Field Maintenance Planner at Krispy Kreme – Charlotte, North Carolina

Since its founding in 1937, Krispy Kreme's focus has remained the same - making fresh doughnuts using our founder's original recipe. The brand's iconic Hot Light lets consumers know when doughnuts are being made in the shop so they can stop in and enjoy them hot, right off the line.

Our Field Maintenance Planner is responsible for planning, coordinating, and optimizing maintenance activities for food production equipment across 180 producing shop locations. This role focuses exclusively on production assets, ensuring that our doughnut lines are well-maintained, work orders are addressed promptly, and service records are kept up to date.

The Field Maintenance Planner develops detailed work packages, coordinates field technicians and third-party vendors, ensures parts readiness, and drives disciplined preventive and predictive maintenance execution to maximize line uptime, protect product quality, and control maintenance spend.

A TASTE OF WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING:

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

• Maximize production line availability
• Reduce unplanned line downtime
• Increase planned vs. reactive maintenance ratio
• Improve first-time fix rates
• Protect food safety and product integrity
• Optimize total cost of equipment ownership

CORE RESPONSIBILITIES:

Work Identification & Planning

• Review production work requests for clarity, asset identification, and impact assessment.
• Conduct technical validation when required.
• Classify work:
• Emergency (line down)
• Urgent (quality or safety risk)
• Planned corrective
• Preventive maintenance
• Time based maintenance
• Capital rebuilds
• Develop detailed job plans including:
• Task breakdown
• Labor hours by skillset
• Required tools and rigging
• Lockout/Tagout procedures
• Sanitation and food safety controls
• Required spare parts
• Attach technical documentation (OEM manuals, schematics, torque specs).

Production Line Scheduling

• Coordinate maintenance windows with shop operations.
• Develop weekly and rolling 3–4 week schedules.
• Balance tech labor capacity against backlog.
• Integrate maintenance into planned shop downtime.
• Track schedule compliance and identify root causes for schedule breaks.
• Prioritize work based on line criticality and product demand impact.

Preventive & Predictive Maintenance Optimization

• Develop and revise PM job plans based on failure history and OEM guidance.
• Analyze PM effectiveness and recommend frequency adjustments.
• Support predictive maintenance integration (vibration, thermography, oil analysis).
• Eliminate redundant or non-value-added PM tasks.
• Support transition from reactive to planned maintenance culture.

Spare Parts & Materials Planning

• Identify long-lead and high-risk components (gearboxes, motors, VFDs, fryer pumps).
• Coordinate parts staging and shipping prior to scheduled outages.
• Support critical spare stocking strategies.
• Reduce emergency freight and expedite costs.

Vendor & Technical Specialist Coordination

• Coordinate field technicians and specialized contractors.
• Define clear scopes of work for vendor interventions.
• Validate vendor quotes and labor estimates.
• Review service reports for technical accuracy.
• Track vendor performance and repeat failure issues.

Downtime & Reliability Management

• Track Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) and Mean Time To Repair (MTTR).
• Identify chronic failure patterns by asset class.
• Support Root Cause Failure Analysis (RCFA).
• Recommend design or process modifications.
• Track top downtime drivers by production line.

Food Safety & Quality Compliance

• Ensure maintenance procedures protect product integrity.
• Incorporate sanitation controls into job plans.
• Coordinate post-maintenance clean verification.
• Support compliance with food manufacturing standards (HACCP-based controls where applicable).
• Ensure maintenance activities do not compromise allergen segregation or contamination controls.

YOUR RECIPE FOR SUCCESS:

• 5–10 years in industrial food production maintenance
• Experience supporting mixing, extrusion, frying, or thermal processing equipment
• Demonstrated maintenance planning or supervisory experience
• Experience in a CMMS-driven environment
• Working knowledge of mechanical drive systems
• Familiarity with gearboxes, bearings, seals, thermal processing equipment, pneumatics and hydraulics
• Basic PLC and controls familiarity
• Understanding of food production sanitation requirements
• Pass a pre-employment drug screen and criminal background check
• High school diploma or equivalent

Preferred Qualifications:

• Technical degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Industrial Technology preferred
• Experience in QSR supply chain or commissary production environments
• Reliability certification (CMRP)
• Lean / TPM background
• Shutdown and turnaround planning experience

*The above statements are intended to describe the general nature of work performed by the employees assigned to this job and are not the official job description for the position. The official job description will be provided during the application/interview process.

BENEFITS:

• Comprehensive benefits (medical, vision, and dental insurance)
• Employee discount program
• 401K plan
• PTO and “dream” days
• Company events
• Education Reimbursement
• Adoption Assistance
• Life Insurance
• FSA/HSA Plans
• Pet Insurance

Learn more at www.kkbenefits.com

WHY KRISPY KREME?

At Krispy Kreme, we focus on:

• Loving People:
• Our global culture is best captured by our Leadership Mix, a dozen behaviors that define how we work with one another across the world and give back to our communities. Check out our leadership mix here.
• Belonging happens once each Krispy Kremer knows their bold authentic self is welcomed, dignified, and loved, where their wonderfully original identities flourish and thrive.
• Loving Communities:
• At Krispy Kreme, sharing joy is at the center of everything we do, and we strive to inspire this in our communities. Our brand purpose truly shines through our Acts of Joy and community fundraising initiatives.
• In the U.S., we have been donating unsold doughnuts to local food banks, with a goal of bringing a smile to our consumers as they enjoy a small, sweet treat. We partner with Feeding America and Convoy of Hope, who in turn partner with organizations nationwide to distribute donations to people in need through diverse types of programs and services.
• In 2022, we helped community groups raise $40 million globally. Last year in the U.S., we supported more than 83,000 fundraising events, raising nearly $37 million.
• Loving Planet:
• We have been conducting a multi-year global GHG emissions assessment to establish an emissions baseline, using this foundation to soon set goals for greenhouse gas emission reductions.
• We are working on reducing food waste through donation efforts, animal feed, and composting programs.

Krispy Kreme is an Equal Opportunity Employer:

At Krispy Kreme, we believe that your originality sweetens our recipe. We value the diverse ingredients of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, gender, intersex, or veteran status of every individual. We strive for an inclusive culture that allows each of our peeps to bring their bold authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

About Krispy Kreme

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Krispy Kreme is one of the most beloved and well-known sweet treat brands in the world. Our iconic Original Glazed® doughnut is universally recognized for its hot-off-the-line, melt-in-your-mouth experience. Krispy Kreme operates in more than 35 countries through its unique network of fresh doughnut shops, partnerships with leading retailers, and a rapidly growing Ecommerce and delivery business with more than 14,000 fresh points of access. Our purpose of touching and enhancing lives through the joy that is Krispy Kreme guides how we operate every day and is reflected in the love we have for our people, our communities and the planet. Connect with Krispy Kreme Doughnuts at www.KrispyKreme.com, or on one of its many social media channels, including www.Facebook.com/KrispyKreme and www.Twitter.com/KrispyKreme.