Maintenance Manager

Position Summary

The Maintenance Manager is a hands-on leadership role responsible for maintaining and improving the reliability, safety, and performance of production equipment in a fast-paced metal-forming manufacturing environment. This position combines technical troubleshooting and hands-on maintenance support with team leadership, preventive maintenance, reliability improvement, spare-parts management, contractor coordination, and departmental performance management.

The Maintenance Manager will work closely with Production, Engineering, Quality, Tool & Die, and Plant Management to reduce unplanned downtime, eliminate recurring equipment failures, improve preventive maintenance effectiveness, and ensure maintenance activities are completed safely and efficiently.

Key Responsibilities

1. Hands-On Maintenance & Troubleshooting

• Provide hands-on troubleshooting and repair support for roll-forming lines, pneumatic and mechanical presses, servo presses, uncoilers, straighteners, feeders, encoders, conveyors, stackers, hydraulic systems, pneumatic systems, and related production equipment.
• Diagnose mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, controls, and automation issues.
• Assist maintenance technicians with complex or critical equipment failures.
• Troubleshoot motors, drives, sensors, relays, contactors, safety circuits, encoders, limit switches, solenoid valves, and other industrial components.
• Support troubleshooting of PLC-controlled equipment, HMIs, servo systems, VFDs, and automated press and length-control systems.
• Implement safe temporary repairs when necessary to restore production, followed by permanent corrective action.
• Coordinate with OEMs, automation specialists, electricians, and outside service providers when additional technical expertise is required.
• Participate in equipment installations, modifications, commissioning, and startup activities.
• Support tooling, die, and roll-forming equipment issues that affect safety, reliability, or production.

2. Team Leadership & Daily Management

• Lead, supervise, schedule, and develop the maintenance team across required shifts.
• Assign daily maintenance activities based on safety, production impact, equipment condition, and business priorities.
• Establish clear expectations and hold team members accountable for completing assigned work.
• Conduct daily maintenance meetings and shift handoffs covering open work orders, downtime events, parts requirements, and priority repairs.
• Ensure technicians accurately document problems, root causes, repairs, parts used, and required follow-up.
• Provide technical coaching and hands-on training to strengthen troubleshooting capabilities.
• Identify training needs in electrical, mechanical, PLC, hydraulic, pneumatic, welding, and fabrication skills.
• Promote effective communication and teamwork between Maintenance, Production, Engineering, Quality, and Tool & Die.
• Conduct performance evaluations and provide coaching, feedback, and corrective action when appropriate.
• Assist with recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding qualified maintenance personnel.

3. Preventive & Predictive Maintenance

• Develop, manage, and continuously improve the preventive maintenance program.
• Ensure PM activities are meaningful, properly executed, and based on actual equipment needs.
• Review equipment history and recurring failures to optimize PM frequencies, inspection procedures, lubrication requirements, and component replacement intervals.
• Coordinate planned maintenance with production schedules to minimize operational disruption.
• Implement condition-based maintenance practices, including vibration, temperature, lubrication, alignment, wear, leak, and electrical inspections.
• Ensure safety devices, guarding, emergency stops, interlocks, light curtains, and safety circuits are routinely inspected and documented.
• Maintain accurate equipment records, manuals, electrical drawings, PLC backups, parameter backups, and maintenance procedures.
• Utilize the company CMMS/eMaint system to manage work orders, PMs, labor hours, equipment history, and maintenance projects.

4. Downtime Reduction & Continuous Improvement

• Respond quickly to production breakdowns and maintain clear ownership until equipment is safely restored.
• Lead root-cause analysis for major and recurring equipment failures.
• Distinguish between immediate failure symptoms, root causes, and contributing operating conditions.
• Develop permanent corrective actions that prevent repeat failures.
• Track chronic equipment issues and maintain action plans with assigned owners and completion dates.
• Recommend equipment improvements that increase reliability, safety, quality, changeover performance, and production output.
• Partner with Production and Engineering to improve sensors, controls, machine timing, material handling, guarding, and operator interfaces.
• Investigate equipment-related quality issues and determine whether causes involve machine condition, setup, tooling, controls, material feeding, or operating practices.
• Participate in new-equipment selection and ensure maintainability, spare-parts availability, training, and technical documentation are considered.

5. Parts, Planning & Contractor Management

• Establish and maintain an organized inventory of critical maintenance spare parts.
• Define appropriate minimum and maximum inventory levels for critical and long-lead-time components.
• Ensure critical motors, drives, sensors, PLC components, hydraulic valves, cylinders, bearings, belts, chains, and other components are properly identified and stored.
• Manage maintenance purchasing and verify that parts are appropriate for the required repair.
• Obtain and evaluate vendor quotations when necessary.
• Coordinate outside contractors and ensure their work meets safety, quality, cost, and schedule expectations.
• Ensure contractor work is properly documented and that updated drawings, manuals, and backups are provided.
• Develop planned downtime schedules, repair estimates, labor requirements, and parts lists for major projects.
• Monitor maintenance expenses and identify cost-saving opportunities without compromising safety or equipment reliability.

6. Reporting & Performance Management

Provide regular maintenance performance reports to plant management and monitor key metrics, including:

• Unplanned equipment downtime
• Downtime by machine and failure category
• Preventive maintenance completion
• Repeat equipment failures
• Open and overdue work orders
• Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
• Maintenance labor and overtime
• Spare-parts usage and critical shortages
• Major repair and improvement project status

Communicate significant equipment risks before they result in extended downtime and provide clear recovery plans outlining the problem, temporary solution, permanent corrective action, responsible personnel, required parts, and expected completion date.

7. Safety Responsibilities

• Ensure all maintenance activities comply with company safety policies and applicable regulations.
• Enforce Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) requirements and verify employee understanding of machine-specific energy-control procedures.
• Stop any maintenance activity that cannot be performed safely.
• Ensure machine guarding and safety devices are properly restored before equipment is returned to production.
• Investigate equipment-related safety concerns and implement corrective actions.
• Promote proper housekeeping, tool control, electrical-panel organization, and safe storage of maintenance materials.
• Participate in safety inspections, incident investigations, and corrective-action activities.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of industrial maintenance experience in a manufacturing environment.
• Previous experience leading or supervising maintenance technicians.
• Strong hands-on mechanical and electrical troubleshooting skills.
• Working knowledge of PLC-controlled machinery, HMIs, servo systems, industrial sensors, and machine safety circuits.
• Ability to read and interpret electrical schematics, mechanical drawings, hydraulic diagrams, and pneumatic diagrams.
• Experience with hydraulic and pneumatic systems, motors, gearboxes, bearings, chains, belts, conveyors, and industrial machinery.
• Understanding of preventive maintenance, root-cause analysis, and equipment reliability principles.
• Experience using a CMMS for work orders, preventive maintenance, and equipment history.
• Strong organizational, communication, prioritization, and follow-up skills.
• Ability to remain effective under pressure during production breakdowns.
• Willingness to work directly on the production floor and participate in troubleshooting and repairs.
• Ability to respond to critical equipment issues outside normal working hours when necessary.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with roll-forming equipment, stamping presses, press brakes, servo presses, coil-processing equipment, feeders, straighteners, uncoilers, and automated cutoff systems.
• Experience with Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley PLCs and related troubleshooting software.
• Experience with industrial automation, motion control, servo drives, encoders, and closed-loop length-control systems.
• Experience with mechanical, air, and servo presses.
• Experience developing maintenance technicians through structured training and skills assessments.
• Bilingual English/Spanish communication skills.
• Technical degree, industrial maintenance certification, electrical training, or equivalent practical experience.