About the role
As a leader and innovator in the snack food industry for over 50 years, J&J Snack Foods provides branded snack foods to foodservice and retail supermarket outlets across the U.S. Its products include such icons as SUPERPRETZEL, ICEE, and Dippin’ Dots along with other key brands like LUIGI’S Real Italian Ice, The Funnel Cake Factory Funnel Cakes, and Hola Churros. J&J also has a strong presence in bakery providing cakes, cookies, and pies to some of the largest grocery and convenience retailers in industry. Our company continues to deliver record sales led by a talented team and a commitment to “Fun Served Here”.
POSITION SUMMARY:
Reporting to the Plant Manager, the Reliability and Maintenance Manager is responsible for leading the plant’s maintenance, engineering, and reliability functions to support safe, efficient, and consistent plant operations. In a snack food manufacturing environment, product quality, safety, cost, and service all depend on reliable equipment performance. This role ensures the plant’s assets are a competitive advantage, not a daily operational risk.
The Reliability and Maintenance Manager will lead maintenance technicians and maintenance team functions, with accountability for equipment uptime, asset health, spare parts readiness, and technical problem solving across the plant. This leader is responsible for developing and strengthening proactive, planned, and data-driven reliability programs through effective preventive maintenance, root cause analysis, spare parts management, and full utilization of Redzone and/or Upkeep.
This position partners closely with Operations and cross-functional teams to reduce downtime, improve equipment performance, and support overall plant productivity. In addition, the Reliability and Maintenance Manager will establish and maintain effective communication with Multi-Site Engineers within the company and collaborate with maintenance departments across affiliated sites, as appropriate, to support knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:
Reliability and Uptime Ownership
- Owns line uptime, Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF), Mean Time To Repair (MTTR), and overall equipment reliability for the plant.
- Leads the plant toward a more planned, proactive, and data-driven maintenance culture.
- Develops and maintains preventive and predictive maintenance programs that improve equipment performance and reduce downtime.
- Leads root cause analysis and corrective action for recurring equipment issues, chronic losses, and breakdowns.
- Partners with Production to address recurring downtime and improve day-to-day equipment performance.
Maintenance and Engineering Leadership
- Provides leadership and direction to maintenance technicians.
- Sets clear expectations for troubleshooting, work planning, and execution.
- Develops technical capability across the team in electrical, mechanical, controls, refrigeration, and related areas.
- Oversees contractor management and provides technical leadership for new equipment installations, line modifications, and capital projects.
Spare Parts and Asset Management
- Owns the plant’s spare parts strategy, including inventory accuracy, and critical spare availability.
- Improves spare parts controls to reduce stockouts, emergency purchases, and excess or obsolete inventory.
- Implements parts kitting and planning processes to better support scheduled maintenance work.
- Maintains accurate asset hierarchy, equipment documentation, and maintenance records.
Redzone and/or Upkeep and Data-Driven Execution
- Uses Redzone and/or Upkeep to support work order management, PM compliance, downtime data analysis, technician accountability, and maintenance visibility.
- Ensures Redzone and/or Upkeep data is accurate, timely, and used to identify trends, prioritize reliability work, and improve equipment performance.
Food Safety, Safety and Compliance
- Ensures maintenance work is completed in compliance with food safety, GMP, quality, safety, and regulatory requirements.
- Reinforces safe maintenance practices, including Lockout/Tagout (LOTO), contractor safety, and other required safety procedures.
- Supports ammonia/refrigeration compliance, documentation, inspections, and related maintenance requirements.
- Maintains audit-ready maintenance records, including PM documentation, work orders, regulatory records, and contractor documentation.
Financial and Performance Management
- Manages the maintenance labor and MRO budget with a focus on cost control, stronger planning, and reduced emergency spend.
02 Aplyr's read
J&J Snack Foods is a major player in the snack and frozen dessert industry, attracting employees across production, sales, and safety roles.
What's promising
- •Strong market presence in the snack and dessert industry.
- •Diverse job opportunities across various shifts and departments.
- •Focus on food safety and quality assurance.
What to watch
- •Manufacturing roles may involve demanding shift work.
- •Limited public information about career advancement opportunities.
- •Potential exposure to industrial workplace hazards.
Why J&J Snack Foods
- •Specializes in both snack foods and frozen desserts.
- •Offers roles that cater to different skill sets, from operations to management.
- •Emphasis on environmental health and safety in operations.
Aplyr’s read is generated by AI from public sources. Was it useful?
03 About J&J Snack Foods
JJ Snack Foods is a leading manufacturer and distributor of snack foods and frozen desserts.
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