Maintenance Reliability Specialist

Nichols Farms is one of the top processors of pistachios in the United States. For more than three decades, Nichols Farms has maintained superior quality and exceptional service in supplying pistachio and almond products to major retail and wholesale clients domestically and internationally. Nichols Farms maintains a state-of-the-art processing facility at their corporate headquarters in Hanford, California, employing over 350 employees.

Join the Nichols Farms Team in their objective of continued growth. Nichols Farms possesses a strong employee-oriented environment dedicated to training and growth of team members.

The Nichols Farms Mission and Vision supports a culture of striving for mutual success of our employees, suppliers, and customers through operational excellence and educational development.

The Maintenance Reliability Specialist will be a key technical resource focused on improving equipment reliability, optimizing asset life cycles, and executing capital and reliability-based projects. This position will support long-term plant performance through preventive and predictive initiatives, data-driven problem solving, and cross-functional project execution. This is a senior position, and as such are expected to show initiative to bring the utmost level of professionalism, personal character, and a team-centered mindset to the department.

Successful candidates will have an extremely firm grasp of mechanical, electrical, and controls principles/best practices and will be expected to share those with your direct team members to achieve the common goal – Becoming a World Class Maintenance Department.

Promote a  safety first  culture by following all safety rules (including Lockout/Tagout, Arc-Flash, Confined Space, Fall Protection, and Hazard Communication). Report all near misses, injuries, and documentation of incidents to the Shift Supervisor/Production Supervisor.

Perform all duties in accordance with Quality and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) established company policies and procedures.

Responsible for active participation in continuous improvement teams and processes.

• Reliability Improvement:

• Conduct Root Cause Analyses (RCA) on chronic and high-impact failures.
• Perform Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) and asset criticality assessments.
• Develop and optimize preventive and predictive maintenance strategies.
• Standardize equipment, repair methods, and maintenance processes.
• Provide expert-level troubleshooting and support to maintenance technicians.
• Support equipment reliability by analyzing CMMS data and maintenance trends.

• Project Execution:

• Own project scopes, schedules, and implementation activities.
• Collaborate with operations, engineering, and contractors to ensure successful project delivery.
• Identify opportunities to reduce costs through tighter project planning and scope control.

• Continuous Improvement:

• Identify and eliminate waste in maintenance workflows and processes (e.g., excess motion, waiting, rework).
• Drive or support DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) improvement initiatives.
• Use Six Sigma tools (Pareto analysis, fishbone diagrams, A3s) to solve recurring maintenance issues.
• Create and standardize maintenance job plans and task sequences for improved efficiency and repeatability.
• Implement 5S and visual management practices in maintenance areas.
• Facilitate Kaizen events focused on equipment uptime and maintenance effectiveness.

• Technical Support:

• Serve as a technical expert in troubleshooting mechanical and electrical issues.
• Assist maintenance technicians with complex problems and mentor less experienced team members.
• Analyze maintenance data and trends to drive systemic improvements.

• Leadership Development & Knowledge Transfer:

• Mentor junior technicians on technical troubleshooting, safety, and maintenance best practices.
• Train team members in new processes or reliability standards developed through continuous improvement.

• Electrical Experience

• Experience working on low voltage motors, servos.
• Understanding of low voltage control wiring
• Able to understand, diagnose, and wire analog sensors (4-20mA and 0-10v).
• PLC and remote IO wiring
• Ability to read PLC code.
• Reading and interpreting red line drawings.
• Able to wire up new control circuits for motor controls, instrumentation, feedback, signaling, alarms, and interlocks.
• Experience in conduit bending, wire pulling, termination, and…