Description
The Maintenance Manager leads all maintenance, facilities, and reliability functions within a high-speed plastics manufacturing operation (thermoforming and extrusion). This role is responsible for maximizing equipment uptime, driving Lean and reliability initiatives, managing capital projects, and ensuring a safe, compliant, and cost-effective operation. The position partners closely with Operations, Engineering, and Technical teams to improve overall equipment effectiveness and support business growth.
Leadership & Safety
- Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing maintenance team with a strong focus on safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Promote a safety-first culture through hazard identification, safety Gemba walks, and engineered solutions.
- Ensure compliance with all safety, environmental, and regulatory standards, particularly within food-grade manufacturing environments.
- Maintain high housekeeping standards aligned with 5S and visual management principles.
Maintenance & Reliability
- Own and drive a best-in-class preventive, predictive, and reliability-centered maintenance program.
- Improve equipment uptime and reduce downtime through root cause analysis, A3 problem-solving, and countermeasure implementation.
- Manage maintenance KPIs including downtime, PM compliance, MTBF, MTTR, maintenance costs, and spare parts accuracy.
- Lead Daily Management (Tier I, II, III) discussions related to maintenance performance and corrective actions.
- Oversee CMMS utilization (e.g., SAP PM, Maximo, Mainsaver) to ensure data accuracy, planning effectiveness, and reporting.
Facilities & Utilities Management
- Ensure reliable operation and compliance of all plant utilities including compressed air, chillers, cooling towers, water systems, gas, and electrical infrastructure.
- Lead utility optimization efforts, including leak reduction programs and energy efficiency improvements.
- Maintain facility infrastructure to support safe and efficient operations.
Capital Projects & Engineering
- Lead planning, justification, approval, and execution of capital projects (both site-level and corporate-driven).
- Manage multiple engineering and technical projects simultaneously, ensuring on-time and on-budget delivery.
- Provide technical expertise in equipment design, selection, installation, and integration.
- Develop engineering studies, specifications, layouts, and cost analyses with clear executive summaries.
- Support process improvements and new product introductions through equipment and process optimization.
Lean Manufacturing & Continuous Improvement
- Identify and eliminate the 7 wastes (Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Waiting, Overproduction, Overprocessing, Defects).
- Lead and replicate best practices across production lines and share improvements across the organization.
- Support time studies, labor optimization, and cost reduction initiatives.
Inventory & Cost Control
- Manage maintenance budgets, including labor and materials, with a focus on variance reduction.
- Develop and maintain an optimized spare parts strategy (critical spares, min/max levels, obsolescence reduction).
- Balance cost efficiency with operational reliability to minimize production disruptions.
People Development & Administration
- Maintain accurate employee records and lead performance management processes.
- Develop team capabilities through training, mentoring, and skill development programs.
- Foster a collaborative environment across maintenance, operations, and engineering teams.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, or related field) required.
- 5+ years of maintenance leadership experience in a manufacturing environment; plastics or packaging preferred.
- Strong knowledge of thermoforming and/or extrusion equipment highly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience with CMMS systems (SAP PM, Maximo, Mainsaver) and Microsoft Office (Excel proficiency required).
- Proven leadership, project management, and problem-solving skills.
- Experience with Lean manufacturing, TPM, and reliability-centered maintenance methodologies.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to influence across cross-functional teams.
- AutoCAD or similar drafting experience preferred.
Work Environment
- Manufacturing plant environment with exposure to mechanical equipment, noise, and varying temperatures.
- Requires regular presence on the production floor and interaction with equipment and teams.
Summary
What makes Sabert a great place to work:
Pay, benefits and more.
Sabert is eager to attract the best, so we offer competitive compensation and a generous benefits package, including full health insurance (medical, dental and vision), 401(k), life insurance, disability and more. To learn more about our benefits click here.
Learn More About Sabert:
We are a leading global manufacturer of innovative food packaging products and solutions. The company was founded in 1983 grounded in the purpose of reinventing food packaging to nourish and protect our world. Today we design, manufacture, and distribute a wide spectrum of packaging solutions for food distributors, restaurants & caterers, grocery stores, national food chains and consumer entertaining.
Want more insight on what it’s like to work for Sabert? Click here to hear directly from our employees and learn more about our Company’s mission.
We’re committed to providing reasonable accommodation for applicants with special needs or disabilities during our recruiting process, to learn more about accommodations please call (732) 721-5544 or email HR2@sabert.com for assistance. Please do not send resumes to the above email address, applications submitted via email will not be considered unless specifically invited to do so.
Sabert Corporation is an equal employment opportunity employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, creed, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ancestry, marital status, being a qualified individual with a disability, protected veteran status, political belief or activity, or any other basis prohibited by law or regulation.
Applicants must be currently authorized to work legally in the United States for Sabert. Sabert will not commence an employment-based immigration case to fill this open position