Pizza Automation Technician

Experience:

Mid Level
Salary: $29 - $33 per hour

Location:

Franklin Park,IL, US

• Maintain, troubleshoot, repair, and replace automation components on an automated frozen pizza topping and packaging line.
• Diagnose electrical problems involving 480V three-phase, 240V, and 24V control circuits.
• Use schematics, meters, PLC logic, I/O states, fault screens, interlocks, and safety circuits to identify equipment failures.
• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled equipment beyond basic HMI fault monitoring.
• Maintain VFDs, servos, servo drives, encoders, sensors, photo eyes, relays, contractors, overloads, and control panels.
• Service automatic shrink wrappers and heat tunnels, including film-path setup, changeovers, rollers, needles, film-height settings, static control, sensors, and valves.
• Maintain cartoners, indexers, automatic case erectors, conveyors, and transfer systems.
• Perform chain tensioning, lubrication, link repair, guide alignment, timing adjustments, and belt tracking.
• Service inkjet date coders, including ink systems, printheads, alignment, cleaning, and jam recovery.
• Maintain hot-melt glue systems, including temperature controls, nozzles, filters, and hoses.
• Support metal detectors and checkweighers through settings management, program backups, reject-system maintenance, belt tracking, calibration support, and coordination with Quality Assurance.
• Perform condition checks and safe first-response assessments on the liquid-nitrogen freezing tunnel, oxygen monitor, exhaust system, belt, headers, and nozzles.
• Protect sensors, motors, panels, and controls before washdown and troubleshoot moisture-related failures following sanitation.
• Perform preventive maintenance and document equipment usage, repairs, replaced parts, settings changes, and root causes.
• Perform millwright-level build-up, tear-down, alignment, and repair of heavy industrial machinery.
• Troubleshoot chain drives, pneumatics, compressed-air systems, motors, and other mechanical equipment.
• Provide startup-through-close support for the pizza production line and assist with facility maintenance when the line does not require attention.
• Follow lockout/tagout, electrical safety, GMP, food-safety, sanitation, and inspection-equipment requirements.
• Communicate recurring problems, equipment risks, and incomplete work to the other technician or Plant Engineer.
• Work closely with Production, Quality Assurance, Sanitation, Warehouse, vendors, auditors, and federal inspectors.

• High school diploma or GED required.
• Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, robotics, or a related field preferred.
• Relevant technical-school, trade-school, apprenticeship, OEM, military, industrial maintenance, mechatronics, electrical, or controls training may substitute for a degree.
• Minimum three years of directly relevant, hands‑on industrial manufacturing maintenance experience.
• Automation maintenance experience within a production environment.
• Hands‑on experience troubleshooting 480V three‑phase, 240V, and 24V electrical systems.
• Ability to safely use meters, read electrical schematics, and troubleshoot motors, contractors, overloads, relays, sensors, panels, and control circuits.
• Ability to read PLC logic and I/O and explain how a PLC or controls failure was diagnosed.
• Experience maintaining heavy industrial machinery, including equipment build‑up, tear‑down, alignment, and repair.
• Experience with chain drives, pneumatics, and compressed‑air systems.
• Strong packaging machinery experience, preferably involving at least three of the following:
• Shrink wrappers
• Heat tunnels
• Cartoners
• Case erectors
• Hot‑melt glue systems
• Inkjet coders
• Checkweighers
• Metal detectors
• Experience installing, maintaining, troubleshooting, and replacing VFDs, servos,…