Manufacturing Maintenance Mechanic

Job Description

Job Description

Senior Industrial Maintenance Technician

Mechanical • Electrical • Fabrication • Heavy Equipment

Location: New Mexico Salt – Loving/Carlsbad, New Mexico
Department: Maintenance
Reports To: Maintenance Manager / Plant Manager
Position: Full-Time

Position Summary

New Mexico Salt is seeking a highly experienced, hands-on Senior Industrial Maintenance Technician to maintain, troubleshoot, repair, and improve a diverse range of heavy industrial and mobile equipment used in salt production, processing, conveying, drying, bagging, and material handling.

The ideal candidate will have approximately 10–20 years of progressive industrial maintenance experience and be equally comfortable diagnosing a failed conveyor bearing, troubleshooting a VFD or electrical control problem, repairing a loader, fabricating a replacement component, working on an industrial dryer, or troubleshooting automated bagging and robotic equipment.

This is not a narrow mechanical or electrical position. We are looking for an experienced multi-craft industrial maintenance professional who can independently diagnose equipment failures, determine the appropriate repair, safely execute the work, and help prevent the failure from recurring.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Perform scheduled preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance on industrial production equipment and heavy mobile equipment.
• Inspect, troubleshoot, repair, rebuild, install, align, and maintain conveyors, belt systems, rollers, pulleys, bearings, shafts, sprockets, chains, couplings, gearboxes, motors, pumps, fans, and related power-transmission equipment .
• Troubleshoot and repair industrial dryers and burner systems , including mechanical components, motors, fans, drives, sensors, switches, controls, and associated equipment.
• Diagnose and repair VFDs, electric motors, motor controls, contactors, relays, sensors, photoeyes, limit switches, control circuits, wiring, and other industrial electrical equipment .
• Use electrical diagnostic equipment to identify electrical and controls-related failures and safely complete appropriate repairs.
• Troubleshoot automated production equipment including industrial robots, robotic palletizing systems, bagging equipment, scales, conveyors, sensors, and associated controls .
• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled equipment sufficiently to identify field-device, input/output, wiring, sensor, motor, drive, and control-related problems. PLC programming experience is desirable but is not the primary function of the position.
• Perform welding, cutting, fitting, and metal fabrication to repair existing machinery and structures or fabricate guards, brackets, supports, chutes, frames, equipment components, and other plant needs.
• Diagnose and repair hydraulic and pneumatic systems , cylinders, valves, pumps, hoses, compressors, and related components.
• Maintain and repair loaders, forklifts, dozers, and other heavy/mobile equipment , including mechanical, hydraulic, electrical, drivetrain, cooling, and related systems.
• Perform equipment tear-downs, rebuilds, component replacement, installation, commissioning, and major repairs.
• Read and interpret electrical schematics, wiring diagrams, mechanical drawings, equipment manuals, parts diagrams, and manufacturer documentation .
• Perform equipment alignment, adjustment, lubrication, belt tracking/tensioning, bearing replacement, and other precision maintenance activities.
• Diagnose recurring failures and participate in root-cause analysis to improve equipment reliability and reduce unplanned downtime.
• Identify deteriorating equipment conditions during preventive-maintenance inspections and initiate repairs before failure occurs.
• Assist with equipment modifications, upgrades, new equipment installation, shutdown work, and capital projects.
• Accurately document inspections, deficiencies, repairs, parts used, and completed preventive-maintenance work through the plant work-order/maintenance system.
• Assist in identifying critical spare parts and maintenance materials required to support plant reliability.
• Respond to emergency equipment breakdowns and work with Operations to restore production safely and efficiently.
• Mentor less-experienced maintenance employees and share troubleshooting, fabrication, electrical, and mechanical knowledge.
• Follow all company safety procedures, including Lockout/Tagout, electrical safety, machine guarding, hot-work requirements, fall protection, confined-space requirements, and applicable MSHA requirements .
• Stop work when conditions are unsafe and ensure machinery is returned to service only when it can be operated safely.

Required Qualifications

Experience: Approximately 10–20 years of hands-on industrial maintenance experience , preferably in mining, minerals, aggregate, cement, heavy manufacturing, bulk-material handling, agricultural processing, steel, chemical processing, or a similarly demanding industrial environment.

Candidates must demonstrate substantial hands-on experience in several of the following disciplines, with strong competency in both mechanical maintenance and troubleshooting:

Mechanical: conveyors, bearings, shafts, belts, pulleys, gearboxes, motors, pumps, fans, drives, crushers, screeners, industrial dryers, and bulk-material handling equipment.

Electrical/Controls: industrial electrical troubleshooting, motors and motor controls, VFDs, sensors, switches, relays, control circuits, and automated equipment.

Fabrication: welding, cutting, fitting, structural and equipment fabrication, and field repair.

Mobile Equipment: troubleshooting and repair of loaders, forklifts, dozers, or comparable heavy equipment.

Automation: industrial robots, automated packaging/bagging equipment, PLC-controlled machinery, or similar automated production systems.

Education and Technical Background

High school diploma or GED required. Technical-school, apprenticeship, military technical training, industrial maintenance, millwright, electrical, welding, mechatronics, or related formal training is strongly preferred.

Equivalent extensive hands-on industrial experience may substitute for formal technical education.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with 480V three-phase industrial equipment, VFD configuration and troubleshooting, PLC diagnostics, robotic palletizers, automated bagging equipment, burner/combustion systems, industrial dryers, air compressors, hydraulic systems, heavy mobile equipment, and CMMS/work-order systems is highly desirable.

Welding/fabrication certifications, electrical training, millwright training, predictive-maintenance training, vibration analysis, thermography, or other industrial maintenance certifications are also valuable.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

The successful candidate must be an accomplished troubleshooter who can approach an unfamiliar equipment failure systematically rather than simply replacing parts. The individual must be able to determine whether a failure is mechanical, electrical, controls-related, hydraulic, pneumatic, or operational and identify the underlying cause.

The position requires the ability to work independently with limited supervision while communicating effectively with operators, maintenance employees, supervisors, vendors, and equipment manufacturers.

Safety judgment is essential. The technician must recognize hazards, understand energy isolation, and be willing to stop equipment or work when conditions are unsafe.

Physical and Work Environment

This is a hands-on industrial position involving work indoors and outdoors in a salt-processing environment. The employee may routinely encounter heat, cold, dust, noise, elevated work areas, moving equipment, heavy machinery, and industrial electrical and mechanical systems.

The employee must be capable of climbing ladders and stairs, bending, kneeling, working in and around industrial equipment, using hand and power tools, and lifting and handling typical maintenance components with or without reasonable accommodation. Required PPE must be worn as applicable.