Processing Plant Maintenance Manager

MAINTENANCE MANAGER — POULTRY PROCESSING PLANT
Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea · Residential position · Food Processing / Manufacturing

Cakum Global is recruiting a Maintenance Manager for the processing plant of a large-scale integrated poultry and food production operation in Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea.

This is a genuine plant ownership role. You take responsibility for every piece of machinery, utility and item of infrastructure across an operating processing facility, and for the team of 18 tradespeople who keep it running. The plant runs to real reliability targets — better than 99% availability, unplanned downtime under 1.5%, preventative maintenance completed in full — so the job is judged on whether the line keeps running, not on how busy the workshop looks. It reports to the Processing Manager.

What you will be responsible for

• The processing line — live bird handling and receiving, stunning and slaughter equipment, scalders and defeathering machines, evisceration and giblet processing, carcass chilling, cut-up and portioning, conveyors and packaging, weighing, labelling and metal detection, waste handling, and cleaning and sanitation systems
• The utilities behind it — chillers and cold rooms, boilers and hot-water systems, compressed air, water pumps and treatment, effluent and wastewater, generators and electrical distribution, fire protection, and the buildings and services that support the plant
• Electrical and mechanical integrity — electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic systems maintained to standard; inspections, testing and repairs; motors, gearboxes, pumps, bearings, drives and control systems monitored and serviced; PLCs, sensors and instrumentation kept in calibration; guarding and safety devices functional
• Reliability, not firefighting — you build and run the planned maintenance program, daily through to annual. You respond to breakdowns, then go back and find out why they happened. Recurring failures get engineered out rather than repaired again. Equipment histories, critical spares holdings and contractor performance all sit with you.
• Food safety — maintenance work in a food plant carries contamination risk, and managing that is part of the job. You coordinate with QA before and after work in production areas, make sure tools and lubricants are fit for use, and support HACCP, GMP and food-safety audits.
• Safety leadership — safe isolation of electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, steam and refrigeration systems; risk assessment and job safety analysis; incident investigation and corrective action; safe handling and disposal of oils, chemicals and hazardous waste
• Your team — lead, train and develop 18 maintenance personnel. Allocate work to skills and production priorities. Set the standards, run the toolbox and planning meetings, and build capability in people who will be with the business long after the job is done.
• The budget — prepare and manage the departmental budget, control spares and contractor spend, evaluate purchases, and put up capital proposals for equipment replacement and plant improvement

What we are looking for

• Tertiary qualification from a recognised institution — a Bachelor of Engineering or equivalent is preferred, and a licence or registration is an advantage
• At least five years in a maintenance management role, in poultry processing, meat processing, food manufacturing or a comparable high-throughput processing environment
• Strong mechanical and/or electrical maintenance knowledge, with the hands-on troubleshooting ability to work through a breakdown yourself
• Proven experience supervising maintenance personnel and running a preventative maintenance system
• Working knowledge of HACCP, GMP and food-processing hygiene requirements
• Sound understanding of workplace health and safety
• Able to write training manuals and run workshops for a developing team
• Good command of English, and a willingness to learn the local language
• Mature, systematic and resilient, and prepared to live and work in a rural environment

What is on offer

• Residential position based at the plant, in Morobe Province, near Lae
• Company-provided accommodation on site
• Work permit and visa arranged and sponsored by the employer
• Competitive expatriate remuneration — details discussed in confidence with shortlisted candidates
• Full ownership of the maintenance function of a substantial processing facility, within a large and well-established integrated operation
• The scope to build something that lasts: a maintenance system, a capable local team, and a plant that runs when it is supposed to

Applying

Papua New Guinea is a demanding place to work and a rewarding one. If you have run maintenance in a processing plant and you want a role where the whole function is yours, we would like to hear from you.

Apply through Cakum Global. Referrals and confidential enquiries are welcome and will be treated in strict confidence.

Cakum Global — People for Challenging Environments

#MaintenanceManager #PoultryProcessing #FoodManufacturing #HACCP #PlantMaintenance #ReliabilityEngineering #CakumGlobal #PNGJobs #Agribusiness #ExpatJobs