Automation Maintenance Engineer

Job Purpose

The Automation Maintenance Engineer is responsible for ensuring the safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the plant’s automation, electrical control, and instrumentation systems.

The role performs preventive, predictive, and corrective maintenance; diagnoses and resolves automation-related failures; and implements reliability improvements to minimize unplanned downtime. All automation activities must be completed in accordance with Sika HSE requirements, engineering standards, change-control procedures, quality requirements, and applicable legal regulations.

Key Responsibilities

Automation Maintenance and Troubleshooting

• Maintain, inspect, troubleshoot, and repair industrial automation and control systems, including:
• Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)
• Human-Machine Interfaces (HMIs)
• Variable-Frequency Drives (VFDs)
• Sensors, transmitters, and instrumentation
• Motors and motor-control systems
• Control panels and electrical circuits
• Industrial communication networks
• Automated production and packaging equipment
• Diagnose automation, electrical, control, and communication failures accurately and restore equipment safely and efficiently.
• Respond promptly to breakdowns and coordinate maintenance activities to minimize production disruption and equipment downtime.
• Troubleshoot PLC-controlled equipment such as pumps, mixers, conveyors, dosing systems, filling machines, packaging equipment, and related production systems.
• Verify that equipment is operating safely and correctly before releasing it back to Production.
• Escalate critical failures, repeated breakdowns, and significant operational risks to the Maintenance Manager.

Preventive and Predictive Maintenance

• Develop, review, and execute preventive maintenance plans for automation, electrical control, and instrumentation systems.
• Ensure that maintenance tasks are completed according to schedule and properly documented.
• Perform periodic inspections and functional tests of control systems, safety devices, sensors, drives, and electrical panels.
• Identify potential equipment failures and take preventive action before they affect safety, quality, or production.
• Contribute to the development of predictive and condition-based maintenance activities where applicable.
• Continuously review maintenance frequencies and task effectiveness based on equipment history and performance.

PLC, HMI, and Control-System Management

• Support troubleshooting, diagnostics, and approved modifications of PLC and HMI systems.
• Perform minor PLC logic modifications, HMI updates, and drive parameter adjustments when required and within the assigned authority.
• Ensure that all software and parameter changes are tested, documented, reviewed, and approved in accordance with the plant’s management-of-change procedure.
• Maintain controlled backups of PLC programs, HMI applications, drive parameters, configuration files, and other critical automation software.
• Ensure that the latest approved versions can be identified and safely restored when required.
• Prevent unauthorized modifications to automation software, system configurations, or equipment parameters.
• Maintain accurate documentation of control logic, system architecture, network configuration, and approved software changes.

Root-Cause Analysis and Reliability Improvement

• Investigate repeated automation and equipment failures using structured root-cause analysis methods.
• Develop and implement corrective and preventive actions to eliminate recurring breakdowns.
• Analyze downtime data, alarm histories, equipment trends, and maintenance records to identify reliability concerns.
• Propose technical improvements to increase equipment availability, process stability, safety, and maintainability.
• Participate in continuous improvement and operational excellence initiatives.
• Support projects aimed at reducing maintenance costs, energy consumption, process variation, waste, and unplanned downtime.
• Follow up on implemented improvements and verify that the intended results are achieved.

Instrumentation and Process Control

• Maintain and troubleshoot process instrumentation, including pressure, temperature, flow, level, weight, and position-measurement devices.
• Support the inspection, testing, calibration, and verification of critical instruments in accordance with applicable procedures.
• Coordinate calibration activities with Quality, Production, and approved external service providers where necessary.
• Ensure that calibration records, certificates, and equipment identification are properly maintained.
• Report instruments found outside acceptable limits and support the required impact assessment and corrective actions.

Safety and Environmental Compliance

• Perform all activities in accordance with Sika HSE requirements, safe working procedures, and applicable legal regulations.
• Apply lockout/tagout and other approved energy-isolation procedures before starting maintenance work.
• Conduct or participate in task risk assessments, permit-to-work processes, and safety briefings.
• Stop and report unsafe activities, conditions, or equipment without delay.
• Ensure that automation and electrical safety devices are not bypassed or modified without formal approval.
• Support investigations of incidents, near misses, equipment damage, and control-system failures.
• Maintain good housekeeping and appropriate 5S standards in workshops, control rooms, electrical panels, and maintenance areas.
• Ensure the safe handling and disposal of electrical and electronic components in accordance with environmental requirements.

Spare Parts and Inventory Management

• Identify critical automation, electrical, and instrumentation spare parts based on equipment risk and failure history.
• Maintain accurate technical specifications, spare-parts lists, and equipment bill-of-material information.
• Coordinate with Maintenance, Warehouse, Procurement, and suppliers to ensure the availability of critical spare parts.
• Raise or support purchase requests for automation components, tools, software, and technical services.
• Review spare-parts consumption and recommend appropriate minimum and maximum stock levels.
• Identify suitable alternatives for obsolete or discontinued components while ensuring technical compatibility and required approvals.
• Support cost-effective sourcing without compromising equipment reliability, safety, or quality.

Projects, Installation, and Commissioning

• Support automation-related aspects of equipment installation, modification, upgrading, and plant expansion projects.
• Review technical specifications, control requirements, panel designs, wiring diagrams, and vendor documentation.
• Coordinate automation work with internal stakeholders, equipment suppliers, system integrators, and contractors.
• Support installation, wiring, configuration, testing, and commissioning of new or modified equipment.
• Participate in factory and site acceptance testing where applicable.
• Ensure that automation projects comply with Sika engineering, HSE, quality, and change-control requirements.
• Confirm that required technical documents, software backups, drawings, manuals, training, and spare parts are received before project handover.

Contractor and Technician Coordination

• Provide technical guidance to maintenance technicians regarding automation, electrical control, and instrumentation activities.
• Assign and follow up on automation-related tasks within the agreed maintenance plan.
• Verify that technicians and contractors perform their work safely and according to approved technical standards.
• Ensure that contractors have the required qualifications, work permits, risk assessments, and site authorization.
• Inspect completed work and confirm that equipment is safe, functional, and properly documented before acceptance.
• Provide technical coaching and knowledge transfer to maintenance and production employees where required.

Cross-Functional Coordination

• Work closely with Production to plan maintenance interventions and minimize disruption to the production schedule.
• Coordinate with Quality regarding process-control issues, calibration requirements, product deviations, and equipment validation.
• Cooperate with HSE to ensure safe execution of maintenance, project, and contractor activities.
• Support Engineering, Procurement, Warehouse, and IT teams on automation-related requirements where applicable.
• Communicate equipment status, expected repair time, operational risks, and required follow-up actions to relevant stakeholders.

Documentation and Reporting

• Maintain accurate and updated maintenance records, equipment histories, fault reports, and technical documentation.
• Record maintenance activities, spare-parts usage, breakdown causes, downtime, and corrective actions in SAP or the applicable maintenance system.
• Prepare reports on automation failures, maintenance performance, equipmen