Maintenance & Reliability Manager

Hausbeck Pickle Company’s mission is to produce & deliver the highest quality food products with enthusiasm & integrity while striving for win-win partnerships with our customers and suppliers.

Hausbeck Pickle Company is now an employee-owned company (ESOP). While Hausbeck Pickle Company has always been a family-oriented environment, establishing an ESOP is a way to honor employees for their stellar work and empower and reward them through shared equity for striving towards an even higher goal.

Please consider joining a team whose vision is to share the FUN, FLAVOR & FREEDOM of our food products with everyone, making the world a tastier place!

The Maintenance & Reliability Manager is responsible for equipment reliability, maintenance operations, and continuous improvement across the facility. This position provides hands-on technical leadership while managing maintenance technicians, workforce planning, scheduling, preventive maintenance, equipment repairs, and maintenance resources.

The Maintenance & Reliability Manager is expected to be a visible, floor-engaged leader who works alongside technicians, troubleshoots equipment issues, supports critical repairs, and ensures maintenance activities are executed effectively. This role combines direct technical involvement with responsibility for team performance, equipment uptime, maintenance costs, safety, and long-term reliability. The position partners with Production, Quality, Sanitation, and other departments to minimize unplanned downtime, improve equipment performance, optimize resources, and maintain food safety and regulatory compliance.

Benefits – We offer a comprehensive benefits package including BCBSM medical, dental, and vision coverage—with the company paying 85% of premiums. Additional benefits include company-paid short-term disability, long-term disability, and life insurance, employer HSA contributions, a 401(k) with company match, and 11 paid holidays.

Salary: From $90,0000/year

1. Hands-On Leadership & Maintenance Management

• Maintain a strong presence on the production floor, leading by example and working directly with technicians to troubleshoot, repair, and improve equipment as needed.

• Provide hands-on technical support during complex breakdowns, emergency repairs, planned shutdowns, equipment installations, and major maintenance activities.

• Oversee daily maintenance operations, including technician assignments, staffing, scheduling, overtime, shift coverage, and workload prioritization.

• Establish clear expectations and hold technicians accountable for productivity, repair quality, safety, attendance, and timely completion of work.

• Coach, train, and develop technicians through direct involvement, technical mentoring, cross-training, and performance management.

• Participate in hiring, onboarding, performance evaluations, and corrective action in coordination with Human Resources and plant leadership.

• Ensure technicians have the tools, parts, training, and resources necessary to perform their work safely and effectively.

• Conduct maintenance meetings and shift handoffs to communicate priorities, equipment conditions, staffing needs, and outstanding work.

• Balance administrative responsibilities with active involvement in daily maintenance activities and equipment conditions.

• Develop and implement strategies to improve equipment reliability, availability, maintainability, and operating efficiency.

• Troubleshoot mechanical, electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, and automated equipment, including motors, drives, conveyors, pumps, PLCs, and HMIs.

• Lead root-cause analysis of recurring failures and significant downtime events; implement and verify corrective and preventive actions.

• Analyze equipment history, downtime trends, and failure patterns to identify improvement opportunities and eliminate repeat breakdowns.

• Evaluate equipment repairs, modifications, and replacements based on safety, performance, reliability, and lifecycle costs.

• Support equipment installations, commissioning, capital improvements, and technical projects.

• Partner with Production to identify equipment issues early, improve basic equipment care, and reduce avoidable failures.

• Maintain accountability for equipment performance and ensure temporary repairs are appropriately documented and followed by permanent solutions.

• Own and continuously improve preventive and predictive maintenance programs to reduce equipment failures and unplanned downtime.

• Plan, schedule, assign, and verify maintenance work, ensuring work orders are completed accurately and documented appropriately.

• Manage maintenance backlog, labor allocation, parts availability, overdue work, and follow-up activities.

• Use CMMS platforms to track equipment history, preventive maintenance compliance, labor hours, repair costs, and maintenance performance.

• Coordinate planned shutdowns and major repairs with Production to minimize operational disruption.

• Review and improve maintenance procedures, inspection frequencies, lubrication practices, and equipment documentation based on equipment condition and failure history.

• Verify repair quality and ensure equipment is operating safely and effectively before returning it to service.

• Ensure maintenance activities comply with company policies, applicable regulations, and established safety procedures.

