Maintainance Officer

1. Role Summary & Work Environment

The role requires a strong factory-floor presence, practical troubleshooting ability, and complete ownership of equipment reliability. The officer must coordinate closely with Production and QA, respond to urgent breakdowns, and support agreed shift or on-call arrangements. Maintenance activities must be meticulously planned around production requirements while preserving essential servicing schedules and safety checks.

2. Major Tasks and Key Result Areas

• Maintenance Planning and Equipment Readiness

• Develop and implement preventive maintenance schedules for processing lines, dryers, cold rooms, ETP, boiler, and associate electrical, mechanical, water, and steam systems.

• Complete daily inspections to identify defects early and prioritize corrective work.

• Coordinate maintenance shutdowns with Production to ensure equipment readiness and minimize operations disruption.

• Keep equipment registers, service histories, and maintenance records accurate and current.

• Breakdown Response and Equipment Reliability

• Diagnose equipment faults promptly and complete repairs within the officer’s competence and authorization.

• Escalate breakdowns affecting production, food safety, or personnel safety immediately, giving clear updates on production impact and expected restoration time.

• Arrang for specialist support where specialized technical knowledge is required.

• Investigate root causes of significant or recurring failures and implement effective corrective actions.

• Test equipment and formally hand it back to Production after maintenance, obtaining QA clearance where required.

• Processing Lines, Dryers and Cold Room Maintenance

• Maintain processing equipment, conveyors, motors, gearboxes, bearings, drives, and controls to support consistent production output.

• Service dryer heating, airflow, fans, and temperature controls to deliver reliable drying performance.

• Inspect and service cold room refrigeration systems, insulation, doors, seals, drainage, alarms, and temperature controls.

• Address deviations promptly in coordination with Production and QA to protect product quality and storage conditions.

• Boiler, ETP and Utilities Management

• Supervise the Boiler Operator and monitor boiler operations, servicing, water treatment, steam distribution, condensate return, and safety devices.

• Maintain ETP pumps, blowers, dosing systems, and associate equipment to support effective treatment; escalate and resolve operating deviations with responsible personnel.

• Maintain water supply, treatment, recycling, and other vital factory utilities.

• Schedule required regulatory or compliance inspections and specialist servicing, close out findings, and retain clear records.

• Maintenance Safety, Hygiene and Food Safety Controls

• Apply strict safe isolation, lockout or tagout (LOTO), and relevant permit-to-work procedures during all maintenance tasks.

• Keep machinery guards, interlocks, and emergency stops fully functional; isolate and escalate unsafe equipment immediately.

• Carry out maintenance activities in line with QA-approved hygiene and food safety procedures, including tool or component accountability, using food-grade lubricants, contamination prevention, and post-maintenance cleaning.

• Return equipment to service only after required safety and hygiene check-offs are complete.

• Spare Parts, Contractors and Team Coordination

• Identify critical spare parts, maintained minimum stock levels, and raised procurement requests early to prevent avoidable downtime.

• Keep maintenance tools and workshop stores well-organized, safe, and controlled.

• Provide clear priorities and technical guidance to the Boiler Operator and assign maintenance personnel.

• Coordinate, supervise, and assess contractors and equipment suppliers for quality of work.

• Train operators in basic equipment care, routine checks, and early fault reporting mechanisms.

• Support new equipment installation and commissioning projects as required.

• Maintenance Performance, Cost Control and Continuous Improvement

• Monitor and report on key performance indices including equipment uptime, breakdown frequency, downtime hours, repair turnaround, preventive maintenance completion, and maintenance costs.

• Investigate energy, fuel, and water losses, including steam leaks and inefficient equipment operation.

• Implement practical improvements to increase reliability, extend equipment life, and reduce overall operating costs.

• Communicate outstanding defects, critical risks, and overdue maintenance to management alongside clear action plans.

3. Key Performance Measures (KPIs)

·       Equipment availability and overall uptime

·       Unplanned downtime and repair turnaround time

·       Preventive maintenance completion rate versus schedule

·       Incidence of repeat breakdowns or recurring failures

·       Critical spare parts availability and stock-out minimization

·       Maintenance expenditure control against budget

·       Timely closure of safety-related defects and QA compliance findings

4. Job Specification & Qualifications

• Diploma or higher qualification in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Plant Maintenance, or a related engineering discipline.

• At least three (3) years of relevant industrial maintenance experience, preferably within food processing or a similar structured manufacturing environment.

• Demonstrated experience maintaining production machinery and utilities, with working knowledge of dryers, refrigeration systems, boilers, pumps, motors, and effluent treatment plants (ETP)

• Proven ability to develop preventive maintenance schedules, diagnose technical faults, interpret manuals and engineering drawings, maintain accurate technical records, and manage critical spare parts stocks.

• Strong understanding of safe equipment isolation, lockout/tagout procedures, maintenance-related contamination risks, and hygienic working practices within a food factory environment.

• Ability to supervise the boiler operator and assigned technicians, effectively manage external contractors, and communicate technical equipment risks clearly to Production teams and senior management.

• Proactive, organized, dependable, and calm under operational pressure, with strong follow-through and a practical approach to resolving recurring equipment challenges