Maintenance Manager

Job Summary

The Maintenance Manager is responsible for leading all maintenance, reliability, and asset management activities within a fiber optic cable manufacturing facility. This role ensures optimal equipment uptime, process stability, and safe operations by deploying best-in-class preventive and predictive maintenance strategies. The position plays a critical role in supporting production throughput, quality standards, and cost efficiency through strong technical leadership and disciplined execution.

Responsibilities

Safety & Compliance

• Ensure compliance with all safety, environmental, and regulatory requirements
• Promote a zero-incident culture within the maintenance organization
• Ensure maintenance activities comply with all safety absolutes, LOTO requirements, electrical safety standards, and company EHS policies
• Lead safety engagement activities within the maintenance department and ensure all maintenance personnel and contractors follow safe work practices
• Lead incident investigations and implement corrective actions
• Collaborate with EHS to ensure maintenance activities comply with all safety absolutes, environmental requirements, and regulatory standards

Maintenance Strategy & Execution

• Develop and implement a comprehensive preventive and predictive maintenance (PM/PdM) program
• Lead predictive maintenance initiatives including vibration analysis, thermography, condition monitoring, and root cause failure analysis
• Drive equipment reliability and uptime across all production areas (buffering lines, jacketing lines, stranding equipment, etc.)
• Establish and enforce standard work for maintenance activities
• Lead troubleshooting and rapid response to unplanned downtime events
• Manage and control maintenance spare parts inventory to ensure critical parts availability while controlling costs
• Establish maintenance KPIs including MTBF, MTTR, PM completion rates, and equipment reliability metrics
• Support emergency breakdown response and drive proactive maintenance strategies to reduce downtime
• Provide maintenance leadership support during off-shift hours, holidays, weekends, and emergency situations as needed to support plant operations and equipment reliability
• Maintain flexibility to respond to critical equipment failures and operational needs outside normal working hours
• Support plant startup, shutdown, and major maintenance activities during scheduled outages or off-shift production windows when required

Reliability & Continuous Improvement

• Implement reliability-centered maintenance (RCM) and root cause failure analysis (RCFA)
• Partner with operations and engineering on continuous improvement initiatives (OEE improvement, scrap reduction, yield improvement)
• Support continuous improvement initiatives including TPM, 5S, reliability improvement, and maintenance best practices
• Utilize data (CMMS/MES) to drive failure analysis and predictive insights
• Lead Kaizen events and maintenance optimization projects
• Participate in plant continuous improvement efforts and support operational excellence initiatives across all departments

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a team of maintenance technicians, planners, leads and supervisors
• Establish clear performance expectations and accountability
• Build technical capability in electrical, mechanical, PLC, and automation systems
• Drive a culture aligned to operational principles (e.g., accountability, ownership, continuous improvement
• Drive proactive vs reactive culture

Planning, Scheduling & CMMS

• Oversee maintenance planning and scheduling processes to ensure efficient execution and minimal production disruption
• Ensure disciplined use of CMMS (Computerized Maintenance Management System)
• Optimize work order management, spare parts inventory, and labor utilization
• Improve schedule compliance and PM completion rates
• Manage PM compliance, scheduling, backlog control, and maintenance planning activities.

Capital Projects & Equipment Lifecycle

• Support capital projects, equipment installation, and commissioning
• Provide input on equipment selection, maintainability, and reliability design
• Manage equipment lifecycle strategies including replacement planning and obsolescence management

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Engineering, Process, Operations, Quality Control, and EHS departments to support production goals, equipment reliability, process improvements, and plant safety initiatives
• Partner with cross-functional teams to identify and resolve equipment and process-related issues impacting safety, quality, delivery, and productivity
• Support plant initiatives by coordinating maintenance activities with Operations and Engineering to minimize downtime and improve overall equipment effectiveness
• Work with Quality Control and Process Engineering teams to support product quality improvements and corrective action activities related to equipment performance
• Support new product introductions (NPI) and process changes
• Align maintenance priorities with production plans and business objectives
• Coordinate contractor support and ensure all external resources meet AFL safety and training requirements

Qualifications & Technical Expertise

• Bachelor's degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, or related field) preferred
• 7-10+ years of maintenance leadership experience in manufacturing (preferably cable, wire, fiber, or similar continuous processes)
• Certified Plant Maintenance Manager (CPMM) or Certified Reliability Leader (CRL) certification preferred.
• Experience with TPM, predictive maintenance technologies, and reliability-centered maintenance practices
• Experience with automated production equipment, PLCs, drives, and process control systems
• Strong knowledge of:
• Electrical and mechanical systems
• PLCs (Allen-Bradley, Siemens, etc.)
• Process equipment used in cable/fiber manufacturing
• Experience with CMMS systems (e.g., SAP PM, Maximo)
• Understanding of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, and Reliability Engineering principles

Personal Qualities

• Leadership - model the Operating Principles in your behaviors and actions
• Flexibility - open to change/new information and rapidly adapts to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles
• Detail oriented - excellent attention to detail with the ability to follow through on assigned tasks
• Independent - ability to work well under limited supervision
• Analytical Thinking/Problem Solving - capable of complex reasoning analysis
• Results focused - driven to achieve
• Interpersonal & Communication skills - able to collaborate on projects, maintain effective relationships, and communicate clearly at all levels of the business
• Adaptability - capable of working in a fast-paced environment, adapting to various situations, and prioritizing multiple work assignments simultaneously
• Promote and enforce a strong safety-first culture within maintenance operations
• Drive accountability for PM execution, equipment reliability, and maintenance performance.
• Develop maintenance personnel through coaching, mentoring, and technical leadership.
• Lead by example in professionalism, urgency, communication, and teamwork