Context/Scope:
(About EABL)
East African Breweries PLC (EABL) is East Africa’s leading branded alcohol beverage business with an outstanding collection of brands that range from beer, spirits and adult non-alcoholic drinks (ANADs), reaffirming our standing as a total adult beverage (TAB) company.
EABL has extensive operations in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania with breweries, distilleries, support industries and a distribution network across the region. It also runs a growing export operations business within and outside of the wider Eastern Africa region. The group’s diversity is an important factor in delivering the highest quality brands to East African consumers and long-term value to East African investors.
EABL operates within a multi-cultural, multinational, multi-currency environment, dealing with various regulatory, tax and compliance requirements
EABL is a Public Listed Company (Plc) listed on the Securities/Stock Exchange in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Purpose of Role:
The Asset Care Engineer leads all engineering and maintenance activities within the spirits production section, ensuring safe, reliable, efficient and cost-effective asset performance to meet production, quality and customer service requirements.
The role provides overall leadership for mechanical, electrical and instrumentation engineering activities and manages the engineers and technicians responsible for repairing and maintaining plant assets.
The role is responsible for the end-to-end asset care process, including maintenance resource planning, scheduling, execution, performance evaluation and continuous improvement. It coordinates internal maintenance resources and external engineering support while driving effective maintenance practices that improve asset availability, reliability and operational efficiency.
The Asset Care Engineer ensures compliance with engineering, health, safety, environmental and quality standards and supports the implementation of world-class engineering standards, procedures and guidelines. The role also drives standard methodologies, develops team capabilities to improve reliability, efficiency and cost performance across the section.
Role Dimensions
Market/Function Complexity
(In-country depth vs regional breath)
EABL/ UBL operates in a market with three strong competing Breweries, many spirits blending establishments and a host of other imported beer and spirits brands and competition from the other drinks companies e.g. packed water, soft drinks, and fruit juices Which necessitates a robust management systems so as to be able to win and retain market share.
The role holder will manage and optimize plant assets, equipment, and facilities to ensure safe, reliable, and cost-effective operations. Implement effective asset care and maintenance strategies to enhance equipment availability, performance, and asset life while minimizing downtime and costs.
Promote maintenance guidelines, continuous improvement, data-driven decision-making, and a motivated, capable team to deliver sustainable asset reliability and operational performance.
Financial Accountability (Budget/Revenue)
Manage and optimize plant assets to ensure reliability, availability, and maximum asset life while staying within the maintenance budget.
Implement effective maintenance strategies, standard processes, and continuous improvement initiatives to minimize downtime, control costs, and sustain operational performance.
Leadership Responsibilities
- Structured and organized – able to handle time effectively and prioritize conflicting issues or activities.
- High integrity and rigor with the ability to meet deadlines
- Able to influence others
- Resilient and energetic
- Self-motivated
- Confidence to be proactive on solving production related problems
- Able to lead, empower, inspire and motivate a team of spirits production and contractors/casuals.
Top Accountabilities:
Maintain a safe and healthy working environment.
- Ensure compliance with all safety, health, environmental, and company policies, including alcohol policies, PPE, SAM, LOTO, and relevant legislation.
- Maintain high safety, housekeeping, 5S, hygiene, and machine safety standards, including routine interlock inspections.
- Drive achievement of TRA/LTA targets and other agreed safety performance indicators.
- Conduct and participate in safety audits, risk assessments, and reviews, ensuring they are completed at the required frequency.
- Ensure SIRCs are raised and closed within the targeted numbers and timelines.
- Ensure timely reporting and appropriate follow-up of incidents according to their category.
- Ensure 100% completion of required medical checks for self and team members.
- Support continuous safety and process improvements across the team/operation.
Optimize Production Performance and Processes
- Develop and implement asset care strategies aligned with EABL/UBL and UBL business objectives, providing technical leadership and guidance to engineering teams and management.
- Lead maintenance planning, scheduling and execution using SAP CMMS to optimize workforce, equipment criticality, maintenance records, spares and overall asset performance.
