build annual goals with salaried direct reports
- Promote a culture of teamwork, communication, and continuous improvement
Maintenance Execution & Planning
- Coordinate and oversee daily maintenance activities across mechanical and E&I disciplines in a 24/7 operation
- Ensure efficient utilization of internal craft labor to minimize contractor reliance
- Utilize CMMS to plan, schedule, and track work orders throughout all stages
- Maintain accurate maintenance records, equipment histories, and schedules
Reliability & Continuous Improvement
- Ensure scheduled preventive and predictive maintenance work is completed on time to support equipment reliability
- Monitor maintenance performance metrics and communicate issues or risks to management while adjusting team focus as needed
- Support root cause analysis efforts and implement corrective actions
- Identify and implement improvements in maintenance practices, procedures, and equipment performance
Safety & Compliance
- Champion a strong safety culture by ensuring compliance with OSHA regulations and mill safety programs, including LOTO, confined space entry, and electrical safety
- Conduct job-specific safety discussions and reinforce safe work practices
- Partner with operations and leadership to promptly address safety concerns
- Participate in and lead incident investigations and corrective action development
Collaboration & Support
- Partner with operations, engineering, and contractors to support production goals, outages, and capital projects
- Provide technical expertise and guidance to maintenance crafts and cross-functional teams
- Support engineering initiatives for equipment upgrades and installations
- Participate in daily and weekly planning meetings to align priorities and report on performance
- Perform other responsibilities as assigned
Education, Certifications, and Experience:
- Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or related field, or equivalent industrial experience
- 5+ years of leadership experience in a manufacturing environment (paper mill or heavy industry preferred)
- Experience working in a union environment strongly preferred
- Working knowledge of mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic systems, including PLCs, drives, and control systems
- Experience with CMMS (e.g., JD Edwards)
- Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite
- Experience with managing annual budgets
- Paper or pulp mill experience preferred
- Technical apprenticeship or skilled trades background preferred
Key Competencies:
- Leadership and labor relations
- Safety leadership and risk management
- Problem-solving and root cause analysis
- Planning, organization, and execution
- Communication and collaboration across functions
- Results-oriented with focus on reliability and asset performance
Physical Requirements:
Exposure to or working in close proximity to operating machinery. Exposure to fine dust. Ability to wear required personal protection equipment (i.e. hearing, eye and foot protection). Must be able to see objects at a distance with clarity and read printed material within arm's reach. Perceive colors accurately. Ability to shout to be heard above high noise levels. Stand, twist, bend, turn and kneel for up to 8 hours a day. Walk up to 200 yards at a time, up to 20 times per day. Climb stairs, approximately 15 steps, up to 10 times per day.
EOE including disability/veteran
