Engineering and Maintenance Manager, Kapua Orchards

POSITION SUMMARY

This role leads the Engineering and Maintenance function for all Plant and Orchard Operations for food-grade ag production and nut harvesting/processing facilities, with responsibility for all site capital projects, capital project management, managing contractors, and supporting facility packaging and processing equipment and facility utility infrastructure. This dynamic role is part of the site leadership teams and directly leads the maintenance teams, maintenance reliability programs, maintenance strategy, and ensuring projects support human safety, production efficiency, quality, and regulatory compliance.

This role partners closely with Operations, Quality, Safety, Supply and other functions to deliver throughput, cost, and continuous improvement objectives in large scale agricultural operations and a high-speed manufacturing environment. This role reports directly to the General Manager of Agricultural Operations. Additionally, this role has dotted line reporting to the Head of Engineering for the company as well as collaborating closely with the site Plant Manager on overall facility performance and improvement.

• Leads the maintenance programs including the CMMS (Maintain
  
  X), equipment reliability and preventive/predictive maintenance programs, spare parts strategy/management, and overall proactive maintenance strategies to increase OEE and minimize downtime and unplanned outages.
• Responsible to lead and manage the agricultural asset and fleet maintenance and capital plan for the site.
• Full responsibility to manage the site capital plan year over year.
• Ensures project management is run effectively delivering projects on time, at or below cost, and succeeding in project deliverables while meeting overall organizational expectations.
• Works closely with contractors and OEMs on new technologies, improved equipment performance, and drives overall equipment and manufacturing / processing engineering improvements.
• Leads, coaches, motivates, and develops the Maintenance Dept. teams and technicians. Functions as a technical resource for Production, Quality, EHS, and all Agricultural Operations.
• Design, implement, and optimize processing and packaging lines for husking, drying, cracking, sorting, roasting, seasoning, enrobing, panning, packing, and other associated CPG operations, ensuring OEE and yield targets.
• Manage plant utilities and infrastructure (steam, compressed air, refrigeration, water/wastewater, power) with focus on energy efficiency and Hawaii-specific cost/availability constraints.
• Lead site capital planning and execution (scoping, justification, vendor selection, installation, commissioning) for new equipment, expansions, and facility upgrades.
• Tracks and manages cash flow on capital projects working with Accounting and Finance along with other key stakeholders as part of the overall company capital plan.
• Leads with both a value engineering mindset and leverages lean manufacturing and continuous improvement principles (5S, value stream mapping, SMED, line balancing, waste reduction) to improve line design throughput and reduce cost per pound.
• Ensure engineering and maintenance activities comply with OSHA, FDA/FSMA, USDA (if applicable), environmental regulations, and local/state of Hawaii codes and permitting.
• Partner with Quality and Food Safety to design hygienic equipment, allergen control, sanitation-friendly layouts, and support root cause analysis for customer or regulatory issues.
• Maintain site plant layouts, drawings, and documentation; standardize work instructions and change control for process and equipment changes.
• Possess a range of analytical and mechanical skills with a high tolerance for uncertainty in dynamic conditions.
• Develop and manage departmental budget (labor, MRO, capital) and report performance via KPIs (downtime, OEE, MTBF, maintenance cost, energy use).
• Prepare monthly reports for the business, including project reporting, maintenance metrics and budget costs.
• Fulfill any additional duties or projects assigned, demonstrating flexibility and an initiative-taking approach to meeting organizational needs.
• Adhere to Company policies and procedures in all duties, reflecting Company values in behavioral conduct both on-site and off.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial, Manufacturing, or related Engineering field is preferred and/or equivalent experience for the role.
• 5+ years of hands-on maintenance and engineering experience in processing, with at least 3+ years in a supervisory or management role; food or nut/agribusiness processing experience strongly preferred.
• Project Management certification is preferred but not required.
• Demonstrated experience leading maintenance and engineering teams in a plant environment with rotating shifts and high-speed packaging or processing equipment.
• Strong knowledge of lean/continuous improvement tools and reliability-centered…