Plant Asset Reliability Manager (Metal Forming)

Picture this: you start your day on the production floor, listening for the telltale hum of healthy roll-forming lines. A servo press throws a fault—within minutes you’re at the panel, walking a tech through diagnostics, isolating whether it’s a sensor, a drive, or a timing issue. By mid-morning, you’ve aligned a planned PM window with Production, confirmed critical spares in eMaint, and briefed Plant Management on a recovery plan for a chronic uncoiler failure. That blend of hands-on troubleshooting, team guidance, and disciplined reliability work is the heartbeat of this role.

Role Overview

As the Asset Reliability Manager for our fast-paced metal-forming operation, you will safeguard uptime, elevate safety, and strengthen equipment performance across roll-forming lines, presses, and coil-processing systems. You’ll lead a skilled maintenance team, partner with Production, Engineering, Quality, Tool & Die, and Plant Management, and execute a data-driven maintenance strategy that reduces unplanned downtime, eradicates recurring failures, and continuously improves PM effectiveness.

What You’ll Tackle

Hands-On Maintenance & Troubleshooting

• Diagnose and repair roll-forming lines; pneumatic, mechanical, and servo presses; uncoilers, straighteners, feeders, encoders, conveyors, stackers; and hydraulic/pneumatic systems.
• Resolve mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, pneumatic, controls, and automation issues.
• Support technicians during complex or business-critical breakdowns.
• Troubleshoot motors, drives, sensors, relays, contactors, safety circuits, encoders, limit switches, and solenoid valves.
• Work on PLC-controlled equipment, HMIs, servo systems, VFDs, and automated press/length-control systems.
• When needed, apply safe temporary fixes to restore production, followed by permanent corrective actions.
• Coordinate with OEMs, automation partners, electricians, and third-party service providers.
• Take part in equipment installations, modifications, commissioning, and startups.
• Assist with tooling, die, and roll-forming concerns that impact safety, reliability, or throughput.

Team Leadership & Daily Management

• Lead, schedule, and develop a multi-shift maintenance team.
• Prioritize daily work by safety, production impact, asset condition, and business need.
• Set clear expectations and hold the team accountable for results and documentation.
• Run daily maintenance meetings and thorough shift handoffs covering downtime, work orders, parts, and urgent repairs.
• Ensure accurate documentation of problems, root causes, repairs, parts usage, and follow-ups.
• Coach technicians in hands-on troubleshooting; identify training needs across electrical, mechanical, PLC, hydraulic, pneumatic, welding, and fabrication.
• Foster strong collaboration with Production, Engineering, Quality, and Tool & Die.
• Conduct performance reviews; provide coaching, feedback, and corrective actions as needed.
• Assist with recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding new maintenance talent.

Preventive & Predictive Maintenance

• Build and continuously refine the PM program to reflect real equipment needs.
• Use history and failure patterns to optimize PM intervals, inspections, lubrication, and component replacement.
• Coordinate planned maintenance with production schedules to minimize disruption.
• Implement condition-based practices: vibration, temperature, lubrication, alignment, wear, leak, and electrical inspections.
• Routinely inspect and document safety devices: guarding, E-stops, interlocks, light curtains, and safety circuits.
• Maintain up-to-date equipment records, manuals, electrical drawings, PLC and parameter backups, and procedures.
• Use the CMMS (eMaint) to manage work orders, PMs, labor hours, history, and projects.

Downtime Reduction & Continuous Improvement

• Own breakdown response and restoration—fast, safe, and complete.
• Lead root-cause analyses on major and repeat failures; separate symptoms from true causes and contributing conditions.
• Implement permanent corrective actions that prevent recurrence.
• Track chronic issues with action plans, owners, and due dates.
• Recommend upgrades that improve reliability, safety, quality, changeover time, and output.
• Collaborate with Production/Engineering on sensors, controls, timing, material handling, guarding, and operator interfaces.
• Investigate equipment-related quality problems—machine condition, setup, tooling, controls, material feed, or operating practices.
• Influence new-equipment selection with maintainability, spares, training, and technical documentation in mind.

Parts, Planning & Contractor Management

• Organize and manage critical spares inventory with appropriate min/max levels.
• Ensure proper identification and storage for motors, drives, sensors, PLC components, hydraulic valves/cylinders, bearings, belts, chains, and more.
• Oversee purchasing; verify parts match repair requirements; solicit and assess vendor quotations as needed.
• Coordinate contractors to meet safety, quality, cost, and schedule expectations.
• Capture contractor deliverables: updated drawings, manuals, and backups.
• Plan major projects—downtime schedules, estimates, labor needs, and parts lists.
• Monitor maintenance spend and drive savings without sacrificing safety or reliability.

Reporting & Performance Management

Provide timely performance reporting and watch the indicators that matter:

• Unplanned equipment downtime
• Downtime by machine and failure category
• Preventive maintenance completion
• Repeat equipment failures
• Open and overdue work orders
• Mean Time to Repair (MTTR)
• Maintenance labor and overtime
• Spare-parts usage and critical shortages
• Status of major repairs and improvement projects

Proactively flag significant equipment risks before they escalate and present clear recovery plans—temporary workarounds, permanent fixes, owners, parts, and due dates.

Safety Leadership

• Champion safety policies and regulatory compliance in every maintenance task.
• Enforce Lockout/Tagout; confirm understanding of machine-specific energy control.
• Stop any job that cannot be performed safely.
• Verify guarding and safety devices are fully restored before release to production.
• Investigate safety concerns and implement corrective actions.
• Drive housekeeping, tool control, organized panels, and safe material storage.
• Participate in safety inspections, incident investigations, and corrective actions.

Required Qualifications

• 5+ years of industrial maintenance experience in manufacturing.
• Demonstrated experience leading or supervising maintenance technicians.
• Strong hands-on mechanical and electrical troubleshooting skills.
• Working knowledge of PLC machinery, HMIs, servo systems, industrial sensors, and safety circuits.
• Ability to read electrical schematics; mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic drawings/diagrams.
• Experience with hydraulics, pneumatics, motors, gearboxes, bearings, chains, belts, conveyors, and industrial equipment.
• Fluency in PM, root-cause analysis, and reliability principles.
• CMMS experience for work orders, PMs, and equipment history (e.g., eMaint).
• Excellent organization, communication, prioritization, and follow-through.
• Calm under pressure during production breakdowns.
• Willing to work on the production floor and assist in hands-on troubleshooting/repairs.
• Ability to respond to critical issues outside normal hours when needed.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with roll-forming equipment, stamping presses, press brakes, servo presses, coil-processing gear, feeders, straighteners, uncoilers, and automated cutoff systems.
• Rockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley PLC experience and related troubleshooting software.
• Background in industrial automation, motion control, servo drives, encoders, and closed-loop length-control systems.
• Experience with mechanical, air, and servo presses.
• History of developing maintenance technicians via structured training and skills assessments.
• Bilingual English/Spanish communication skills.
• Technical degree, industrial maintenance certification, electrical training, or equivalent practical experience.