Industrial Equipment Mechanic - Food Processing Utilities

Job Description

Job DescriptionIndustrial Equipment Mechanic – Food Processing Utilities

Picture yourself in a place where your craftsmanship keeps an essential food supply moving. At Hilmar Cheese Company, we turn high‑quality milk into cheeses and nutritional ingredients trusted worldwide. Your expertise ensures our equipment delivers—every shift, every product.

How you’ll make an impact

By owning uptime, you’ll respond quickly to breakdowns, execute preventive maintenance on schedule, and document your work to build actionable maintenance histories. You’ll collaborate closely with operators, communicate clearly, and model our core value of Excellence.

Primary responsibilities

• Complete corrective and preventive maintenance using power tools, welding gear, forklifts, and articulating booms.
• Read and interpret blueprints; produce basic layouts and sketches.
• Cut and fabricate components with a plasma cutter.
• Diagnose faults and restore operation using disciplined troubleshooting.
• Wire and troubleshoot 3‑phase motors.
• Identify and repair issues in 110V and 24V control wiring.
• Rebuild centrifugal and positive displacement pumps.
• Follow HCC safety standards; coordinate maintenance with production.
• Participate in training before, during, and after shifts—and on scheduled days off; coach teammates through buddy/OJT programs.
• Safeguard food safety and sanitation; report any incidents or observations and participate in root cause investigations and improvement actions.
• Lead with safety: report hazards, join departmental safety teams; may serve on ERT and Hazmat teams.

Qualifications

• English proficiency in reading, writing, speaking, and comprehension.
• 1 year in industrial manufacturing OR completion of a technical program.
• Competent with basic hand tools; able to describe your troubleshooting approach.
• Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook) experience.
• Willing to work weekends, holidays, and rotating shifts (day/swing/graveyard).
• Lift up to 60 lbs.

Preferred background

• High school diploma or GED.
• Certification/training in Industrial Maintenance, Automotive/Diesel repair, or related coursework.
• 1 year of SAP experience.
• 2 years dairy manufacturing and 1 year operator‑based maintenance; or 4 years industrial manufacturing and/or 2 years industrial/automotive/diesel/agricultural maintenance.
• Basic gas, TIG, MIG, and arc welding knowledge.

Technical proficiency

• Mechanical troubleshooting
• 120/208/240/480 VAC systems
• Electrical troubleshooting and repair
• High‑voltage systems
• Pneumatics troubleshooting
• Tape‑measure reading
• General maintenance and repair

Physical Demands & Work Environment

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

You’ll spend most of the day standing and walking; regularly climb, balance, stoop, kneel, crouch, and crawl; and work at heights and within tight spaces. Expect pushing, pulling, reaching, gripping, twisting/turning, and repetitive bending while handling tools and components in any area of the cheese plant.

Quality and responsibility

Food safety is a companywide responsibility—everyone plays a part in producing safe, wholesome, high‑quality products.

This description is a general statement and does not include other duties as assigned

Hilmar Cheese Company, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer/EEO.

We participate in E-Verify.