Plant Engineer

Job Description

Job Summary:

The Plant Engineer has a critical role in connecting operations with the mechanical maintenance organization, helping minimize downtime and failure rates and maximize equipment productivity. This position reports directly to the Head of Engineering.

The Plant Engineer enhances service quality, equipment reliability and availability by improving workflows and optimizing maintenance work processes using world class asset management methodology. This includes Reliability Centred Maintenance (RCM) methodology. The Plant Engineer is a key link between the maintenance organization, and the engineering and production departments. It provides Mechanical input to improve equipment design, reliability, and maintainability.

Key Duties:

  • Develop asset management systems to improve plant reliability and availability
  • Identify downtime root causes and implement preventative maintenance programs to eliminate downtime causes, attaining budgeted availability
  • Maintain utilities such as steam and power generation equipment ensuring safe, secure and efficient operations
  • Maintain the vehicle fleet ensuring safe and efficient operations
  • Ensure compliance with legally required equipment inspections
  • Manage engineering team performance and development
  • Deliver the mechanical maintenance to the agreed budgetary constraints
  • Ensure that maintenance records are kept in hard and /or soft copies in accordance to the set standards e.g. ISO22000.
  • Adhere to factory policies in place e.g. EHS, food safety, emergency response, etc

Occasional duties:

  • Participate in capital expenditure execution by developing operational and maintenance requirements.
  • Participate in strategic discussions relating to plant operation
  • Participating in other company activities i.e. Sports ,health and safety, tree planting

Supervisory Responsibilities

  • Recruitment and retention of mechanical foremen and artisans
  • Performance management of mechanical maintenance team

Responsibility for resources

  • Set and control the asset maintenance budget of 326M
  • Mechanical maintenance team of 76 people
  • Manage contracts for supply of labour and equipment

Financial Impact:

  • Inadequate performance can cause financial losses associated with poor plant output and increased maintenance costs
  • Inadequate EHS compliance can cause legal costs to be incurred

Job Context:

  • The factory floor is normally hot when operational due to usage of steam for process
  • Risks of steam and chemical burns and injury when lifting heavy equipment
  • The level of noise is generally high in the factory
  • There is long exposure to computer screen
  • The job demands walking, standing, bending, climbing e.t.c.
  • The job entails long working hours including being on call during the weekends and holidays.

Related Job Experience

  • A minimum of 5 years of experience as a plant or maintenance engineer in a continuous operation, managing a maintenance team and budget
  • Must be computer literate in MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint
  • Good interpersonal relations

Educational Requirements:

  • Be a holder of Mechanical Engineering degree or equivalent

Breath of job related knowledge:

  • Knowledge in asset management , including preventative maintenance, is essential
  • Good understanding of the food manufacturing process and quality management
  • Implementation of a Computerised Maintenance Management system in the past will be advantageous
  • Knowledge of using tools such as RCM in developing maintenance schedules is advantageous.
  • Knowledge of EHS management is essential.

Analysis:

  • The job holder is required to analyse machinery downtime causes and implement corrective actions
  • Analyse maintenance expenditure to ensure effective use of maintenance budgets to attain budgeted plant availability

Judgement and Decision-Making:

  • Makes decisions on the day-day, weekly and monthly maintenance of assets.
  • Make joint decisions on the hiring, discipline and termination of employees.
  • Make procurement decisions within the prescribed authority levels
  • Make technical decisions associated with engineering procurement and repair standards.

Contact:

  • Liase with the Production Planner, Maintenance Planner and Maintenance Foreman to establish maintenance windows
  • Liase with Project managers to establish technical standards of equipment being sourced.
  • Working hand in hand with procurement personnel to establish technical standards for the procurement of spares.