Controls Technician

The J.M. Smucker Co.•Scottsville, KY

8d•Onsite

About The Position

The Controls Technician is responsible for the manufacturing of consumer foods, ensuring compliance with all food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements. This role supports company and site safety policies, performing work in a safe manner, and coaching peers on safety standards. The technician will operate and maintain production equipment, follow and improve documented operational, maintenance, and sanitation standards within a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) environment. A key responsibility is owning preventative maintenance activities related to electrical/controls, coordinating with ATRs and PM coordinators for effective execution, auditing, and timely work order creation to maximize plant equipment performance. The role involves inspecting, maintaining, troubleshooting, and repairing electrical, instrumentation, controls, and automation equipment and software. The technician will demonstrate knowledge in power distribution, controls platform hardware and software, motor controls (starters, drives, servos, PLC motion control), safety circuits (TUV Training), FactoryTalk ME & SE troubleshooting, Ethernet/IP Control Network, managed/unmanaged switches, and food manufacturing/utility instrumentation. They will understand electrical prints, make minor changes, and properly operate electrical testing equipment. The role requires utilizing drawings, prints, and instruction manuals for maintenance, troubleshooting, and repairs, while adhering to company drawing and documentation standards. The technician will also coach other team members on electrical, instrumentation, and controls skills, machine functionality, defect identification, and equipment repair. Travel for training and qualification programs is expected, as is participation in assessments to ensure effective training and consistent qualification standards. Continuous improvement tools, including breakdown elimination, will be used to identify and resolve losses to their root cause, with documentation and implementation of corrective and preventative actions. The technician may own one or more technical, safety, or quality systems and will create necessary documentation such as SOPs, Job Aids, and PM Improvements. Maintaining knowledge and skills through technical training, vendor visits, and scheduled maintenance is crucial, as is attaining expertise in advanced E&I technology. Technology, including computers and the Microsoft Office suite, will be used for record-keeping and data management. Effective communication of controls activities and daily work with operations is essential, as is translating technical problems into actionable items for ATRs and communicating issues to engineers. The role may involve leading/managing projects to improve safety, quality, and production results, delegating tasks to ATRs for skill development. The ability to work independently and in a team, solve problems, and implement solutions is required, along with a proven track record of good attendance and consistent performance. Flexibility to work after hours and weekends for coverage during operational issues or training needs on off-shifts is necessary. The technician will be the primary contact for electrical/controls issues during escalation events, responsible for packaging problems and deciding further escalation. They will track skill gaps, coordinate training, and perform on-the-job training during issues. Adherence to change management processes for electrical and controls changes, including leaving effective change descriptions in asset center for PLC and documentation changes, is required. The role involves using Proficy historian/trend client for pre-fault data analysis to troubleshoot and prevent breakdowns. The technician will also use and coach others on preventive maintenance tools related to electrical and controls technologies, such as safety circuit audits, device calibrations, electrical thermography, and disaster recovery tools for controls equipment.

Requirements

High School Diploma or equivalent is required.
Minimum 2 years of relevant work experience with electrical systems, PLC, motor and motion controls, SCADA systems, device and information networks, sensors, instrumentation equipment for manufacturing is required.
Demonstrated ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical audiences.

Nice To Haves

Associates or technical degree or training preferred.

Responsibilities

Assume responsibility for the manufacturing of consumer foods which comply with all food safety, quality, and regulatory requirements.
Support company and site safety policies and perform work related activities in a safe manner. Recognize unsafe working conditions, coach peers, and suggest new safety standards as appropriate.
Perform the necessary activities to operate and maintain production equipment.
Follow and improve documented operational, maintenance and sanitation standards in a Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) work environment.
Own preventative maintenance activities as it relates to electrical/controls and coordinates with ATRs / PM coordinators to execute effectively, audit, and create work orders in a timely manner to maximize performance of our plant equipment. Improve and modify preventative maintenance activities as appropriate.
Inspect, maintain, troubleshoot and repair electrical, instrumentation, controls and automation equipment and software.
Demonstrate knowledge in operation and troubleshooting of Power Distribution, Controls platform hardware and software, Motor controls including motor starters, drives, servos, and PLC motion control instructions, Safety circuits (TUV Training), FactoryTalk ME & SE as in relates to troubleshooting issues, Ethernet/IP Control Network, Managed/Unmanaged switches, Food Manufacturing and Utility Instrumentation.
Understand electrical prints and make minor changes.
Understand how to properly operate electrical testing equipment.
Utilize drawings, prints, and instruction manuals to determine proper steps to be taken for equipment preventative maintenance, troubleshooting and repairs.
Adhere to company drawing and documentation standards.
Coach other team members on electrical, instrumentation and controls skills, machine functionality, defect identification and resolution and equipment repair.
Travel and actively participate in training and qualification programs, participate in assessments and ensure effective training and consistent qualification standards are maintained.
Use continuous improvement tools, including breakdown elimination to eliminate losses and drive issues to root cause. Document, communicate and implement corrective and preventative actions.
Own one or more technical, safety or quality systems.
Create documentation as needed (SOPs, Job Aids, PM Improvements, etc.).
Maintain knowledge/skill/ability by attending technical training sessions, participating in vendor visits and scheduled maintenance activities as well as attainment of expertise in advanced E&I technology (networks, servers, FactoryTalk, Motion Controls, etc.).
Utilize technology (i.e., computer, etc.) to maintain accurate records and data as well as utilizing the Microsoft Office suite (Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) and online training resources.
Effectively communicate controls activities and daily work with the operations.
Translate technical problems and issues into actionable items for ATRs and vice versa to communicate issues to engineers.
Lead/manage projects to improve safety, quality, and production results in a designated area. Delegate and coordinate project tasks with ATRs to develop skills.
Work independently as well as in a team environment and be willing to help solve problems and implement solutions.
Maintain a proven track record of good attendance and consistent performance.
Work after hours and weekends to provide coverage during operation issues or training needs on off shifts. Serve as primary contact for electrical/controls related issues during escalation events. Responsible for packaging problems and deciding further escalation.
Track skill gaps and coordinate training for those gaps. Perform on the job training during issues.
Follow change management processes as it relates to electrical and controls changes, leave effective change descriptions in asset centre for PLC and documentation changes.
Use Proficy historian / trend client to effectively pull pre-fault data and use that data to actively troubleshoot issues as well as prevent future breakdowns.
Use and coach others on preventive maintenance tools as it relates to electrical and controls technologies. Examples include, but not limited to, safety circuit audits, device calibrations, electrical thermography, and disaster recovery tools for controls equipment.