HVAC / Facilities Technician

Position : HVAC / Facilities Technician - Food Manufacturing

Location: Philadelphia, PA

Reports to: Maintenance Manager


Role Summary

The HVAC / Facilities Technician ensures reliable, safe, and sanitary environmental conditions across candy/snack/bakery and RTE production areas. This includes maintaining temperature, humidity, pressure differentials, and filtered airflow to meet product quality requirements and food safety standards (GMP/CGMP). The technician installs, maintains, troubleshoots, and optimizes air handling units, make-up air units, chillers, dehumidifiers, and HVAC controls supporting production, sanitation, and packaging environments.

Key Responsibilities

Environmental Control & Compliance
• Maintain temperature, humidity, and pressurization for candy, chocolate, and RTE areas.
• Verify airflow direction, filtration performance (MERV/HEPA), and sanitation readiness.
• Support allergen-control zoning, sanitation windows, and pre-operation checks.

Operations Monitoring & Performance
• Inspect, troubleshoot, and maintain HVAC and refrigeration equipment.
• Monitor BAS/BMS, system trends, alarms, and operational efficiency.
• Minimize downtime through proactive testing and scheduled maintenance.
• Disassemble, clean, inspect, and repair motors, dampers, and valves.
• Diagnose and repair systems/components related to building automation.

Preventive & Corrective Maintenance
• Perform PMs on controls, motors, fans, belts, filters, and chillers.
• Conduct monthly inspections and annual chiller maintenance.
• Execute corrective maintenance and complete work orders.
• Collaborate with engineering on HVAC modifications and replacements.

Controls, Airflow & Energy
• Monitor supply/outdoor air volumes, return air, temperatures, and humidity.
• Recommend control modifications for stability, product protection, and efficiency.
• Diagnose automation/controls issues and coordinate with controls vendors.

Documentation, CMMS & Parts
• Maintain CMMS records, work orders, reliability logs, and part usage.
• Manage parts inventory and order HVAC components and supplies.
• Prepare accurate documentation to support food safety and regulatory audits.

Safety & Communication
• Follow LOTO, fall protection, man-lift, confined space, and electrical safety.
• Communicate effectively with production, sanitation, quality, and engineering.
• Participate in nights/weekends on-call rotation.

Required Qualifications
• High school diploma/GED and HVAC-specific technical training.
• EPA 608 Universal certification.
• Proficiency with BAS/BMS (e.g., Metasys) and CMMS.
• Ability to read service manuals, schematics, and technical documents.
• Knowledge of CGMP requirements for food manufacturing environments.

Preferred Qualifications
• Experience with air- and water-cooled chillers, dehumidifiers, MAUs, VAVs.
• Confined space, fall protection, and lift operation training.
• Strong data analysis skills for HVAC trends and reliability insights

Core Competencies
• Technical HVAC/R Mastery
• Food Safety, CGMP Understanding, & Safety Compliance
• Troubleshooting & Root Cause Analysis
• Documentation Accuracy & CMMS Use
• Continuous Improvement & Energy Awareness

Physical Requirements
• Ability to stand, walk, climb, and work in confined spaces and rooftops.
• Lift up to 50 lbs.
• Work in hot, cold, noisy, or humid production environments.
• Wear PPE such as gloves, hearing protection, hairnets, and safety glasses.

Competency Matrix

Competency

Description

Proficiency Level

Technical HVAC/R Mastery

Diagnose, repair, and optimize HVAC systems in production & RTE zones.

4

BAS/BMS & Controls

Use BAS to trend/diagnose, adjust sequences, and interpret alarms.

4

Food Safety & CGMP

Validate airflow, filtration, and environmental controls supporting GMP/CGMP.

4

Preventive & Predictive Maintenance

Execute PMs, maintain logs, and identify optimization opportunities.

4

Troubleshooting & RCA

Apply structured problem-solving and verify corrective actions.

4

Documentation & CMMS

Complete accurate work orders and maintain audit-ready records.

4

Safety Compliance

Follow LOTO, fall protection, confined space, and PPE practices.

4

Communication

Collaborate with production, QA, sanitation, and engineering teams.

4

Customer Focus

Balance production needs with compliance and system stability.

3-4

Continuous Improvement

Suggest improvements to controls, PM tasks, and energy efficiency.

3-4