Technical Instructor – Millwright & Industrial Maintenance
Stimson Career and Technical Academy
Department: Human Resources / Workforce Development
Location: Forest Grove, Oregon
Employment Status: Full-Time
Works closely with: Manager/Administrator, Stimson Career and Technical Academy
Position Summary
The Technical Instructor – Millwright & Industrial Maintenance is responsible for providing practical, hands-on technical instruction to participants in the Stimson Career and Technical Academy.
This position is intended for an experienced industrial maintenance professional or millwright who enjoys developing others and wants to pass along the knowledge and skills gained through a career working with industrial equipment. Previous teaching experience is a plus but is not required. The Academy's Manager will support lesson planning, classroom structure, student development, scheduling, curriculum coordination, and instructional preparation.
The Technical Instructor will be the Academy's primary subject-matter expert for mechanical maintenance and millwright skills, helping students develop the foundational knowledge, safe work habits, troubleshooting ability, and hands-on skills required for successful careers in industrial maintenance and lumber manufacturing.
The position combines classroom instruction, demonstrations, hands-on shop activities, equipment-based learning, and supervised exposure to actual mill operations. Students attend class part-time and work in the Mill part-time.
Essential Responsibilities
Technical Instruction
- Teach foundational industrial maintenance and millwright skills using classroom discussion, demonstrations, hands-on exercises, and actual equipment.
- Provide instruction in areas including:
- Bearings, shafts, couplings, and power transmission
- Belt and chain drives
- Conveyors
- Hydraulics and pneumatics
- Motors and mechanical systems
- Lubrication and preventive maintenance
- Equipment inspection
- Precision measurement and alignment
- Basic fabrication and mechanical repair
- Equipment troubleshooting
- Failure identification and root-cause problem solving
- Maintenance planning and work-order fundamentals
- Connect technical concepts to actual equipment and conditions students will encounter in a lumber manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrate proper use and care of tools and maintenance equipment.
Hands-On Training
- Develop and lead practical exercises that allow students to safely build, assemble, inspect, troubleshoot, maintain, and repair equipment.
- Provide supervised hands-on instruction in the Academy training area and appropriate mill environments.
- Help students progress from basic mechanical concepts to increasingly complex maintenance activities.
- Teach students how experienced maintenance professionals approach equipment problems rather than simply giving them the answer.
Safety
- Model and reinforce safe work practices at all times.
- Integrate hazard recognition, PPE, energy-control awareness, and safe maintenance practices into technical instruction.
- Ensure students understand that safe work practices take priority over speed or production.
Curriculum Development
- Partner with the Academy Manager to turn practical millwright knowledge into structured lessons, demonstrations, exercises, and assessments.
- Help select equipment, training aids, tools, replacement components, and materials needed for technical instruction.
- Develop realistic troubleshooting scenarios based on industrial maintenance experience.
- Recommend updates as equipment, technology, and maintenance practices change.
Student Development
- Coach students as they develop technical confidence and mechanical aptitude.
- Evaluate practical skill development and provide direct, constructive feedback.
- Reinforce reliability, attendance, teamwork, communication, accountability, housekeeping, and professional work habits.
- Help identify students demonstrating aptitude for millwright, maintenance, engineering, production, or other technical career paths.
Qualifications
- Significant hands-on experience as a Millwright in a lumber mill, sawmill, plywood/veneer facility, or other wood-products manufacturing environment.
- Demonstrated knowledge of industrial equipment maintenance, repair, troubleshooting, and preventive maintenance.
- Strong working knowledge of common mechanical systems such as bearings, drives, conveyors, hydraulics, pneumatics, motors, alignment, Welding/fabrication experience and similar related skills.
- Familiarity with PLC-controlled or automated industrial equipment.
- Demonstrated commitment to safe work practices.
- Ability to explain technical concepts in practical, understandable terms.
- Patience and interest in teaching and developing people who have limited industrial experience.
- Ability to work effectively with students, operations employees, supervisors, and Academy staff.
- Previous experience training apprentices, new maintenance employees, operators, or other tradespeople.