Maintenance Planner

About the role

This position is focused on building and maintaining strong maintenance plans so equipment servicing is well prepared, spare parts are available for scheduled tasks, and the right resources are in place to complete the work. During planned maintenance shutdowns, the role checks that the plan is working as intended and escalates any unexpected work to the maintenance controller, unit manager, and packaging engineer.

Key responsibilities

The job combines safe working practices, detailed planning, maintenance data management, team support, and continuous improvement across the plant.

• Follow all safety, health, and environmental rules, along with relevant legislation, and keep the workplace clean and safe.
• Plan effective maintenance, calibration, repair, and optimisation activities for equipment and plant systems.
• Identify plant, equipment, spares, and supporting documents or systems needed for the work.
• Build maintenance plans and ensure repair tasks raised from inspections are scheduled properly.
• Look for ways to improve plans and reduce planned shutdown time without putting plant reliability or safety at risk.
• Set up, run, and maintain the maintenance planning process in SAP.
• Keep maintenance information accurate, current, and usable for reporting and decision-making.
• Review maintenance data and reports to support planning and performance tracking.
• Schedule planned maintenance and prepare, update, and distribute reports.
• Coach and train internal stakeholders or customers as needed.
• Plan and monitor maintenance projects and maintain work instructions.
• Audit maintenance records, documentation, and outputs for quality and completeness.
• Support, guide, and coach maintenance team members, including covering controller leave when required.
• Work effectively with different teams and communicate clearly across all levels in the plant.
• Promote teamwork, contribute to development, and help implement VPO and GOP practices consistently.
• Act as a leader in a cross-functional team, encouraging participation in planning, problem-solving, communication, and reviews.
• Show strong organisation, attention to detail, self-discipline, energy, and a drive to improve performance.

Minimum qualifications and experience

Applicants should be trade-tested Millwrights or hold an N6 Mechanical or Electrical artisan/technician qualification. The role expects 3 to 5 years of production engineering experience in a FMCG environment, plus 5 years of technical mechanical/electrical and bottling experience in a leadership role within FMCG. Exposure to brewing and packaging plants will be an added advantage. Strong computer literacy, especially with Microsoft Office applications, is required.

Additional information

This role is graded at Band VIII. The employer is an equal opportunity organisation and appointments will follow the employment equity plan and talent requirements. The requirements listed are the minimum benchmark, and management may consider other relevant information when shortlisting candidates.