What is it like to work at Interlake Agri?
We currently are staffed with 14 full time employees. It is important for us to have additional labor available for operations throughout the year. By having available labor, it allows us to achieve better work life balance for the employees and more flexibility when it comes to planned and unplanned events. It is important for Interlake Agri to be supportive in this manner so that the employee can achieve their goals in Family, Lifestyle, and Work.
The other major drivers who make us who we are is the challenge of what we do. It ranges from meeting our seed plant customer needs so that they in turn are successful in bringing their products to market, all the way to being innovative in our farming practices as we have a focus on niche crop types where there is no handbook on how to produce the crop.
We have grown this second-generation family business on the path less traveled and that alone has given us the financial freedom to create a business that is sustainable, has attracted the right people to build the team and the outcome of these factors is a work experience that is hard to beat!
Agricultural Equipment Technician/Mechanic
Interlake Agri is looking for a skilled mechanic to add to the current Shop team. We currently have a full time mechanic and a red seal welder/ shop manager on staff but we need more skilled support in this area of the business. We are looking for the mechanic who wants variety in their work, that doesn’t always want to pull wrenches and may want to have some involvement supporting farming operations when times are busy.
Interviews will be held discreetly for those that are applying and already employed elsewhere.
FULL JOB DETAILS
Job Duties and Responsibilities:
- Diagnose and inspect equipment for faults and malfunctions. Repair and adjust equipment and replace defective parts.
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- As part of our preventive maintenance in Farming operations and Seed Plant operations, it is important for the mechanic to understand the machinery they are working on to identify deficiencies and avoid breakdowns and downtime.
- Ordering special parts or parts for restocking to complete jobs.
- Perform updates, and pre-season inspections.
- This applies to farming equipment and seed plant equipment and their respective busy season(s) and having the equipment ready to go.
- Complete work orders and enter technician notes into computer.
- Complete work orders with the ability to prioritize the most important tasks.
- Enter in service notes to keep continually tracking machine health and history.
- Adhere to all occupational health and safety standards as the company is committed to the protection and wellness of its employees.
- Assist the shop manager in aspects of shop management and inventory control.
- This can range from ordering parts from various suppliers to assisting OR management of certain shop activities.
- Participate in aspects of project management all the way through to full project management in your area of expertise.
- This means participating in planning meetings on large scale projects and taking on an area of responsibility that fits within your skillset OR if qualified to run smaller projects and be responsible for the desired outcome.
- Participate in Shop, Farm and Seed Plant meetings to contribute to solutions and understand challenges and repairs that pertain to your role.
- We hold regular meetings to address issues, plan and communicate. Shop staff are participating in these meetings because the farm operations and seed plant operations are what drive tasks and priority for the shop in addition to the shops own initiatives and schedules they are responsible for.
- Participate in a supporting mechanical role for farm operations all the way through to operation of machinery when needed.
- This would mean in season repairs that happen in the main yard or the field that are time sensitive. Doing a good job in this area allows the operations to resume without too much down time.
- For the mechanic that enjoys operating machinery, there will be opportunities to help with operations when we are short staffed or need to get the work done in a timely manner.
Required Skills:
- Proven knowledge of methods, materials, tools, and techniques used in the repair of agricultural equipment.
- Outstanding knowledge of mechanical, electrical, and hydraulic systems.
- Ability to use computer to support diagnostics.
- Excellent problem-solving ability.
- Secondary formal education in Mechanics that forms the basis of your skill set.
- Class 5 Drivers license. Class 1 license is an asset but not required.
WORK ENVIROMENT:
During the production season work environments would be various. From cabs of vehicles and equipment to indoor shops and warehouses, to working outdoors or office work.
As a company we do have certain operations that are dirty, dusty, and loud but we make efforts to buy equipment and mitigate the challenges as best we can to provide an enjoyable work environment.
Compensation:
$22-$40 per hour, paid bi-weekly. The lower end of the pay scale reflects a wage that would be paid to an individual that has little experience but has the potential, all the way to an individual that is in full control and carries responsibility for the organization.
Overtime of 1.5x starts after 45 hours worked in a week.
Vacation pay. Program is scaled to tenure.
Bonus pay. We have a few bonus structures we use depending on role with the company.
Full benefits package. A combination of standard benefits with a supplemental Health Care Spending Account.
Registered Pension Plan. The company will additionally match up to 4% of the employee’s contributions into their RPP.
Other perks include clothing and footwear programs, off site staff functions like ice fishing tournaments or sporting events, use of company infrastructure like tools and shop, and flexibility for life’s un-planned and planned events.