Valway - Maintenance & Reliability Engineer

Milliken and Company•Lagrange, GA

25d

About The Position

The Maintenance & Reliability Engineer provides technical leadership for the lifecycle reliability of production equipment, electrical and instrumentation systems, automation, utilities, and supporting plant assets in a Process Safety Management (PSM)-regulated manufacturing environment. The role improves equipment uptime and manufacturing performance by developing preventive and predictive maintenance strategies, leading root cause failure analysis, strengthening calibration and asset-management processes, and supporting safe execution of maintenance, outage, and capital work. The position combines hands-on troubleshooting, reliability engineering, field execution, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous improvement. The engineer serves as a technical resource to Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, EHS, Quality, contractors, and equipment suppliers, and may provide day-to-day direction, coaching, or supervision to technicians and other maintenance resources as assigned.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or Industrial Engineering, or a minimum of five years of maintenance-related experience in industrial manufacturing.
Practical experience developing or improving preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
Hands-on experience implementing corrective actions.
Working knowledge of industrial equipment, manufacturing systems, utilities, instrumentation, electrical systems, or automation systems.
Experience defining, tracking, and analyzing reliability or maintenance performance indicators.
Working proficiency with Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.
Demonstrated initiative, ownership, technical judgment, and ability to work effectively with limited supervision.
Demonstrated ability to lead projects and influence cross-functional team members.
Ability to climb stairs and obtain medical clearance for full-face respirators.
Prior or current leadership role(s) demonstrating the ability to lead a group of individuals.
Ability to sit while working for at least 50% of the day.
Ability to stand while working for at least 50% of the day.
Ability to move throughout the plant for at least 25% of the day.
Ability to lift at least 35 pounds without assistance for 10% of the day.
Ability to walk upstairs or use ladders at some frequency, stated as 10% of the day.
Ability to bend or stoop, stated as 10% of the day.
Visual acuity adequate to perform job duties, including reading printed information and computer screens, as required.
Ability to make decisions, reason, and understand information, as required.

Nice To Haves

Experience working in a Process Safety Management (PSM) environment.

Responsibilities

Develop, implement, and continuously improve preventive and predictive maintenance programs for mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, automation, and utility assets.
Analyze equipment history, failure modes, work-order data, condition-monitoring results, and production losses to identify reliability risks and improvement priorities.
Lead or participate in Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA) for significant equipment failures, recurring defects, process interruptions, and reliability events; establish and track corrective actions.
Develop equipment strategies, performance expectations, standards, procedures, inspection frequencies, and acceptance criteria based on risk, operating context, and manufacturer recommendations.
Partner with planners, schedulers, technicians, Operations, and contractors to improve job plans, maintenance execution, backlog quality, spare-parts readiness, and overall equipment effectiveness.
Support planning and execution of production-line outages, sitewide outages, turnarounds, and other high-risk maintenance activities.
Identify bad actors and obsolete or high-risk equipment; recommend repair, redesign, replacement, or capital investment solutions.
Provide technical support for complex electrical, instrumentation, motor, variable frequency drive (VFD), control-valve, actuator, PLC, HMI, and plant automation issues.
Support diagnosis, repair, specification, installation, commissioning, and performance monitoring of plant control and automation systems.
Develop, maintain, and improve the plant calibration program for field instruments and critical process-control devices.
Review and support electrical and control-system installations, construction activities, and project commissioning as assigned.
Provide technical expertise for chemical manufacturing processes, production equipment, industrial utilities, and plant systems.
Support troubleshooting of process, equipment, and utility performance issues to minimize downtime and restore safe, stable operation.
Evaluate and recommend process or equipment improvements that enhance safety, quality, reliability, productivity, energy performance, and cost.
Participate in process design reviews, technical risk assessments, equipment selection, and review of engineering drawings, specifications, calculations, and vendor documentation.
Ensure designs and equipment applications comply with applicable codes, standards, regulatory requirements, and company engineering practices.
Support capital projects from scope development through installation, startup, documentation, and transition to maintenance ownership.
Support asset hierarchy, work-order quality, job plans, preventive maintenance, equipment history, planning, scheduling, and work execution.
Develop, track, analyze, and communicate reliability and maintenance key performance indicators, including equipment availability, downtime, recurring failures, preventive-maintenance compliance, corrective-action closure, and other site measures.
Audit maintenance and reliability processes, document findings, identify gaps, and establish corrective action plans.
Improve technical data quality, asset records, drawings, spare-parts information, and maintenance documentation.
Champion a strong safety culture and comply with all plant safety policies, procedures, and regulatory requirements.
Support contractor safety management and safe execution of maintenance, outage, construction, and project work.
Participate in safety audits, observations, hazard identification, incident investigations, safety projects, and required annual training.
Understand and support the Responsible Care Management System (RC-14001), including efforts to minimize waste, prevent pollution, conserve energy, and improve environmental, health, safety, security, and Responsible Care performance.
Understand and comply with applicable quality policies, standard operating procedures, ISO requirements, and company policies.
Drive continuous improvement initiatives focused on process efficiency, asset reliability, energy reduction, waste minimization, and sustainability.
Utilize Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Root Cause Analysis, and Reliability Excellence methodologies where applicable.
Identify and evaluate emerging technologies, condition-monitoring tools, equipment upgrades, and industry practices that can improve manufacturing performance.
Serve as a mentor and technical resource for engineers, technicians, and operations personnel.
Coordinate with Operations, Maintenance, Engineering, EHS, Quality, suppliers, engineering firms, contractors, and consultants to resolve problems and implement sustainable improvements.
Lead cross-functional reliability projects and communicate scope, risk, progress, results, and follow-up requirements to stakeholders.
When assigned direct reports, support work direction, scheduling, time and attendance administration, development, and performance-management processes.
Manage relationships with engineering firms, equipment suppliers, contractors, and consultants.