Maintenance Planner- Upington Northern Cape, south-africa
full-time
Overview
Coordinate and control all planned and corrective maintenance activities across the raisin manufacturing site, ensuring seamless executionand minimal disruption to operations.
Plan, sequence, and schedule preventative, predictive, and statutory maintenance across processing, drying, packing, and utility areas tomaximize asset reliability and plant availability.
Drive compliance with food safety standards and engineering best practices while maintaining strict cost control and operational efficiency.
Collaborate closely with Production, Engineering, and Stores to ensure alignment of maintenance plans with operational priorities.
Ensure readiness of all maintenance activities by verifying work orders, labour allocation, tools, and material availability in advance.
Maintain and govern CMMS (SAP) by ensuring accurate work order creation, execution tracking, and closure, enabling reliable data integrity.
Capture and analyze maintenance data to support root cause analysis, performance tracking, and continuous improvement initiatives.
Produce clear and actionable reports to support decision-making, improve equipment performance, and optimize maintenance strategies.
Responsibilities
Drive execution of maintenance strategies to achieve best-in-class plant reliability and availability, aligning with industry benchmarks.
Develop and optimise maintenance work plans by implementing structured processes, incorporating root cause analysis (RCA) and lifecyclemanagement principles.
Design and implement equipment-specific maintenance schedules aligned with Food Safety, EHS requirements, sector best practices, andPEMM methodology.
Monitor, analyze, and report on maintenance KPIs, trends, and the full engineering scorecard to support performance improvement.
Contribute to maintenance budgeting by analyzing historical data and applying zero-based budgeting principles to improve cost control.
Ensure CMMS (SAP) data integrity by validating work orders, verifying artisan inputs, and maintaining strict document control standards.
Manage and optimise the maintenance backlog, ensuring timely execution and closure of all work orders and job cards.
Support reliability engineering initiatives by conducting and contributing to analysis such as RCA, and translating findings into actionableimprovement plans.
Train and support maintenance and production teams on maintenance procedures and effective utilisation of the CMMS system.
Integrate maintenance plans with production schedules to minimise downtime and maximise operational efficiency.
Lead forward planning activities (weekly, monthly, annual) for maintenance tasks, labour, and materials to ensure consistent and effectiveexecution.
Accurately scope and estimate maintenance work, including duration, priority, resource requirements, spares, tools, specialist services, andmaterials.
Plan and coordinate contract labour to supplement internal resources and meet maintenance workload demands.
Identify and manage critical equipment and spares through structured criticality assessments.
Continuously review and improve maintenance strategies and tasks based on team feedback, plant changes, and evolving industry bestpractices.
Maintain ≥95% SAP (CMMS) work order closure compliance by actively monitoring, managing, and driving timely completion and close-outof all maintenance job cards.
Maintenance Planning & Scheduling
Develop, update, and optimize preventive and predictive maintenance programmes across production, packing, and utilities to ensuremaximum equipment reliability.
Build and execute detailed weekly and daily maintenance plans, including Maintenance Day Plans with defined scope, resources,durations, and lockout requirements.
Lead pre-maintenance planning meetings to align Engineering, Production, and Contractors on scope, priorities, and execution strategy.
Plan and coordinate major shutdowns, breakdown repairs, and seasonal maintenance activities, integrating maintenance withproduction schedules and cleaning cycles.
Prioritize and release work orders in SAP PM, ensuring effective response to corrective and ad hoc maintenance based on risk, safety,food safety, and operational impact.Materials, Spares & Services Coordination
Determine and manage spares requirements through criticality assessments, ensuring availability of critical parts, tools, and equipment.
Coordinate external service providers and statutory inspections (e.g., boilers, lifting equipment) to ensure compliance and operationalreadiness.
Accurately estimate maintenance work scope, including labour, duration, skills, spares, tools, and specialist services.
Plan and deploy contract labour to supplement internal resources during peak workloads and shutdown periods.Execution Readiness & Governance
Ensure execution readiness by defining clear job scopes, safety procedures, permit requirements, LOTO compliance, and food safetycontrols for all work orders.
Govern work order quality in SAP CMMS by validating job card inputs, including time confirmations, materials usage, and technicalcompletion notes.
Chair post-maintenance reviews to assess execution quality, identify gaps, and track deferred or incomplete work.
Maintain ≥95% SAP (CMMS) work order closure compliance, driving discipline in timely completion and accurate system updates.Performance, Reliability & Continuous Improvement
Monitor and report on maintenance KPIs, Asset Care indicators, backlog, and schedule adherence to drive performance improvements.
Analyse equipment failures and losses using RCA, methodologies, translating insights into actionable reliability improvement plans.
Continuously improve maintenance strategies by incorporating lifecycle management principles, audit findings, and industry bestpractices.
Plan and track condition monitoring activities (e.g., vibration analysis, thermography) to proactively identify and mitigate equipmentrisks.
Maintain engineering documentation and asset records, including drawings, P&IDs, OEM manuals, SOPs, and equipment history foraudit and traceability purposes.Stakeholder Management & Integration
Collaborate daily with Engineering Managers, Technicians, Production Supervisors, Stores, and external vendors to align maintenanceactivities with operational priorities.
Integrate maintenance plans with production schedules to minimize downtime and maximize plant efficiency.
Train and support teams on maintenance procedures and effective use of SAP CMMS to strengthen process adherence and data quality.Financial & Strategic Contribution
Support maintenance budgeting and cost control through analysis of historical data and application of zero-based budgeting principles.
Drive best-in-class plant reliability and availability, benchmarking performance against industry standards and continuously improvingmaintenance effectiveness.
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
Certificate or Diploma Engineering (Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial or equivalent).
Trade Test qualification (advantageous).
SAP PM / CMMS certification or formal training (advantageous).
Experience
Minimum 3 - 5 years' experience in maintenance planning, maintenance coordination, or engineering maintenance within a manufacturing or FMCG environment.
Proven experience in maintenance planning and scheduling, including preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance.
Experience working with CMMS systems (preferably SAP PM) for work order management, planning, and reporting.
Demonstrated experience in shutdown planning, backlog management, and resource coordination.
Exposure to food safety, EHS standards, and statutory compliance within a plant environment.
Experience in working with automated production systems and modern plant equipment. Technical Knowledge
Strong understanding of:
Maintenance planning and scheduling principles
Root Cause Analysis (RCA) methodologies
Reliability concepts (MTBF, MTTR, asset care strategies)
Preventive and predictive maintenance techniques
Lifecycle asset management
Knowledge of spares management and criticality assessments.
Understanding of condition monitoring techniques (e.g., vibration analysis, thermography).
Familiarity with engineering documentation (P&IDs, OEM manuals, SOPs). Key Skills
Strong planning and organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
Analytical and problem-solving ability with a data-driven approach to decision-making.
High attention to detail, particularly in CMMS data integrity and reporting.
Effective communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to coordinate across multiple departments.
Ability to work under pressure and adapt to changing operational demands.
Leadership and influencing skills to drive maintenance discipline and compliance. Behavioral Competencies
Proactive and results-driven mindset.
Strong accountability and ownership.
Commitment to continuous improvement and operational excellence.
Strong focus on safety, food safety, and compliance.