SUMMARY:
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POSITION INFO:
Technical Trainer | Johannesburg and Cape Town | Permanent Build technical capability where it matters most: on the manufacturing floor. This is an opportunity for an experienced tissue converting professional to turn practical technical knowledge into measurable operator competence. The Technical Trainer will be responsible for building and maintaining technical capability across manufacturing operations, with a primary focus on tissue converting. The role goes beyond conventional training: you will establish machine-specific standards, develop SOPs and assessments, coach employees on equipment, assess practical competence and close technical capability gaps. Working closely with Production, Maintenance, Engineering and Quality, you will translate the Operations Management System into practical machine-level standards and behaviours. You will spend most of your time in the converting facility, working directly with equipment, operators and technical teams to improve safety, quality, reliability, waste, OEE and productivity. The employer is a sizeable manufacturing organisation operating in a technically demanding, high-volume production environment. The business has a strong operational focus and relies on disciplined processes, equipment reliability and capable frontline teams to consistently deliver quality products. What You'll Do Define the technical knowledge and practical competencies required for critical converting machines and roles. Develop and deliver structured, machine-specific technical training on the manufacturing floor. Coach operators in machine operation, set-up, centre lining, changeovers, troubleshooting and equipment care. Develop theoretical and practical assessments and formally assess employee competence. Identify technical capability gaps and coordinate retraining, coaching and reassessment. Develop and maintain technical skills matrices covering machines, employees and shifts. Drive multi-skilling and reduce dependency on individual technical experts. Capture and transfer technical knowledge from experienced operators, artisans, Engineering, Quality and OEMs. Develop and maintain technically accurate machine-specific SOPs, training materials and assessments. Ensure documentation covers machine principles, safety, start-up and shutdown, changeovers, operating parameters, quality requirements, equipment care, troubleshooting and abnormal conditions. Translate OMS requirements into practical machine-level standards, routines and behaviours. Build operator capability in OEE, waste, yield, speed losses, minor stops, root-cause analysis and loss elimination. Work with Maintenance and Engineering to strengthen autonomous maintenance, equipment inspection and first-line troubleshooting capability. Use recurring breakdowns and equipment failures to identify capability gaps and improve technical standards. Work with Quality and Production to strengthen product specification awareness, in-process quality checks and defect identification. Use complaints, non-conformances, rejects, rework and recurring quality failures to strengthen technical training. Incorporate learning from equipment changes, breakdowns, quality incidents and operational improvements into training material. What You Bring A relevant technical qualification in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics, Chemical\/Process Engineering or a related manufacturing discipline; or a recognised trade qualification such as Millwright, Fitter, Electrician or Instrumentation Technician. At least 8 years of practical technical or operational manufacturing experience. Significant hands-on experience in paper or tissue converting operations. Strong technical knowledge of converting machinery, processes, maintenance and quality. Practical experience with machine operation, set-up, optimisation and troubleshooting. Experience across several tissue converting technologies, such as unwinding and web handling, embossing and lamination, perforation and rewinding, log formation, log saws, core making, folding, interfolding, conveying, wrapping or packaging. A sound understanding of centre lining, format changeovers, waste and yield management, OEE, speed losses and minor stops. An understanding of how machine settings, equipment condition, maintenance practices and raw-material characteristics influence quality, waste, reliability and output. Sufficient understanding of tissue and parent-reel characteristics, including GSM, moisture, strength, bulk, stretch and reel quality. The ability to transfer technical knowledge practically and assess whether employees can demonstrate competence. Formal training or facilitation experience is not essential. What Success Looks Like Employees are trained, practically assessed and formally signed off against defined machine competencies. Critical machine and shift competency coverage is visible and actively managed. Technical skills gaps and single-person dependencies are reduced. Machine-specific SOPs, training materials and assessments remain accurate, current and relevant. Operators consistently work to OMS requirements and defined operating standards. Operator capability improves across machine operation, troubleshooting, equipment care and quality control. Recurring losses linked to operator capability are reduced. The role contributes measurably to improved safety, quality, reliability, waste, OEE and productivity.
