Maintenance Planner Scheduler

The Position:

The Maintenance Planner/Scheduler is responsible for the effective planning, coordination, scheduling, and follow-up of maintenance activities throughout the facility. This position serves as a key liaison between the Maintenance and Production departments to ensure maintenance work is properly prioritized, planned, scheduled, and completed in a timely and cost-effective manner.

The Planner/Scheduler develops daily, weekly, and long-term maintenance schedules; plans preventive and predictive maintenance activities; prepares and maintains work orders; coordinates materials, parts, tools, manpower, and equipment; and monitors work completion and maintenance performance.

Safety, equipment reliability, production requirements, cost control, and efficient use of maintenance resources are primary considerations in all planning and scheduling activities.

Key Responsibilities:

Work Order Planning

• Receive and review maintenance work requests from Production and other requesting departments.
• Review each work request to ensure the scope of work is clearly defined, the priority is appropriate, lead time is realistic, costs and coding are accurate, and proper authorization has been obtained.
• Create and maintain complete and accurate work orders for approved maintenance work. All non-emergency maintenance work orders will be processed through the Maintenance Planner/Scheduler.
• Review unplanned work orders and determine the most effective method for completing the work, consulting with the Maintenance Manager when necessary.
• Obtain and review blueprints, drawings, equipment manuals, job history, procedures, and other technical information necessary to properly plan work.
• Define the sequence of work steps and identify required manpower, skill requirements, estimated labor hours, special tools, equipment, materials, and safety requirements.
• Identify and obtain required parts and materials and document material requirements on the work order.
• Develop accurate estimates for direct labor, materials, and total job costs.
• Maintain accurate work-order history and ensure appropriate documentation is retained.

Maintenance Scheduling

• Develop and maintain daily, weekly, and long-term maintenance schedules.
• Maintain an organized backlog of maintenance work orders, including ready-to-schedule, on-hold, and delayed work.
• Ensure appropriate delay codes and status information are maintained on work orders.
• Maintain a thorough understanding of preventive and predictive maintenance workload and requirements when developing schedules.
• Develop maintenance schedules that balance available manpower, technician skills, production requirements, preventive maintenance requirements, and previously scheduled work.
• Work closely with the Maintenance Manager, Supervisors, Leadpersons, Technicians, Production, and other departments to allocate resources and coordinate schedules.
• Identify required skills and manpower for scheduled work and communicate resource requirements to Maintenance leadership.
• Finalize the Maintenance Work Schedule and Preventive Maintenance Schedule by Thursday at 1:00 p.m., ensuring scheduled work is balanced with available manpower and provides a productive workload.
• Participate in plant scheduling meetings and assist in negotiating equipment downtime windows for preventive and corrective maintenance.
• Communicate schedule changes, delays, or work that cannot be completed within the required timeframe to the appropriate department management and requester.
• Track scheduled work and follow up on overdue, incomplete, or carried-over work orders.

Preventive and Predictive Maintenance

• Plan preventive and predictive maintenance activities based on equipment requirements, manufacturer recommendations, maintenance intervals, equipment history, and established programs.
• Ensure preventive maintenance work is incorporated into maintenance schedules and completed within required timeframes.
• Monitor PM workload and identify scheduling conflicts or resource constraints.
• Assist in evaluating and improving preventive and predictive maintenance programs.
• Maintain a ready package of planned work orders requiring equipment shutdown so work can be performed during unscheduled equipment downtime when appropriate.
• Review and update unscheduled-shutdown work packages on a weekly basis.
• Identify opportunities to improve equipment reliability and reduce emergency and reactive maintenance.

Parts, Materials, and Equipment Coordination

• Verify the availability of all required parts, materials, tools, equipment, and outside services before scheduled work is released.
• Coordinate the staging and checkout of predetermined parts, materials, and special tools for scheduled work.

• Monitor parts availability and communicate shortages or potential delays to Maintenance leadership.
• Coordinate planned equipment shutdowns and ensure affected equipment will be available and properly prepared for maintenance.
• Coordinate with Purchasing, Stores, Production, vendors, and contractors as necessary to support scheduled maintenance activities.

Planning Packages and Work Execution

• Prepare complete planning packages containing work instructions, drawings, manuals, special procedures, parts information, tools, equipment, labor estimates, and safety requirements.
• Discuss planning packages with Maintenance personnel as necessary to communicate special instructions or considerations.
• Review upcoming work with Maintenance leadership and ensure future work is properly planned.
• Ensure safety requirements are considered and incorporated into every work plan, including applicable permits, lockout/tagout procedures, and other company safety requirements.
• Follow up on scheduled work to ensure work orders and schedules are returned and completed properly.
• Review completed work orders for accuracy and completeness and provide required documentation to the Maintenance Clerk for reporting and closeout.

