Maintenance Technician

Maintenance Technician

Department: Dir Labor Bergstrom

Location: Vancouver, WA

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COMPANY OVERVIEW:

Balchem is committed to making the world a healthier place by delivering trusted, innovative, and science-based solutions for the health and nutritional needs of the world. Balchem employs approximately 1,400 employees worldwide who provide the service, quality, and technology that enables our customers to win with their customers. We have built a reputation for delivering results to all of our stakeholders. Founded in 1967, Balchem, a Maryland corporation, became a publicly-traded company in 1970 and is listed on Nasdaq under the symbol -BCPC.- Our corporate headquarters is located in Montvale, New Jersey, and we have a broad network of sales offices, manufacturing sites, and R&D centers, primarily located in the U.S. and Europe. The Company consists of three business segments: Human Nutrition and Health, Animal Nutrition and Health, and Specialty Products.

POSITION SUMMARY :

This position is responsible for maintaining and improving plant instrumentation, automation, control systems, and related facility equipment to support safe, reliable, and compliant operations. The position plays a key role in calibration, troubleshooting, preventive maintenance, and continuous improvement efforts across the site while ensuring compliance with SOPs, GMPs, ISO/FSSC, HACCP, OSHA, and applicable environmental and safety standards. This position supports a broader and more technical scope than a traditional maintenance technician role, with primary responsibility for plant instrumentation, calibration, automation support, control system reliability, and compliance-related maintenance activities. In addition to standard maintenance duties, the role requires hands-on troubleshooting of sensors, transmitters, PLC-related controls, and other critical field devices that directly impact product quality, safety, and operational uptime. There is also an immediate business need for dedicated instrumentation support to assist with LOPA development, including identification, reliability, and verification of critical instrumentation safeguards that support process safety and risk reduction efforts. The position also provides cross-functional production support, including material movement, changeover assistance, and workflow coordination, which adds operational value beyond maintenance alone.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Maintain and continuously improve the preventive maintenance program using CMMS (FIIX), with strong emphasis on instrumentation, controls, and automation assets. Coordinate with the Maintenance Manager, Operations Manager, engineering, and production personnel to schedule maintenance, repairs, calibrations, and planned downtime.

• Ensure plant instrumentation, automation systems, facility equipment, and related processes are maintained in compliance with SOPs, GMPs, ISO/FSSC/HACCP, and federal, state, and local safety and environmental standards. Partner with maintenance, quality, engineering, and operations to troubleshoot failures, improve reliability, and support continuous improvement initiatives.

• Test, inspect, troubleshoot, repair, maintain, and validate instrumentation, automation, and control equipment to ensure safe, reliable, and accurate operation in accordance with product specifications, quality standards, SOPs, and GMP requirements.

• Support and maintain packaging and processing instrumentation, PLC-related controls, sensors, transmitters, automated systems, and associated field devices.

• Perform calibration, verification, adjustment, and documentation of level transmitters, pressure sensors, RTDs, flow transmitters, scales, and other critical instruments to ensure accuracy, traceability, and compliance.

• Maintain instrumentation records, calibration schedules, troubleshooting documentation, and related technical files to support audits, preventive maintenance, and operational reliability.

• Act as a technical liaison between engineering, manufacturing, maintenance, and vendors for instrumentation upgrades, troubleshooting support, repairs, and continuous improvement projects.

• Provide production support as needed, while maintaining primary focus on instrumentation reliability, control system performance, and maintenance support for critical plant operations.

• Provide operations support as team lead capacity as needed and by assisting with changeovers, supporting raw material handling, and helping keep workflows organized and efficient across the plant.

• Communicate and coordinate with other departments and outside business people relevant to maintenance, repair and remodel project.

REQUIREMENTS:

• High school diploma or equivalent required.

• Forklift certification or ability to obtain certification.

• Experience with specialty chemical manufacturing processes, instrumentation, controls, automation systems, and calibration practices.

• Demonstrated ability to troubleshoot sensors, transmitters, control devices, and automated equipment, and to read technical manuals, drawings, and process documentation.

• Strong communication skills (speaking, listening, writing) and ability to work well with people.

• Strong analytical, mathematical, and problem-solving skills.

• Working knowledge of SOPs, quality systems, and applicable regulatory requirements.

• Basic understanding of maintenance planning, cost awareness, and resource management.

• Understanding of Lean Manufacturing and continuous improvement principles.

• Bending; lifting (20-45lbs); kneeling; walking; reaching with arms and hands

• Operate various kinds of office equipment (PC, 10-key, copier, telephone, etc.)

• Operate production equipment and tools

• Speaking, hearing, writing ability; color differentiation

• Hand-eye coordination; ability to read, understand and interpret graphs, charts, data, documents, manuals, etc.

• Critical thinking skills; analysis and data integration; exercise good judgment; interpret and understand discussions and instructions; intrinsic motivation; ability to learn and utilize new information, systems, processes, etc.

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

• 25% Office (air-conditioned, heated)

• 75% Plant (exposure to extreme temperatures, noise levels, fumes, airborne particles, machines with moving parts)

Balchem is committed to a workplace culture that values and promotes diversity, inclusion, equal employment opportunities, and a work environment free of harassment and hostility.

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