Maintenance Project Engineer

Job Description

Responsibilities Equipment Reliability & PM Optimization

• Review and optimize PM procedures.
• Analyze repetitive failures and engineer permanent solutions.
• Evaluate bearings, seals, housings, lubrication, alignment, and wear patterns.
• Monitor motors/drives, including insulation trends, commutator/brush inspection for DC motors, encoder health, SCR stack conditions.

Capital & Upgrade Projects

• Scope, quote, design, and manage upgrades:
  • Drive modernization (AC drives replacing DC, rectifier upgrades, SCR improvements).
  • Mill rebuilds, roll changes, precision alignments.
  • Hydraulics upgrades (AGC, bending cylinders, tensioning).
  • Instrumentation replacements (encoders, tachometers, tension cells, thickness gauges).
  • Expansion projects.
• Manage fabrication, installation, commissioning, vendor coordination, and documentation.

Maintenance Outage Coordination

• Plan, sequence, and coordinate mill outages.
• Create work packs, job safety analyses, checklists, and acceptance criteria.
• Manage contractors and ensure work meets standards.

Problem Solving & Breakdowns

• Respond to unplanned downtime:
  • Troubleshoot drives, transformers, encoders, PLC faults, mechanical jams, overloads, bearing failures, misalignment, and hydraulic issues.
• Determine root cause and prevent recurrence.

Documentation & Compliance

• Keep updated drawings, torque specs, electrical schematics, PM instructions.
• Ensure compliance with company, OSHA, and industry standards.
• Maintain spare parts strategies and bill of materials for critical assets.

Vendor & Contractor Management

• Source parts, get quotes, coordinate repairs.
• Work with OEMs (for example, Ungerer, Sendzimer, ABB, Siemens, Hitachi, Morgan, etc.).
• Evaluate vendor proposals and ensure technical accuracy.

Cost Control

• Track project budgets, downtime costs, maintenance expenses.
• Build cost-benefit analyses for upgrades (e.g., replacing motors, transformers, drives).

Training & Knowledge Transfer

• Train technicians on new systems.
• Maintain “tribal knowledge” documentation.
• Improve team competency in alignment, balancing, lubrication, safety, troubleshooting.

Qualifications Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, Electromechanical, Manufacturing, or other relevant engineering discipline strongly preferred. Associate's Degree in Electrical or Mechanical Engineering, or related discipline with relevant experience considered as well.

Strong Technical Foundation

• Solid understanding of mechanical, electrical, and controls systems.
• Ability to read/interpret P&IDs, mechanical drawings, schematics, PLC I/O tags, power distribution diagrams, etc.
• Familiar with industrial equipment: motors (AC/DC), drives (for example, Micromaster, Siemens, ABB, Rockwell), gearboxes, pumps, compressors, mechanical drives, bearings, housings, hydraulics.

Troubleshooting Mindset

• Skilled at diagnosing failures: mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, or process-related.
• Able to perform root cause analysis (RCA) using methodologies such as 5-Why, fishbone, FMEA.
• Comfortable jumping into a mill or line under pressure and methodically isolating issues.

Project Management Discipline

• Knows how to manage capital projects, maintenance outages, rebuilds, upgrades, and equipment installations.
• Understands planning tools (ex. Gantt, MS Project, Excel, Monday, etc.), budgeting, vendor coordination, timelines, and risk mitigation.

Communication & Leadership

• Writes clear work instructions, PMs, engineering reports, and capital request justifications.
• Works well with maintenance techs, operators, management, and vendors.
• Can walk into a breakdown, take lead, direct resources, document findings.

Continuous Improvement Approach

• Identifies chronic issues and develops long-term fixes.
• Implements reliability tools—vibration analysis, oil sampling, thermography, ultrasonic leak detection.
• Comfortable applying ISO/TS/IATF standards where needed.

Safety-Driven

• Knows lockout/tagout (LOTO), arc flash boundaries, confined space, crane/rigging practices.
• Ensures engineered solutions eliminate hazards rather than shift them.

Ownership Mentality

• Treats equipment as “their asset.”
• Knows uptime, MTBF, maintenance costs, downtime drivers, and takes responsibility.

Optional, But…