Maintenance Supervisor

THE COMPANY

Little Rapids Corporation (LRC) is a specialty paper manufacturer and converter of paper, film, cotton, and nonwoven materials. The company's headquarters is in Green Bay and is privately held with annual sales of over $200 million and 450 employees at three Wisconsin locations. The business has two divisions that sell a wide variety of products in the healthcare, beauty, flexographic printing, and specialty paper markets. Rapids Green Bay supplies printed film, paper, and nonwovens. Rapids Shawano has three paper machines that manufacture tissue, machine glazed, and wet crepe paper. Graham Professional manufactures and sells one-time use products into the healthcare and beauty markets through a network of national and regional distributors.

With its family ownership dating back to 1947, the company is guided by a strong and positive culture. LRC's purpose is remarkably simple: to bring together all their people's talents and energies to create an outstanding organization that delivers true value to their customers. The four core values of the business are lived out by ownership and top leadership and serve as a guide to all interactions, behavior, expectations, and strategic initiatives. These values are:

Care: Take Care of One Another & Always Be Transparent

Act: Dream Big, Think Big, Act Big, Create Contagious Energy

Learn: Improve Every Day while Being Humble

Serve: Do Great Things & Be Easy to Work With Position Summary:

The Maintenance Supervisor leads a team of union-represented millwrights and Electrical & Instrumentation (E&I) technicians in a continuous paper mill environment. This role is responsible for safe, reliable, and cost-effective maintenance execution, ensuring equipment uptime through effective preventive/predictive maintenance and strong workforce leadership.

Key Responsibilities:

Leadership & Workforce Management

Lead and supervise union-represented maintenance employees in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), ensuring fair, consistent application of work practices and policies

Provide coaching, training, and performance management to develop workforce capability and accountability

Assign and prioritize work to ensure safe, timely, and high-quality execution

Promote a culture of teamwork, communication, and continuous improvement Maintenance Execution & Planning

Coordinate and oversee daily maintenance activities across mechanical and E&I disciplines in a 24/7 operation

Ensure efficient utilization of internal craft labor to minimize contractor reliance

Utilize CMMS to plan, schedule, and track work orders throughout all stages

Maintain accurate maintenance records, equipment histories, and schedules Reliability & Continuous Improvement

Ensure scheduled preventive and predictive maintenance work is completed on time to support equipment reliability

Monitor maintenance performance metrics and communicate issues or risks to management while adjusting team focus as needed

Support root cause analysis efforts and implement corrective actions

Identify and implement improvements in maintenance practices, procedures, and equipment performance Safety & Compliance

Champion a strong safety culture by ensuring compliance with OSHA regulations and mill safety programs, including LOTO, confined space entry, and electrical safety

Conduct job-specific safety discussions and reinforce safe work practices

Partner with operations and leadership to promptly address safety concerns

Participate in and lead incident investigations and corrective action development Collaboration & Support

Partner with operations, engineering, and contractors to support production goals, outages, and capital projects

Provide technical expertise and guidance to maintenance crafts and cross-functional teams

Support engineering initiatives for equipment upgrades and installations

Participate in daily and weekly planning meetings to align priorities and report on performance

Perform other responsibilities as assigned Education, Certifications, and Experience:

Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering or related field, or equivalent industrial experience

5+ years of leadership experience in a manufacturing environment (paper mill or heavy industry preferred)

Experience working in a union environment strongly preferred

Working knowledge of mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic systems, including PLCs, drives, and control systems

Experience with CMMS (e.g., JD Edwards)

Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite

Paper or pulp mill experience preferred

Technical apprenticeship or skilled trades background preferred Key Competencies:

Leadership and labor relations

Safety leadership and risk management

Problem-solving and root cause analysis

Planning, organization, and execution

Communication and collaboration across functions

Results-oriented with focus on reliability and asset performance

Physical Requirements:

Exposure to or working in close proximity to operating machinery. Exposure to fine dust. Ability to wear required personal protection equipment (i.e. hearing, eye and foot protection). Must be able to see objects at a distance with clarity and read printed material within arm's reach. Perceive colors accurately. Ability to shout to be heard above high noise levels. Stand, twist, bend, turn and kneel for up to 8 hours a day. Walk up to 200 yards at a time, up to 20 times per day. Climb stairs, approximately 15 steps, up to 10 times per day.

EOE including disability/veteran