Preventative Maintenance Mechanic - Dandelion Chocolate

Job Title: Preventative Maintenance Mechanic
Hours: Part or Full Time (20-40 hrs/week, flexible schedule) 
Department: Chocolate Production
Report: Head of Production
Wage: L4-L5, $35-40/hour depending on experience
Location: San Francisco, on-site, on call 

About Us
Dandelion Chocolate is a bean-to-bar chocolate factory in San Francisco’s Mission District. We make chocolate from only two ingredients, cocoa beans, and cane sugar, and travel to origins as often as we can to build good, trusting relationships with the producers who grow and ferment the beans we buy. 

Our tools and techniques include assembling and utilizing modified industrial chocolate processing equipment to meet our small-batch, artisanal methods, and because of this, we rely on skilled mechanics that are comfortable working off the OEM path & trailblazing a bit to help us hit perfection. Today, we are seeking a key team member whose technical expertise will further our goal of making some of the best chocolate in the world.

About the Role
While the chocolate steals the spotlight, there’s an elaborate ecosystem of motors, gears, filters, pumps, thermocouples, and belts that must be in tip-top shape to see beautifully tempered chocolate bars realized. Reporting to our Head of Production, this role works shoulder-to-shoulder with the Chocolate Production and Confections teams to ensure the roasters, winnowers, ball mills, refiners, foiling, and labeling machines are safe and humming. With a designated workshop, you know the ins and outs of each machine, maintain digital repair logs, inventory key spare parts, follow up with international machine makers when we have questions, uphold lock-in/out procedures, oversee proactive upkeep, and create safety guards for production machinery across two factories and one warehouse location within 6-8 blocks of each other. 

About You
Our ideal candidate brings positivity, a love of machines, a penchant for problem-solving, and an unwavering dedication to food and machine safety. It’s rare that a team member comes to you when everything is working perfectly, so it’s important to have a calm, positive spirit when pipes burst, or a critical machine goes down. Many types of people would be successful in this role. Our previous team member was a retired mechanic with a love of the factory and team environment, often participating in daily standups and helping the team realize their quarterly goals.

A Day in the Life
Your morning starts alongside our Chocolate Makers at the 16th Street factory, where they gather to review the day’s schedule. Last week a conveyor belt’s roller wore out, and for the first time in a year, the tempering line went down. Given the time of year, a new part from Italy would have taken weeks to arrive so after careful discussion with the team you oversaw reconstructing a new part of San Francisco by working with a local, trusted machinist we’ve known for years. Today the team reports all is working well though you always keep your eyes and ears out for anything; a wobble or a high-pitched hum is always investigation-worthy! Back in your workshop, you examine this week’s regular maintenance calendar via MaintainX: vacuum cocoa dust from machine motors to prevent electrical fires, lubricate chains, check the battery in the walkie stacker. While you do so, you are careful to make sure any of your repairs will not float dust or debris into the air, covering nearby machines or scheduling an off-production time when the chocolate is not flowing. At the end of the day, you’ve been asked to demonstrate how to use lock-in/tag out with a Chocolate Makers who joined two weeks ago. Before heading home, you give the machinist a call to let them know the repair is in good shape, thanking them again for their help. You head home, knowing that the factory is in better shape today than it was yesterday. This full time or part time role starts at $35-40/hour depending on experience. 