Maintenance Performance and Continuous Improvement

• Review actual labor hours and materials used against estimated requirements for completed work.
• Identify opportunities to improve the accuracy of labor and material estimates and maintenance work methods.
• Develop and maintain standard work-order plans for recurring maintenance activities using historical information and previous job experience.
• Assist management in analyzing maintenance costs, downtime, labor utilization, and equipment reliability.
• Recommend corrective actions and process improvements to reduce maintenance costs and improve efficiency.
• Monitor maintenance performance indicators, including schedule compliance, labor effectiveness, preventive maintenance completion, equipment reliability, and emergency work.
• Make recommendations for improvements to the maintenance planning and scheduling system.
• Support continuous improvement initiatives related to safety, equipment reliability, maintenance processes, energy conservation, resource utilization, and operational efficiency.
• Promote the conservation of energy, materials, and other company resources.

Communication and Reporting

• Maintain accurate maintenance records, schedules, equipment information, work-order history, and related files.
• Prepare and distribute meaningful, accurate, and timely maintenance reports.
• Communicate scheduling status, outstanding work, delays, manpower requirements, and potential issues to the Maintenance Manager and other appropriate personnel.
• Keep the Maintenance Manager informed of abnormal, critical, or potentially disruptive situations and seek guidance on matters outside the scope of the position's authority or knowledge.
• Provide information necessary to track maintenance-related costs, downtime, labor utilization, and key performance indicators.
• Maintain effective communication between Maintenance, Production, and other departments to minimize operational disruptions.
• Attend meetings and participate in plant-wide planning activities as required.

Position Performance Measures

Performance in this position may be evaluated based on:

• Maintenance labor effectiveness and utilization.
• Accuracy and organization of maintenance schedules and work orders.
• Completion of scheduled work within established timeframes.
• Preventive and predictive maintenance completion and compliance.
• Accuracy of labor and material estimates.
• Reduction in emergency and unscheduled maintenance.
• Reduction in unnecessary overtime and unscheduled labor.
• Improved equipment reliability and Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF).
• Effective utilization of available maintenance manpower.
• Timely and accurate maintenance reporting.
• Improved plant and equipment condition.
• Effective coordination between Maintenance, Production, and other departments.

Primary Goals of the Position

• Ensure Production and other departments receive prompt, efficient, and quality maintenance support necessary to operate effectively.
• Provide the Maintenance department with properly planned and organized work so available resources can be used efficiently.
• Accurately define, prioritize, plan, and estimate maintenance work.
• Maintain effective preventive and predictive maintenance scheduling.
• Ensure maintenance work is completed safely, efficiently, and within established timeframes.
• Improve equipment reliability while reducing emergency maintenance and unplanned downtime.
• Maintain accurate and meaningful maintenance records and control reports.
• Support continuous improvement of maintenance processes, systems, and resource utilization.

Qualifications:

• High school diploma or equivalent required.
• Previous experience in maintenance, manufacturing, maintenance planning/scheduling, or a related field preferred.
• Experience working with a CMMS or computerized maintenance management system preferred.
• Experience in a manufacturing or industrial environment preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Strong organizational and time-management skills.
• Ability to prioritize multiple work requests based on safety, production needs, equipment condition, and business requirements.
• Strong understanding of maintenance planning and scheduling principles.
• Ability to estimate labor hours, materials, costs, and job duration accurately.
• Ability to read and interpret blueprints, drawings, equipment manuals, and technical documentation.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills.
• Ability to work effectively with Maintenance, Production, Purchasing, Stores, vendors, contractors, and management.
• Strong problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Proficiency with computers and maintenance management systems.
• Ability to maintain accurate records and prepare reports.
• Ability to identify opportunities for process improvement and increased equipment reliability.
• Strong commitment to workplace safety and compliance with company safety procedures.

Additional Responsibilities

• Perform other duties, projects, and special assignments as requested by the Maintenance Manager.
• Maintain confidentiality of company information as appropriate.
• Follow all company policies, procedures, and safety requirements.

Functional Requirements

Consistently able to:

• Manually lift and move product and materials up to 50 lbs. through regular physical exertion, including but not limited to reach forward, reach overhead, lift, carry, crouch, and bend
• Power grip and wrist turn, including the use of hand tools and/or steering fork truck
• Walk, sit, or stand for up to 12 hours with intermittent breaks
• Push/pull up to 100 lbs.
• See, inspect, handle and evaluate product quality
• Read and understand written English language work instructions
• Work in non-climate controlled environments, including hot and humid conditions
• Climb ladders and stairs of varying heights
• Wear task-based Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) provided by LSI
  • Protective Footwear
  • Hearing Protection
  • Protective Eyewear
  • Gloves
  • Additional PPE may as required by specific tasks