Maintenance Technician-Entry

Maintenance Technician

This position is responsible for the professional installation, diagnostic troubleshooting, and precision repair of heavy industrial electrical equipment at the CST Industries manufacturing plant in DeKalb, Illinois. Serving as a foundational hub for engineered storage solutionsincluding factory-welded tanks, glass-fused-to-steel structures, and dry bulk silosthe DeKalb facility requires a highly responsive technician. The Maintenance Technician performs critical preventive and predictive maintenance on complex plant machinery, manages digitized work orders, interprets specialized industrial schematics, and ensures all localized systems comply with rigorous workplace safety standards, OSHA mandates, and regional regulations. This is a highly hands-on, physically demanding role requiring some technical diagnostic capabilities to minimize production downtime and support factory reliability goals.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Regular Preventive Maintenance: Independently perform routine, regular preventive maintenance (PM) tasks on machinery and factory assets to keep production running smoothly.
• Inspection and Issue Identification: Conduct comprehensive safety and operational inspections on heavy plant equipment and proactively spot, document, and report potential mechanical or electrical issues before they cause a breakdown.
• Industrial Systems Maintenance: Assist with mechanical and entry-level electrical repairs on heavy industrial manufacturing machinery, automated equipment, and structural fabrication assets under senior technician guidance.
• Electrical Upkeep: Support the troubleshooting, repair, or replacement of basic electrical components, industrial conduits, control panels, and facility hardware.
• Assisted Electrical Installations: Help lay out and install new industrial electrical infrastructure, including pulling new wire, setting up electrical lines, and bending conduits to support machine relocations and equipment upgrades.
• Basic Diagnostics: Learn to isolate electrical malfunctions, short circuits, and faulty wiring pathways utilizing standard diagnostic tools, including digital multimeters.
• Equipment Assembly: Help assemble, position, and install capital manufacturing equipment updates and structural conduits.
• Schematic Learning: Read, learn to translate, and execute fundamental tasks based on industrial electrical schematics, engineering prints, and CST technical documents.
• CMMS & Progress Logging: Maintain accurate, clear digital logs within the facility's Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) by opening, updating, and filling out basic work orders with details on repairs and parts used.
• Material Handling: Learn to safely operate heavy material-handling equipment, including facility forklifts and overhead cranes, to move heavy components across the shop floor.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Education and Experience

• Minimum Education: High School Diploma or GED equivalent.
• Industrial Experience: 13 years of progressive industrial maintenance experience explicitly focused on mechanical infrastructure within a heavy manufacturing or production plant environment.
• Electrical Foundations: Basic familiarity with electrical systems. An understanding of 3-phase power distribution is a major plus, but it is not required as this can be fully learned on the job.
• Tool Proficiency: 13 years of continuous experience using heavy precision alignment gear, industrial power machinery, and common shop tools.
• Welding Knowledge: Basic exposure to, or basic practical experience with industrial welding techniques is preferred but not required.

Key Skills and Functional Requirements

• Tech and Digital Aptitude: Comfort learning and using computer tracking software, with the ability to learn a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) for tracking assets and updating digital work orders.
• Language Skills: Ability to read, understand, and follow written instructions, standard operating procedures, and facility preventive maintenance schedules. Ability to enter clear, professional daily log notes.
• Mathematical Competency: Proficiency in intermediate shop math, including practical calculations involving whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and basic measurements.
• Reasoning Ability: Apply rational, common-sense problem-solving to carry out step-by-step instructions delivered in written, oral, or basic diagram form.
• Maintain a calm and steady focus when troubleshooting in a fast-paced environment.
• Computer Literacy: Basic functional knowledge of computer tools, including Microsoft Word, Excel, and Outlook, to handle maintenance email correspondence.