Responsibilities

• Preventative maintenance – Each piece of factory equipment has a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual preventative maintenance plan in MaintainX that you’ll oversee so that we have minimal downtime and it’s easy for our chocolate makers to reach their goals and improve our chocolate quality each year. The preventative maintenance includes lubrication, cleaning filters, replacing parts, tuning the tension on belts, and ordering replacement parts as necessary. Complete the preventative maintenance plan according to the calendar and if instructions are out of date or don’t make sense, improve our checklists so that our preventative maintenance program is a strategic part of our operations. At the end of the day, leave each workspace sanitized and ready for the next day’s production and then complete an end-of-the-day report with notes for the Chocolate Production team so they understand how the machine was affected, can improve their understanding of the equipment, and so they can keep an eye out for future issues. 
• Technical expertise – Expertise should be able to address: Troubleshoot and repair variable frequency drives (VFDs) on a motor, align and tension belts on conveyors and labeling machine, identify and fix overheating issues in a ball mill waterjacket heating element, replace worn-out seals on conche pumps, realign a misaligned motor shaft and check coupling integrity, test and replace solenoid valves in tempering line’s dosing chamber, inspect and replace fuses in equipment panels, adjust plate gap settings on labeling machine for precise placement, and repair and secure loose panels or parts on vibrating equipment.
• Weights and calibration – Check and calibrate our temperature, scales, and sensors to ensure they are accurate and maintain a monthly log that will be reviewed in future FDA inspections.
• Machine maintenance -- Work with tried-and-true chocolate-making equipment as well as finicky Italian tempering machines, a restored vintage wrapping machine, and ad hoc R&D prototypes so our teams consistently beat their monthly production goals while being proud of their craft. Make tricky calls on the fly – when is a temporary fix is necessary (though rarely ideal!) to meet important goals. When do we buy a new machine rather than continuously make repairs? When this role is going well, there are few surprises, and you help maintain a sense of calm, stability, and positivity across the factory floor. 
• Parts management – You will be responsible for ordering new parts, making note of shipping expenses (e.g. don’t order distilled water from McMaster-Carr for $150 when you get it at Safeway for $2). When parts arrive, make sure that they are logged in MaintainX and any extras are easy to find for the future. In critical situations, call shops around San Francisco (Home Depot, Electrical Supply shop, etc) to see if we can find a part in a few hours rather than ordering parts through national distributors that can take a week or two.
• Safety and food safety -- Oversee lock out / tag out procedures and machine inspection lists, use a forklift safely (training will be provided), assist with SOPs, perform repairs with factory safety and sanitation in mind, make sure that any tool that touches the ground is sanitized, and help the team adhere to our GMPs. Chocolate is extremely sensitive to dust, moisture, and fumes, so be hyper-aware of cleaning chemicals and potential allergens, avoid any maintenance procedure that might introduce water or excessive moisture into the chocolate batches, and help maintain our high bar for chocolate quality. If you see any potentially unsafe actions or environments worthy of risk assessment, address or escalate the issues immediately until the situation is resolved.
• Workshop and parts oversight -- Maintain a clean, organized, and inventoried workshop with tools and spare parts that are well-maintained while keeping any dangerous chemicals, potentially unsafe tools, or expensive equipment locked down so that the right tools are always in the right place for only properly trained technicians.
• Systems & processes -- When new machines come online, research them, oversee the installation, create new inspection checklists, assist with safety procedures, develop safeguarding equipment, and oversee a maintenance schedule and repair log so that the machines are dependable for years to come with zero injuries.Develop accessible, visible maintenance schedules to avoid production downtime. Oversee a maintenance log recording each machine’s history with reporting to understand each machine’s uptime and maintenance expense. Regularly meet with Production Director and exec team members to provide status updates and adjust maintenance priorities depending upon overall strategy. You will use an iPhone or tablet to research parts, input data, and send emails from Chrome, Gmail, Trainual (our knowledge library), and MaintainX (our MMS).
• Long-term projects -- You’ll spend your initial 90-180 days training and understanding the factory’s rhythm. Once you’ve been trained and cleared on machines, help address longer-term projects that might not get attention otherwise so that approximately 15% of your day-to-day is working towards future-thinking projects. Those projects might include building a safety guard for a wrapping machine, reaching out to a gearbox manufacturer to see if a synthetic lubricant would require less maintenance, or simply working with a chocolate maker who you overheard ask, “Why aren’t the beans moving very fast today.” Our goal is that our factory is in better condition than it was the prior year.
• Vendors, manufacturers, and partnerships -- You’re the first to admit when a project is outside your area of expertise, and you have a network of trusted professionals (especially electrical!) to turn to for tricky issues. You oversee vendor work as necessary to ensure that the root issues are addressed and that the repair bills are kept in check. You are comfortable writing emails to manufacturers to ask about replacement pumps, ball bearings, or gaskets so that we order the right parts and minimize how long we have to run with temporary fixes.
• Team player -- Be sensitive about working in another team’s workspace, including cleaning up after projects and leaving notes when a temporary fix is necessary so that the team understands how to work around unfinished projects. Proactively follow up with team members to see if a safety guard or repair is working out for them. Be a welcoming presence in the factory that team members want to work with again and again. Work hand-in-hand with our Facilities Manager and Machine Engineering expert on overlapping projects (e.g. new air conditioning, building air compressor, parts library).
• Time management -- We are a small team and you will be reporting to senior leaders in the organization. You’ll be trusted to use your time efficiently and to prioritize your tasks. When there is downtime, use this as an opportunity to work on systems and projects that will help us in the future.
• Reporting & metrics – We will be tracking factory uptime as well as number of days between incidents. While many of these reports will be automated, familiarize yourself with these metrics When preventative maintenance is at its best, we hope to see both of these metrics improve each year.
• On-call -- While rare, be available on-call to assist with chocolate production emergencies such as a flood. If after-hours work is necessary to avoid disrupting production, adjust working hours accordingly to avoid excessive overtime.
• Other tasks as necessary

