Senior Maintenance Reliability Engineer

Perdue Foods is part of Perdue Farms, a family-owned company heading into its second century of growth and innovation. With a goal of becoming the most trusted name in premium proteins, we create products for consumers and for retail and foodservice customers around the globe, while changing the way animals are raised for food.

Summary

We are recruiting for a Senior Maintenance Reliability Engineer for our site in Lewiston, NC. This role will lead the implementation, continuous improvement, and sustainability of reliability systems and processes within the manufacturing site. This position is responsible for developing, managing and coordinating the reliability programs and activities of the location key assets, utilities and support equipment through the use of personal knowledge, engineering resources, OEM and maintenance employees, to ensure maximum availability of these key assets, utilities and support equipment, while supporting the policies, goals and objectives of the company. The Senior Maintenance Reliability Engineer is to identify and manage asset reliability risks that could adversely affect plant or business operations. This position selects engineering techniques to solve problems and makes recommendations including the coordination of projects for process improvements.

Principal and Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Responsible for the implementation of reliability concepts including development of Root Cause Analysis, Reliability Centered Maintenance, Predictive Maintenance technologies and Preventive Maintenance development/optimization to achieve high levels of availability of plants assets.
• Driving increased production and uptime using reliability tools and processes, including Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA), and Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA).
• Provide technical and engineering support and troubleshooting advice to maintenance and various operational areas.
• Subject Matter Expert in the design and operation of rotating equipment, development of equipment strategies (including lubrications, conditions monitoring, and preventive maintenance), and management of mechanical integrity (including tanks, pressure vessels, and piping).
• Develop and implement plans for continuous improvement of production equipment, processes, and process controls.
• Work closely with both operations and maintenance in the development of long-term equipment maintenance strategies and operator basic care (OBC) as well as support troubleshooting efforts through formal Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
• Provide technical expertise to the site with field application of precision maintenance techniques. Provide training, field coaching and mentoring of maintenance supervisors and craftsmen.
• Deliver a strategic reliability-centered maintenance approach to optimizing asset life and productivity through documented asset strategies.
• Develop and implement best practices for assets to improve the mean time between failures (MTBF).
• Utilize Root Cause Analysis processes to review significant failures, identify corrective action to prevent re-occurrence and refine asset strategy to sustain improvement.
• Mine data to identify reliability improvement opportunities and develop corrective actions focused on delivering Net Hours improvement and cost reduction.
• Develop engineering solutions to repetitive failures and all other problems that adversely affect plant operations. These problems include capacity, quality, cost or regulatory compliance issues.

Minimum Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Reliability, Mechanical or Electrical in Engineering; Advanced degree in this or related field is highly desirable.

Experience Requirements

• Five (5) or more years of reliability experience within an industrial manufacturing environment preferably in mid-sized manufacturing companies in similar industries.
• Exposure to operations, process control, project engineering, plant maintenance, construction and new installations.
• Experience developing asset strategies (time-based inspection/replace, and condition-based tasks).
• Experience with Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) and facilitating Root Cause Analysis (RCA).
• Strong technical expertise in applying Precision Maintenance techniques in industrial manufacturing processes. Strong knowledge of Precision Maintenance procedures.
• Knowledge of equipment design and failure modes. Experience with interpreting forensic evidence to identify failure modes.
• Strong communication (written, oral and interpersonal) skills.
• Ability to lead and be part of cross functional teams.
• Experience with computer maintenance management systems (CMMS) preferably IBM Maximo.
• Advanced skills in basic personal computer software (Microsoft applications); Experience using Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook.

Experience Preferred

• Experience working in food industry
• Supervisory experience
• Experience with/Certifications in Predictive maintenance technologies (Vib, IR, UL, MCA/MCSA, Oil Analysis, NDT)
• CMRP or CRL Certifications
• Certification in Lean Six Sigma ideal

Environmental Factors and Physical Requirements

Position is active. On the floor activities such as troubleshooting and re-design of existing systems are routine. May need to move equipment occasionally. May need to access files, supplies and equipment. Work activity is where the processing equipment is located. Work environment includes, but is not limited to, a normal office environment and construction site as well as climate extremes found in a poultry processing operation, feed mill, hatchery and a waste water treatment facility. Position requires an associate to have the ability to move throughout the complex and all facilities. When in a plant environment: Exposure primarily consists of wet and moist floors which include metal and plastic grating surfaces. May be exposed to temperatures of 28 degrees to 100 degrees Fahrenheit with both ambient and 100% humidity. May handle product 25 degrees to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. May be exposed to noise ranges of 50 db to 110 db. May be exposed to all chemicals used in poultry, food, processing facility. Must wear and use protective and safety equipment required for the job as directed by the Company. Must be able to work in confined and or permit required confined spaces and heights. Must be able to work on and or around operating equipment. Must be trained and use Lockout/Tagout.

Perdue Farms, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or protected veteran status.