Looking for a maintenance career? The Maintenance Mechanic Apprenticeship program is designed for those interested in starting a Maintenance career! Upon successful completion of the program the candidate will maintain full-time employment with Ellsworth Menomonie Cooperative Creamery.

THE IDEAL MAINTENANCE APPRENTICE CANDIDATE WILL HAVE:

• Exceptional work habits and a positive attitude.
• A sense of energy, passion, honesty, good attendance, and personal responsibility.
• Persistence and dedication toward completing projects.
• Strong communication skills, technical aptitude, self-motivated and able to work independently in order complete work assignments.
• Sound reasoning skills and the ability to be a strong team player.

EXPECTATIONS

• Apprentice expected to commit to a 4-year on-the-job and formal classroom training.
• The Creamery will cover the costs of the classroom training and mileage as appropriate.
• All apprentice hours are paid hours.
• If apprentice leaves the Creamery prior to successful completion, the Apprentice will be expected to pay back the Creamery for monies invested in classroom training.
• Following completion of program, the employee is expected to remain with the Creamery for a minimum of three years. Leaving prior to that 3-year commitment will involve repayment of classroom costs.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Upon completion of the Apprentice program, the candidate will be able to do the following: The list of duties and responsibilities is not all-inclusive and may be expanded to include other duties and responsibilities as management deem necessary.

• Ability to work unsupervised, a self-starter, working in a team environment and able to handle deadline pressure.
• Perform emergency machine repair plant wide during production and non-production hours.
• Rebuild machinery as needed plant wide.
• Diagnose electrical, pneumatic, hydraulic and mechanical problems and take corrective action
• Read electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic schematics, and understand symbols.
• Understand PLC operation, use PLC interface to diagnose PLC problems and affect proper corrective actions
• Understand plant manufacturing processes and use that knowledge to diagnose maintenance problems
• Instruct new members on daily tasks and basic machine repair.
• Aid in development and installation of new or rebuilt equipment.
• Troubleshoot a variety of production equipment such as fillers, boxers, pumps, valves, or any other automated or manual equipment.
• Assist in setup / change overs on all production equipment
• Carry out preventative / predictive maintenance on production and facility equipment while documenting issues or updates to the program.
• Complete work orders in a timely manner
• Interface with all department leaders and members on equipment performance and maintenance requirements.
• Ensure compliance with all regulatory standards including but not limited to: Human Resources, Good Manufacturing Processes, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Food and Drug Administration, Wisconsin Department of Agriculture Trade and Consumer Protection, Safe Quality Food, and the United States Department of Agriculture
• Develop required skills and knowledge to a level of depth appropriate to keep production as highly functional as needed to meet organizational goals and objectives
• Maintain a sanitary workspace according to the company’s Good Manufacturing Practices.
• Communicate and maintain positive relationships with Customers, Vendors, and all levels of staff at all facilities
• Maintain appearance of the facility grounds including lawnmowing, snowplowing, landscaping and waste removal.
• Foster communication between all of Ellsworth cooperative facilities.
• Proficient in or seek to become proficient in Welding, Installation, CIP’s, Robotics, Diagnostics, PLC, Electrical – 3 phrase, Pneumatic, Steam/ boilers.
• Understand, follow and enforce lockout / tagout procedures.
• Promote a safe, secure, and positive work environment for all Wohlt team members.
• Follow all current company policies and procedures.
• Other duties as appropriate or assigned.

JETA-4224-E (R. 12/95)

TERM OF APPRENTICESHIP: The term of apprenticeship shall be Time-based, which has been established to be 4 years of not less than 8,000 hours. Hours of labor shall be the same as established for other skilled employees in the trade.

PROBATIONARY PERIOD: The probationary period shall be the first 6 months of the apprenticeship, but in no case shall it exceed twelve calendar months. During the probationary period, this contract may be cancelled by the apprentice or the sponsor upon written notice to the Department, without adverse impact on the sponsor.

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE: The apprentice shall attend the Wisconsin Technical College System or other approved training provider, as assigned, for paid related instruction four hours per week or the equivalent and satisfactorily complete the prescribed course material for a minimum of 576 hours, unless otherwise approved by the Department. The employer must pay the apprentice for attended related instruction hours at the same rate per hour as for services performed.

WORK PROCESS SCHEDULE: In order to obtain well-rounded training and thereby qualify as a skilled worker in the trade, the apprentice shall have experience and training in the following areas. This instruction and experience shall include the following operations but not necessarily in the sequence given. Time spent on specific operations need not be continuous.

COMPUTER SKILLS: Advance Microsoft office skills to include email (outlook), word processing (Word) and spreadsheet (Excel). Must have knowledge or be able to obtain knowledge that leads to the efficient utilization of the enterprise resource planning software system FactoryTalk.

LANGUAGE SKILLS: Ability to write reports, procedures, processes, and correspondence. Ability to communicate effectively with employees, managers, supervisors and other employees of Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery.

MATHEMATICAL SKILLS: Ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions and decimals. Ability to compute rate, ratio and percent.

REASONING ABILITY: Ability to quickly and swiftly resolve employee issues with fairness and respect to each employee. Demonstrate consistent and effective planning and organizational skills. Ability to interpret a variety of specifications and information furnished in written, oral, diagram or schedule form.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by the Maintenance Team Member to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the Maintenance Team Member is frequently required to sit, stand, walk, and talk or hear. This position may require constant use of hands or fingers to effectively use a computer keyboard. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and the ability to adjust focus.

WORK ENVIORNMENT: Dairy plant environment, working hours will vary depending on need, food manufacturing environment.