Requirements

• Schedule – Our Production team makes chocolate in one shift Monday through Friday. The team has two huddles at 8am and 3pm each day. We’ve found that it’s convenient to have hours either earlier or later than the team, though some overlap is helpful to talk with the Chocolate Maker 1-1. While the schedule is flexible, we ask that you attend one of the huddles each day (either morning or afternoon) so you can get a firsthand report of how the factory is running.
• Machine know-how -- You can diagnose electrical issues with a multimeter, know how to read a machine spec, and . Extraordinary technical background with technical certification and prior experience working with machines and shop equipment. You have a generalist background that includes gears, pumps, motors, electrical, belts, and general machinery, ideally in an industrial or professional shop setting where efficient troubleshooting is essential to meet production schedules. While we do not require electrical certification, many of our machines operate at 240 volts and you should observe all safety practices.
• Critical thinking -- Extraordinary problem-solving skills. You componentize problems to address issues more readily and use rigorous logic methods to challenge your initial instincts and hypotheses.
• Physical strength -- This role requires lifting 50 lbs or more to service equipment using appropriate PPE and forklifts when necessary (training and certification provided). Some repairs may require maintaining an awkward position for prolonged periods or using 8-12 foot ladders.
• Communication -- Strong communication skills. You can break down a complex issue into plainspoken English that can be easily understood by anyone in the organization.
• Tech skills -- Your office skills will require Google Spreadsheets, Google Docs, and MaintainX to maintain maintenance logs, review blueprints & schematics, send emails to vendors, and to keep documents easily accessible and up-to-date. Your documentation will require taking pictures and uploading them into Google Docs or MaintainX for logging. Each Chocolate Maker has a start-of-day and end-of-day checklist by machine and you have the tech skills to make modifications to the checklists and SOPs. As necessary, pick up new software tools as necessary for the business.
• Food-safe Factory experience -- Previous experience working in a production line or in an industrial food setting is a huge plus.

Benefits
The benefits and perks continue beyond a robust chocolate education. Dandelion Chocolate constantly invests in our people and culture. All team members receive heavily subsidized medical, vision, and dental benefits, as well as the option to enroll in our 401k program. All team members receive paid vacation time, holiday pay, and paid sick time. In addition, our team members enjoy commuter benefits, FSAs, chocolate-tasting opportunities, and a range of opportunities to grow and develop within the company.

How to Apply
Dandelion is growing, and we are invested in employees who take ownership of their roles and are interested in contributing in a bigger way with us. You'll stand out from other candidates if you send a short 1-2 paragraph cover letter detailing why you think this role is a potential fit for your long-term career. We do our best to respond to all serious candidates within 7-14 days.

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