Maintenance Technician - 12 Hr Day Shift

Kerry•Rochester, MN

3d•$33 - $39•Onsite

About The Position

The Maintenance Technician at Kerry’s Rochester, Minnesota location maintains and improves food processing, fermentation, drying, liquid handling, material handling, and packaging equipment. The role focuses on maximizing uptime, production efficiency, equipment reliability, and food safety compliance at a site specializing in fermented ingredients for the bioscience industry. The position works a 12-hour rotating schedule. The technician responds to breakdowns, supports production startups and changeovers, performs preventive and predictive maintenance, documents work in the CMMS, participates in root cause analysis, and recommends improvements. The role requires compliance with GMP, HACCP, SQF, OSHA, LOTO, food safety, sanitary design, and company safety requirements. The pay rate is $33.00–$39.00 per hour. Kerry offers medical, dental, vision, paid time off, a 401(k) plan with employee and company contribution opportunities, an Employee Share Plan, and life, disability, and accident insurance.

Requirements

High school diploma or GED.
At least 3 years of industrial maintenance experience in food, beverage, dairy, pharmaceutical, CPG, or manufacturing settings.
Experience with sanitary process equipment, pumps, valves, packaging, and fermentation or drying systems.
Strong mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and automation troubleshooting skills.
Ability to work independently, prioritize tasks, and support production environments.
Strong communication, problem-solving, and root cause analysis skills.
Flexibility to work shifts, overtime, weekends, and holidays.
Ability to lift up to 50 pounds; stand, walk, bend, climb, and perform physical work throughout shifts.
Ability to work around heat, steam, chemicals, noise, machinery, and at heights, and to wear required PPE, including respirators.

Nice To Haves

Technical training or equivalent experience.
Experience in dairy, food processing, ingredient manufacturing, fermentation, aseptic processing, or spray drying.
Allen-Bradley PLC and VFD troubleshooting experience.
Class B boiler license.
TIG welding or fabrication experience.
Knowledge of GMP, HACCP, SQF, OSHA, LOTO, and food safety.

Responsibilities

Maintain and troubleshoot hygienic and aseptic processing systems, including SPX Flow/APV, GEA, Sharpe, and Südmo valves.
Repair and rebuild sanitary valves, valve actuators, seats, seals, diaphragms, aseptic valve manifolds, and related wear components.
Support CIP and SIP operations to ensure product quality, sanitation, and process reliability.
Troubleshoot, repair, and maintain vacuum, centrifugal, positive displacement, rotary lobe, and process transfer pumps, including seals, bearings, shafts, impellers, alignment, vibration monitoring, and performance testing.
Maintain rotary valves, rotary feeders, airlocks, drive systems, gearboxes, conveying equipment, and material handling systems.
Perform maintenance on fermenters, evaporators, spray dryers, liquefiers, mixers, blending systems, liquid storage silos, heat exchangers, ingredient handling systems, and thermal/process systems.
Troubleshoot and repair liquid and dry product packaging systems, filling and bagging equipment, conveyors, labeling equipment, case packers, and palletizers.
Respond to equipment breakdowns, support production line startups and changeovers, and diagnose process interruptions while minimizing downtime.
Troubleshoot motors, motor controls, VFDs, sensors, instrumentation, PLC-controlled equipment, and automated manufacturing systems.
Read and interpret mechanical drawings, P&IDs, electrical schematics, equipment manuals, and technical drawings.
Complete preventive and predictive maintenance, document work in the CMMS, participate in root cause analysis, and recommend safety, reliability, and efficiency improvements.
Follow GMP, HACCP, SQF, OSHA, LOTO, food safety, sanitary design, and company safety requirements.