Maintenance Plant and Equipment Manager (FMCG | CPG)

The Maintenance Plant and Equipment Manager is responsible for developing and executing the overall maintenance strategy to ensure the reliability, availability, and optimal performance of all production equipment, plant facilities, and utility systems. This role plays a critical part in supporting uninterrupted manufacturing operations by driving equipment reliability, minimizing downtime, optimizing maintenance costs, and ensuring compliance with food safety, quality, environmental, and occupational health and safety standards.

The role leads a multidisciplinary maintenance organization, overseeing preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance programs, capital improvement projects, equipment lifecycle management, and engineering initiatives. Working closely with Production, Quality, Supply Chain, Procurement, and Finance, the manager ensures that all plant assets are maintained to world-class manufacturing standards while supporting continuous operational improvement and business growth.

Key Responsibilities:

Maintenance Strategy and Asset Reliability

• Develop and execute comprehensive maintenance strategies aligned with operational goals, production requirements, and long-term business objectives.
• Establish preventive, predictive, condition-based, and reliability-centered maintenance programs to maximize equipment availability and plant performance.
• Monitor equipment health and maintenance effectiveness through key performance indicators such as OEE, MTBF, MTTR, equipment availability, maintenance compliance, and maintenance cost per unit.
• Lead root cause failure analysis (RCFA), Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), and corrective action implementation to eliminate recurring equipment failures.
• Develop long-term asset management plans, including equipment replacement, refurbishment, modernization, and lifecycle optimization.

Plant Equipment and Utilities Management

• Oversee the maintenance and reliability of all manufacturing equipment, packaging lines, processing systems, material handling equipment, and auxiliary machinery.
• Manage plant utilities including electrical distribution systems, boilers, air compressors, chilled water systems, HVAC, refrigeration systems, wastewater treatment, steam generation, water treatment, and other critical infrastructure.
• Ensure critical utilities operate efficiently to support continuous manufacturing operations while minimizing energy consumption and operational costs.
• Lead troubleshooting of major equipment failures and coordinate rapid recovery during production disruptions.

Engineering Projects and Capital Improvements

• Plan, manage, and execute plant expansion, equipment installation, commissioning, upgrades, retrofits, automation projects, and facility improvement initiatives.
• Prepare capital expenditure (CAPEX) proposals, technical specifications, project budgets, and implementation schedules.
• Coordinate with equipment suppliers, contractors, consultants, and internal stakeholders to ensure successful project execution.
• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend engineering improvements that enhance productivity, efficiency, sustainability, and operational reliability.

Maintenance Planning and Resource Management

• Lead maintenance planning, work scheduling, shutdown planning, and annual maintenance programs to minimize production interruptions.
• Optimize manpower utilization across maintenance teams while ensuring appropriate technical coverage for all shifts.
• Manage external contractors and service providers, ensuring work quality, safety, compliance, and cost effectiveness.
• Oversee spare parts management, inventory optimization, critical spare identification, and procurement planning to maintain equipment readiness while controlling inventory costs.

Food Safety, Quality, Safety, and Regulatory Compliance

• Ensure all maintenance activities comply with GMP, HACCP, food safety management systems, sanitation standards, and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Maintain compliance with occupational health and safety regulations, environmental standards, electrical safety requirements, pressure vessel regulations, and statutory inspections.
• Ensure maintenance work supports internal quality systems, customer audits, regulatory inspections, and third-party certification requirements.
• Drive a culture of safety by implementing permit-to-work systems, lockout/tagout (LOTO), risk assessments, and preventive safety programs.

Operational Excellence and Continuous Improvement

• Drive Lean Manufacturing, TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), Kaizen, Six Sigma, and continuous improvement initiatives across maintenance operations.
• Identify opportunities to improve equipment efficiency, reduce maintenance costs, lower energy consumption, and enhance manufacturing productivity.
• Utilize maintenance management systems (CMMS) to improve work order management, maintenance history, asset tracking, and reporting.
• Develop maintenance dashboards and performance reports to support strategic decision-making.

Leadership and People Development

• Lead, mentor, and develop maintenance engineers, supervisors, technicians, planners, and utility personnel.
• Establish performance objectives, competency development plans, and succession planning for the maintenance organization.
• Foster a culture of accountability, technical excellence, teamwork, innovation, and continuous learning.
• Promote cross-functional collaboration with Production, Quality, Engineering, Procurement, Supply Chain, and Corporate teams.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, or a related engineering discipline.
• Licensed Mechanical Engineer or Professional Electrical Engineer is preferred.
• At least 8–10 years of progressive maintenance and engineering experience within a manufacturing environment, preferably in food, beverage, FMCG, or consumer goods industries.
• Minimum of 5 years in a leadership role managing plant maintenance and engineering teams.
• Strong knowledge of industrial maintenance systems, utilities management, plant engineering, and equipment reliability.
• Experience implementing TPM, Lean Manufacturing, Reliability-Centered Maintenance (RCM), Predictive Maintenance, and Continuous Improvement methodologies.
• Proficiency in CMMS platforms, maintenance planning systems, and ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, or similar.
• Strong understanding of GMP, HACCP, ISO standards, food safety regulations, occupational safety, and environmental compliance.
• Proven experience managing CAPEX projects, equipment installation, contractor management, and maintenance budgeting.
• Excellent leadership, analytical, project management, communication, and stakeholder management skills.