Maintenance Mechanic

General Mills, Inc. manufactures some of the most beloved foods in the world, including Cheerios and Lucky Charms, Nature Valley granola bars, Totino's pizza rolls, and Yoplait yogurt. Blue Buffalo became part of General Mills in 2018, so even your pets love us too. We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one an other and grow together.

Check out why General Mills Manufacturing is the place to grow a career:

Maintenance Mechanic - Belvidere, IL

As a part of our manufacturing group, you will be responsible for preventative and reactive maintenance of processing and packaging equipment and providing technical support to improve and optimize within the manufacturing operations and processes.

Schedule & Shift

• 12-hour shifts
  • Day shift: 5:45 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
  • Night shift: 5:45 p.m. – 6:00 a.m. (currently hiring for nights)
• Eligibility to bid on available shift schedule changes after 6 months
• Rotating schedule: 5 on / 3 off / 2 on / 5 off / 4 on / 2 off / 3 on / 4 off
• Alternating workweeks:
  • 48-hour weeks
  • 36-hour weeks
  • Average of 42 hours per week
• Willingness to work overtime and any shift as needed, including nights, weekends, holidays, and emergency events
• Plant operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
• Schedule Perks
• Regular 2–5 day breaks built into the rotation
• Predictable schedule that supports work-life balance, rest, and personal commitments
• Overtime opportunities available

Schedule shown below is an example of the rotation pattern; actual assigned days worked/off may vary.

Pay:

• $29.77 per hour
• $2.00 per hour night shift differential
• Internal advancement opportunities

Benefits:

• 10 days (120 hours) of vacation annually and 11 paid company holidays
• Great paid time off benefits
• 401(k) match
• Health Insurance includes medical, dental, vision and life
• And much more!

About our Location:

Located in Boone County in Northern Illinois, our Belvidere General Mills manufacturing site has around 650 team members who help make food the world loves. We operate in a dynamic business environment with a culture that values safety, teamwork, wellness and more! If you ask what some of the things that the team members value more in Belvidere are, you will hear that we are family-oriented, foster a culture of teamwork, enjoy great wellness programs, employee giveaways and family appreciation day.

General Mills encourages growth for our employees. If you want to be part of a team that will learn and grow, develop leadership skills, drive results quickly, work within a safety-mindset, and expand your technical capabilities, then GMI is a great place to start!

Our Products:

Lara Bar, soft-baked bars, Nature Valley chewy & crunchy granola bars, Fruit by the Foot and packaged cereal.

What your day will look like:

• Creating high quality foods that are eaten EVERYDAY, NATIONWIDE
• Using TECHNOLOGY in an industry-leading facility
• Working with HIGH-LEVEL operators on EXPERIENCED teams that are looking to pass down their knowledge to workers WILLING TO LEARN and get paid doing it
• CHALLENGING yourself to get the JOB DONE RIGHT and gain skills to take with you to your next opportunity
  • Installing, maintaining, repairing, and replacing industrial processing and packaging machinery, work tools and equipment
  • Identifying and troubleshooting mechanical issues
  • Providing technical support and plant leadership for equipment troubleshooting and equipment modifications
  • Understanding, initiating, and participating in Root Cause Analysis (Why, Why)
  • Performing both uptime and downtime preventative maintenance
  • Participate in Continuous Improvement initiatives to increase platform performance
  • Assist in training new employees

What you have to offer:

• Minimum of a high school education or GED
• Minimum 3 years of industrial maintenance or related industry experience
• Basic mechanical knowledge and understanding of electrical motors, gearbox and components along with systems troubleshooting, including use of a multimeter and specialized tools
• Experience in a manufacturing/production environment preferred

Physical requirements:

• Must be able to lift up to 50 lbs
• Must be able to perform physical tasks for extended periods of time including standing, walking, climbing, bending, pushing, pulling and twisting over surfaces
• Ability to climb and/or work at heights while utilizing stairs, ladders, personnel lifts, or platforms
• Ability to wear protective clothing and equipment such as safety shoes, face masks, safety glasses, hearing protection, a hard hat, a hair/beard net and gloves when required
• Willing and able to adhere to all grooming requirements necessary for a food manufacturing environment
• Ability to work in hot, cold, noisy, dusty, wet environmental working conditions
• Willing to work around industrial high-speed moving machinery
• Ability to work with allergens that might be present in a food environment

We exist to make food the world loves. But we do more than that. Our company is a place that prioritizes being a force for good, a place to expand learning, explore new perspectives and reimagine new possibilities, every day. We look for people who want to bring their best — bold thinkers with big hearts who challenge one other and grow together. Because becoming the undisputed leader in food means surrounding ourselves with people who are hungry for what’s next.