• Enforce lockout/tagout, machine guarding, electrical safety, and other applicable industrial safety requirements.

• Ensure equipment repairs and modifications meet GMP, sanitation, hygienic design, and food safety requirements.

• Coordinate with Production, Quality, and Sanitation to ensure equipment is properly cleaned, inspected, and released following maintenance.

• Identify hazards, investigate incidents and near misses, and implement corrective actions to protect employees, equipment, and product integrity.

• Support internal and external audits, inspections, contractor safety, and required maintenance documentation.

• Assist with maintenance budget development and monitor labor, overtime, contractor, spare parts, and repair expenses.

• Identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary overtime, repeat repairs, emergency purchases, and contractor costs without compromising safety or reliability.

• Manage critical spare parts in coordination with Procurement, maintaining appropriate inventory levels and component availability.

• Oversee contractors and service providers, ensuring work meets safety, quality, cost, and scheduling expectations.

• Monitor maintenance KPIs, including unplanned downtime, preventive maintenance compliance, work order backlog, equipment failures, overtime, and maintenance costs.

• Develop and execute improvement plans to increase equipment uptime, technician productivity, repair quality, and cost effectiveness.

• Evaluate repair-versus-replacement decisions and recommend capital improvements based on reliability, operational risk, and lifecycle cost.

• Communicate maintenance performance, equipment risks, resource requirements, and improvement priorities to plant leadership.

• Coordinate maintenance priorities with Production to balance immediate operational needs with planned maintenance and long-term reliability.

• Maintain effective working relationships with Production, Quality, Sanitation, Engineering, Procurement, and Human Resources.

• Communicate equipment failures, downtime events, repair status, staffing constraints, and recovery plans promptly and accurately.

• Establish clear expectations for shift handoffs, escalation of critical issues, and follow-through on maintenance commitments.

• Promote a culture of accountability, teamwork, urgency, safety, and continuous improvement throughout the maintenance team.

• Perform all other duties as assigned.

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, or a related technical field preferred.

• Five or more years of progressive experience in industrial maintenance, equipment reliability, engineering, or manufacturing operations.

• Experience leading technical personnel or coordinating maintenance operations preferred.

• Hands-on troubleshooting and repair experience in an industrial or manufacturing environment required.

• Food manufacturing or high-volume production experience strongly preferred.

• Equivalent combinations of relevant education, technical experience, and demonstrated leadership may be considered.

• Strong knowledge of industrial mechanical and electrical systems, motors, drives, conveyors, pumps, pneumatics, hydraulics, and automated equipment.

• Ability to interpret electrical schematics, mechanical drawings, and technical documentation.

• Working knowledge of PLCs, HMIs, industrial controls, and automation troubleshooting.

• Experience with preventive and predictive maintenance, root-cause analysis, reliability improvement, and CMMS platforms.

• Ability to analyze downtime, labor, and cost data to develop improvement plans.

• Knowledge of industrial safety, GMPs, sanitation, and food safety principles.

• Hands-on leadership style with a strong, visible presence on the production floor.

• Ability and willingness to work alongside technicians and provide direct technical support when needed.

• Strong workforce planning, scheduling, prioritization, and resource management skills.

• Ability to coach, develop, and hold employees accountable for performance and results.

• Demonstrated ownership of equipment reliability, maintenance execution, costs, and team performance.

• Strong problem-solving, communication, organization, and cross-functional collaboration skills.

• Ability to balance immediate production demands with preventive maintenance and long-term reliability objectives.

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• This position requires the use of special safety precautions and working around operating machines.

• While performing the essential functions of this position, the employee is required to sit for periods of time at the computer.

• The work requires some physical exertion such as long periods of standing; walking over slippery surfaces; recurring bending, crouching, stooping, stretching, reaching, or similar activities.

• This position requires frequent pulling, carrying, and lifting up to 50lbs.

• This team member will have flexible hours but is expected to work during production hours and will include occasional meetings with maintenance technicians on any shift.

• The team member is also expected to work on scheduled down production days to make needed repairs to equipment.

• During our peak season, team members can work up to 7 days a week, 12 hours a day or more and the Manager may need to be available.

Hausbeck Pickle Company provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.

https://hausbeck.com/