Press Maintenance Technician

Overview

The Press Maintenance Technician is responsible for maintaining, repairing, troubleshooting, and improving mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and basic electrical systems on stamping presses and related press shop equipment.

This role supports daily production by reducing downtime, improving equipment reliability, completing preventive maintenance, and ensuring presses operate safely and efficiently. The position requires strong hands-on maintenance experience with stamping presses, coil feed lines, transfer systems, lubrication systems, conveyors, and other press shop equipment.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Corrective Maintenance and Troubleshooting

- Diagnose and repair breakdowns on mechanical presses, hydraulic presses, transfer presses, progressive presses, and press shop support equipment.
- Respond quickly and safely to production downtime events.
- Troubleshoot mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, lubrication, sensor, motor, clutch/brake, and basic electrical issues.
- Repair or replace damaged components such as cylinders, valves, pumps, motors, bearings, chains, belts, switches, sensors, cables, guides, and press components.
- Perform mechanical adjustments, alignments, inspections, and functional checks after repairs.
- Escalate major issues to Maintenance Leadership, Engineering, Controls, Tooling, or outside suppliers when required.

Preventive and Predictive Maintenance

- Complete preventive maintenance tasks on presses, decoilers, straighteners, feeders, transfer systems, conveyors, lubrication systems, and scrap removal systems.
- Inspect equipment for wear, leaks, vibration, abnormal noise, overheating, pressure loss, lubrication issues, and unsafe conditions.
- Document repairs, findings, replaced parts, downtime causes, and recommended follow-up actions.
- Support predictive maintenance activities such as vibration checks, thermography, oil checks, hydraulic pressure inspections, and condition monitoring.
- Recommend improvements to reduce repeat failures and improve equipment availability.

Production Support

- Support press shop operations during startups, die changes, production runs, and troubleshooting events.
- Verify that presses and related equipment are operating within safe and stable conditions.
- Support adjustments to coil feed systems, sensors, transfer equipment, conveyors, scrap systems, and lubrication equipment.
- Work with Production, Tooling, Quality, Engineering, and Controls to resolve issues impacting safety, quality, delivery, or productivity.
- Confirm that equipment is safe and ready before releasing it back to production.

Safety and Compliance

- Follow all safety procedures, lockout/tagout requirements, machine guarding standards, and safe work practices.
- Inspect safety devices, light curtains, emergency stops, two-hand controls, guarding, interlocks, and press safety systems.
- Report unsafe conditions, damaged equipment, and critical risks immediately.
- Maintain a clean and organized work area following 5S standards.
- Comply with plant safety, quality, environmental, and maintenance procedures.

Continuous Improvement

- Participate in root-cause analysis using 5 Why, Fishbone, PDCA, and other problem-solving methods.
- Support projects focused on reducing downtime, improving OEE, eliminating repeat failures, and increasing equipment reliability.
- Recommend changes to critical spare parts, PM frequency, inspection standards, and repair procedures.
- Help standardize maintenance checklists, repair methods, and troubleshooting guides.
- Support equipment installations, modifications, upgrades, and improvement projects.

Qualifications

Required Education & Experience

- High school diploma or GED required.
- Technical diploma, certification, or associate degree in Industrial Maintenance, Mechanical, Electrical, Electromechanical, Mechatronics, or a related field preferred.
- Minimum of 3 years of industrial maintenance experience, preferably in an automotive stamping or press shop environment.
- Experience with mechanical presses, hydraulic presses, transfer presses, progressive presses, coil feed lines, and related press shop equipment.
- Working knowledge of mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, lubrication, and basic electrical systems.
- Ability to read mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and electrical diagrams.
- Ability to use hand tools, power tools, measuring tools, and diagnostic equipment.
- Knowledge of lockout/tagout, machine guarding, and industrial safety standards.
- Ability to work overtime, weekends, and support multiple shifts as needed.

Competencies

Technical Skills

- Strong mechanical troubleshooting skills
- Press maintenance experience
- Hydraulic and pneumatic troubleshooting
- Basic electrical troubleshooting
- Sense of urgency during downtime
- Strong safety discipline
- Ability to work under pressure
- Clear communication with Production, Tooling, Quality, Engineering, and Maintenance
- Good documentation and follow-up
- Focus on prevention, reliability, and equipment uptime

Key Performance Indicators

- Press downtime reduction
- Preventive maintenance completion
- Reduction of repeat failures
- Response time to breakdowns
- Equipment availability
- Safety and lockout/tagout compliance
- Work order closure rate
- Reduction of emergency repairs
- OEE improvement
- Overall press and equipment condition

Supervisory Responsibility

This position has no supervisory responsibilities.

Work Environment

•          Exposure to various manufacturing processes, including riveting, stamping press, robotics, E-coating, spot welding, and industrial heating ovens.

•          Site visits for system installation, testing, and troubleshooting are required

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to use hands and fingers to handle, feel, or operate objects, tools or controls, and reach with hands and arms.  The employee is frequently required to walk, stand, kneel, crouch, talk and hear.  The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 40 pounds.  Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, and depth perception.