- Manage R&M budgets, costs and spares inventory, ensuring effective cost control, timely corrective actions and availability of critical maintenance materials.
- Monitor and report engineering and asset performance through daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual critical metric reviews, ensuring achievement of maintenance and operational targets.
- Drive equipment reliability and plant availability through planned maintenance, autonomous maintenance, root-cause analysis, problem-solving, TRACC and continuous improvement initiatives.
- Coordinate Engineering, Production, Stores, Facilities and other stakeholders to ensure effective planning, execution and communication of maintenance and production activities.
- Lead capital projects, engineering modifications, FATs, contractor works, commissioning and handover, ensuring compliance with EABL/ UBL, statutory and professional engineering standards.
- Support safe and efficient production operations by coordinating asset care activities, utilities, facilities, materials and product movements while maintaining quality and inventory standards.
- Develop, review and maintain SOPs, OPLs, SWIs, maintenance reports, user documentation and other engineering standards within required timelines.
- Establish team capability and effective collaborator relationships while promoting engineering standard processes, safety, compliance, operational excellence and sustainable business performance.
Perform Administration Duties
- Maintain accurate engineering, maintenance and asset performance reports in line with EABL/UBL Manufacturing Excellence standards, policies and routines.
- Conduct daily reviews of asset care and maintenance critical metrics against agreed targets, identify performance gaps and implement timely corrective actions to improve equipment reliability, availability and maintenance performance.
- Participate actively in SBT, engineering and sectional performance meetings, providing technical insights and updates on asset performance, maintenance priorities and improvement actions.
- Prepare, manage and control Engineering and Repairs & Maintenance budgets, ensuring effective resource utilization and delivery of maintenance activities within approved cost targets.
- Provide effective line management to engineering teams, including setting and monitoring objectives, coaching and mentoring, performance management, capability development, recognition and appropriate handling of employee relations and disciplinary matters.
- Build positive, transparent and collaborative relationships with engineering teams, production, trade unions, contractors and the wider site organization to ensure effective maintenance execution and achievement of asset care and business objectives.
People and Capability Roles
- Lead and inspire engineering teams to achieve high performance while ensuring compliance with EABL/ UBL policies, standards, procedures and values.
- Coach and mentor engineering personnel to build teamwork, trust, empowerment, accountability and a strong asset care culture.
- Conduct career development and performance discussions with team members, providing guidance on career progression, capability development and continuous improvement.
- Promote multi-skilling and multi-functional capability within the engineering team to improve workforce flexibility, resilience and maintenance effectiveness.
- Drive continuous personal and team development through structured coaching, mentoring, exchanging insights, and performance improvement initiatives.
- Maintain a positive and balanced industrial relations environment by fostering open communication, employee engagement and constructive resolution of workplace issues.
- Implement and manage HR policies, practices and performance management processes within the engineering function.
- Manage contractors in accordance with business policies, safety requirements and engineering standards, ensuring compliance and effective performance.
- Conduct engineering capability assessments, identify competency gaps and maintain appropriate training and competency matrices for engineering staff.
- Develop and manage the annual engineering training and development plan, including training needs analysis, course identification, budgeting and effective process.
- Lead technical training and knowledge transfer to Production teams to strengthen the Asset Care–Production partnership, promote autonomous maintenance and embed world-class maintenance standards across operations.
Qualifications:
- A Degree or equivalent experience in mechanical, electrical engineering or industrial engineering
- NEBOSH qualified.
Skills and Experience:
Experience
- Minimum of 3 years’ experience in a technical competence area with 2 years responsibility for maintenance in an FMCG environment
- Advanced computer literacy in Microsoft Excel, Word, and presentation software.
Skills
- Project Management
- High interpersonal effectiveness to develop & sustain robust relationships.
- Management of people performance and development
- Excellent leadership and management skills
- Experience of working in a multi-functional team
- knowledge of resource and requirements
- Information systems and technology
- Numerical skills
- Influencing and inter-personal skills
- Good communicator
