Tech 3, Controls Tech

Technician 3, Controls

Location: Chicago Heights, IL

Department: Maintenance

Reporting to: Maintenance Manager

Position Purpose: The Controls Technician 3 will maintain all of the plant and production electrical and control systems. This includes electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic, mechanical and network sub-systems. The Technician will be responsible to train and to coordinate the efforts of Maintenance Technicians on all shifts and assist as necessary in troubleshooting and documentation of root cause failure analyses. Work by direction from the Maintenance Supervisor, Maintenance Planner and/or Maintenance Manager, ensuring that the maintenance and production schedules are adhered to.

Key Accountabilities

• Inspecting, diagnosing, troubleshooting, repairing and maintaining food processing and packaging equipment in a food manufacturing production environment.
• Must understand and comply with the company Allergen, Food Defense and HACCP policies
• Must communicate with Supervision of any Food Safety and Equipment concerns
• Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as necessary for task at hand
• Report any unsafe work practices or injuries to your supervisor
• Complete, legible and accurate documentation
• Able to perform repairs, modifications and installations of automated production equipment.
• Excellent mechanical aptitude.
• Excellent safety aptitude.
• Must demonstrate excellent trouble shooting skills.
• Knowledge of VFDs, PLCs, PLC programming on multiple platforms including RS Logix and Factory Talk View programming.
• Knowledge of servo drives, motor controls, pneumatics, hydraulic and power distribution.
• Work well under pressure in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent verbal and written communication.
• Regular and predictable attendance.

Responsibilities

• Maintains troubleshoots, and repairs all manufacturing equipment such as wrappers, mixers, motors, conveyors, refrigeration systems.
• Installs control and distribution apparatus such as switches, relays, and circuit-breakers panels.
• Connects power cables to equipment, such as electric range or motor, and installs grounding leads.
• Monitors and ensures that the equipment is in excellent condition for operation.
• Performs preventive and corrective maintenance on the equipment.
• Repairs faulty equipment or systems.
• Installs powers on the new manufacturing equipment.
• Visually inspects and tests machinery and equipment.
• Listens for unusual sounds from machines or equipment to detect malfunction and discusses machine operation variations with supervisors or other maintenance workers to diagnose problem or repair machine.
• Dismantles defective machines and equipment and installs new or repaired parts.
• Cleans and lubricates shafts, bearings, gears, and other parts of machinery.
• Installs, modifies and maintains pipe systems and related hydraulic and pneumatic equipment, and repairs and replaces gauges, valves, SOVs, pressure regulators, and related equipment.
• Repairs and maintains physical structure of facility.
• Installs, programs, or repairs automated machinery and equipment such as robots and PLCs.
• Maintain current documentation of all electrical and controls systems including device hardware and software.
• Assist Mechanics in troubleshooting and repair of electrical or controls related failures.
• Train and coordinate activities of Mechanics on all shifts as necessary.
• Work from offsite locations occasionally to assist with equipment troubleshooting and repair.
• Maintain production equipment while running on a product production schedule.
• Perform electrical and mechanical inspection safely while equipment is in production.
• During equipment down days the PLC Technician will coordinate work on the production lines taking care of any corrective, preventive or scheduled repairs in accordance with the company and/or machine vender specification.
• In the event of an equipment breakdown the PLC Technician will oversee the Mechanical Technician to determine the cause of the trouble, repair and return the equipment back into production in the shortest time period.
• Complete assigned tasks in accordance with government codes and regulations, GMP, safety, quality control, company programs and procedures.
• Primarily performs preventive, scheduled or corrective repairs on batching and continuous process control systems, their networks, AC/DC and servo drives, pneumatics, hydraulics and mechanical components.
• Maintain plant secondary systems for the supply of steam, hot and chilled water, pneumatic air, electrical power, refrigeration, HVAC and emissions control (oxidation).
• Maintain work records in accordance with work orders, backlog and job assignment system.
• May travel to various locations to purchase parts, attend training or for other duties.
• Works to maintain and improve on the quality, legality and safety of each product and the processes used in their manufacture.
• Responsible for keeping assigned work area clean and tidy at all times and reporting any potential contamination and suspicious activity to a Supervisor immediately.
• Any other duties as assigned or volunteered for.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• CMMS
  • Must be able to create notifications and input time on work orders
  • Must supply feedback to update procedures and deficiencies noted in SAP
  • Must be able to write job specific procedures and establish job task frequencies
• Must utilize all safety devices, comply with all safety policies and procedures at all times
• Must exhibit semi-skilled mechanical and plumbing skills
• Must display semi-skilled trouble shooting skills of processing equipment and packing equipment
• Must have skilled electrical skills for 120V – 480V
• Must exhibit skilled trouble shooting skills using laptop of PLC, VFD, HMI operations
• Must be able to teach trouble shooting skills using laptop of PLC, VFD, HMI operations
• Must have ability to read and interpret electrical, mechanical, instrumentation and control systems design documentation and vendor supplied documents including Process & Instrument Drawings (PID), electrical single line drawings, instrument loop drawings, electrical cable, routing and termination, mechanical diagrams and machine layout drawings.
• Must be able to fully incorporate programs utilizing Factory talk Veiw as well as software ladder logics.

Education, Technical Qualifications, Experience and Competencies Proficiency Level

Required

• Formal training in electrical or electronic engineering technology

Preferred

• Formal training in mechanical and/or plumbing techniques
• Experience in the food industry

Physical Requirements

• Regularly required to climb, stand or walk for extended periods of time
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 50 pounds.
• Able to stand up to a minimum of 8 hours
• Able to work with product on moving conveyors

Work Environment

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee frequently works near moving mechanical parts and is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions, wet and/or humid conditions, fumes or airborne particles, and extreme cold.
• The noise level in the work environment is often moderate to loud.

Food Safety/Quality

• Report any issues regarding food safety or quality to supervision and/or quality assurance.
• Report any risks or any evidence of unsafe or out-of-specification product, equipment, packaging or raw materials to a designated manager to enable the resolution of issues requiring immediate attention.