Director, Equipment Maintenance & OEE

About Us

At RPI Print, we are transforming how products are created, produced, and delivered worldwide. Every day, our cloud-based platform powers millions of personalized, on-demand items that reach customers with speed, quality, and sustainability. We partner with leading brands, publishers, and creative platforms, including Blurb.com, our consumer-facing self-publishing brand, to bring ideas to life at global scale. By combining innovative technology with a distributed manufacturing network, RPI is reimagining the future of personalized production.

Role Summary

The Director, Equipment Maintenance & OEE is responsible for developing and executing the enterprise-wide strategy to maximize equipment performance, reliability, and output across all RPI locations. This role will lead preventative maintenance programs, drive improvements in overall equipment effectiveness (OEE), elevate operator skill and technical capability, and ensure consistent color management excellence across the digital press fleet.

Location & Travel

This role can be based remotely, with a preference for candidates located near our Atlanta, GA facility. Candidates based near Rochester, NY or Seattle, WA will also be considered.

Travel is expected to be approximately 70% across our three U.S. manufacturing locations. During the first 12–24 months, this role will require a more significant on-site presence, with travel up to three weeks per month to support implementation, standardization, and team development across sites.

Key Responsibilities

Leadership & Strategy

• Develop and implement a comprehensive, multi-site equipment maintenance strategy to improve uptime, reliability, and OEE.
• Establish OEE-driven KPIs, dashboards, and reporting tools
• Build and lead a high-performing team of maintenance professionals (approx. 2-3 in each location)
• Partner with Operations to ensure equipment capability aligns with production demand.
• Drive a culture of accountability and data-driven decision-making.
• Partner with Manufacturing to develop an optimized print scheduling strategy based on capabilities, consumables, materials and impression costs, labor efficiency.

Preventative Maintenance & Reliability Engineering

• Create and oversee standardized preventative and predictive maintenance programs.
• Research and execute the appropriate software solution to ensure adherence.
• Implement calibration standards and reliability engineering methodologies.
• Reduce unplanned downtime through root-cause analysis and corrective actions.
• Lead cross-site maintenance audits and maturity assessments.

OEE & Continuous Improvement

• Own the enterprise OEE strategy, including metric definitions and reporting cadence.
• Analyze data to identify bottlenecks and optimization opportunities.
• Partner with CI teams to implement Lean and Six Sigma improvements.
• Improve equipment utilization through workflow refinements and troubleshooting.

Operator Training & Skill Development

• Develop structured training programs for skilled operators and new operators.
• Create competency models and certification levels.
• Foster cross-training and knowledge sharing across locations.

Color Management (Digital Press Fleet)

• Own color management strategy across the digital press fleet.
• Implement color calibration standards and profiling processes.
• Partner with print operations and OEM vendors to maintain color quality.
• Train operators and technicians on color measurement and correction.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Collaborate with Operations, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and IT.
• Participate in equipment selection and capital planning.
• Communicate clearly on performance, risks, and required improvements.

Safety, Compliance & Sustainability

• Ensure maintenance activities meet all safety standards and regulations.
• Champion a zero-incident safety culture.
• Integrate sustainable equipment management practices.

Performance Management & Reporting

• Define required resources and capabilities for meeting goals.
• Conduct ongoing assessments of team performance and equipment health.
• Present insights and recommendations to executive leadership.

Qualifications & Experience

• 10+ years of experience in manufacturing, equipment maintenance, or reliability engineering, including multi-site responsibility.
• Experience in digital print, packaging, or other high-throughput, variable manufacturing environments.
• Proven leadership experience building, developing, and leading high-performing maintenance or technical teams.
• Deep expertise in preventative and predictive maintenance programs and reliability engineering principles.
• Demonstrated success driving measurable improvements in equipment uptime, reliability, and OEE.
• Experience implementing and utilizing CMMS or similar maintenance management systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate data into actionable insights.
• Experience working cross-functionally with Operations, Engineering, Quality, and Supply Chain.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to influence and drive alignment across all levels of the organization.
• Commitment to safety, with experience leading or supporting safety initiatives in a manufacturing environment.

Preferred Experience

• Background in Lean, Six Sigma, or other continuous improvement methodologies (certification a plus).
• Experience with color management processes, calibration standards, or digital press technologies.
• Familiarity with predictive maintenance technologies and condition-based monitoring tools.
• Experience evaluating and implementing enterprise maintenance or operational software solutions.
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Industrial Technology, or a related field.