Christopher Vess is a manufacturing management and technical professional with over 20 years of experience in maintenance management, mechanical and electrical troubleshooting, team building and leadership. He currently works as a Maintenance Supervisor at Whitewave Foods, overseeing a staff that supports a 24/7 dairy and juice processing operation. He has extensive experience working with various production, packaging and processing equipment used in textiles, corrugated packaging and aseptic/ESL filling operations.

1. Christopher J .Vess
43 Pittypat Lane
Crimora Va, 24431
Home: 1-540-241-3600
Cell: 1-540-209-5380
Christopher.vess@whitewave.com
cvess72@gmail.com
Manufacturing Management / Technical Professional
Textile, Corrugated Packaging, Aseptic/ ESL Filling, Maintenance
Area of
Expertise
Maintenance Management – Mechanical/Electrical Troubleshooting- Team Building & Leadership –
Preventive Maintenance – Personnel Supervision (15+)- Safety – Root cause Analysis 5Y- CMMS(MP2/MVP) –
Maintenance Planning
Profile  20 years of experience as a Maintenance Technician and 5+ years as a Maintenance Supervisor.
 Ability to lead and direct complex projects from concept to full production status with minimal downtime.
 Goal-oriented individual with strong leadership capabilities.
 Organized, highly motivated, and detail-directed problem solver.
 Proven ability to work in unison with management, technicians, and vendors.
 Strong Technical / Mechanical Troubleshooting skills, particularly skilled at strategic planning and problem
resolutions with proven ability to build and lead a highly effective team, to train and lead by example.
Education  Graduated from Midway Christian school Fishersville ,VA (1991)
 Charlottesville Vocational Technical center (1992-1993) HVAC EPA-608 CF Certification
 Valley Vocational Technical Center - Technical Degree in Industrial Maintenance Technologies- Virginia
State Journeyman Certification. (1994-1998)
 Evergreen packaging Inc. EH-3 training -Cedar Rapids ,Iowa ( Gable Top Filling equipment) (2006)
 Video-Jet Inc. (2007) High speed printing systems.
 Trained at Stork Dairy Systems in Amsterdam for one month on liquid beverage filling equipment. (2009)
 Attended Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT) on new equipment in Amsterdam before being installed. (2009)
 Attended AMA Class “7 habits of highly effective people” in Dallas, Texas. (2010)
 Trained one week in Stuttgart Germany for the Bosch filling equipment (2010)
 Attended “Root Cause Analysis” training by Georgia Institute of Technology (2012)
 Attended “World Class Maintenance” training by Marshall Institute. (2013)
 Attended “Generations in the workplace, Leveraging age diversity” Whitewave Foods Corporate Training
(2014)
 Attended “Delegating for shared success” Whitewave Foods Corporate Training (2014)
 Attended “ The Hallmarks of supervisory success” Whitewave Foods Corporate Training (2014)
 Attended “ Speaking to Influence others” and “ Listening in a Hectic World” (2014)

2. Relevant Experience &Accomplishments
 Worked with management to established new preventive maintenance plan for the Sidel Rotary filler.
 Assisted purchasing personnel with the setup, identification, and purchase of parts for new equipment.
 Lead and direct six maintenance mechanics during daily task for nine months. (Wayn-Tex Inc.)
 Wrote and trained technicians and operations personnel on new SOP’s (standard operating procedure) for the Sidel area.
 Worked with local venders to supply parts and service of equal or higher quality at a lower cost.
 Worked through the maintenance field and was promoted to Maintenance Supervisor in March of 2010.
 Assisted in Startup /Technical breakdowns / Hiring / Training of maintenance personnel at the new Dallas TX facility.
 Assisted with the installation and startup of Hero/ Whitewave joint venture introducing the Fruit 2 Day product to the US
market. (2009)
 Assisted in the Planning / Executing filler downtime Task and followup with Management Team.
 Organizes and manages a Maintenance staff to support 24/7 operation.
 Oversee and maintain “Center lining” process of all equipment in the Sidel / Bosch areas.
Current Responsibilities
• Recruit, develop and retain technical expertise to maintain production and utility systems.
• Coaches and assists supervisors in executing short range planning as they supervise daily and weekly activities (both planned
and unplanned) of maintenance technicians and contractors, ensuring timely completion and quality of work in a proactive
manner.
• Provides direction and make tactical decisions while executing mid-range planning beyond weekly activities, as it relates to
driving improvement and implementing programs related to maintenance optimization.
• Evaluates technicians to determine opportunities for performance improvement and creates development plans.
• Assists with developing and maintaining engineering and maintenance standards.
• Oversees maintenance schedules and work orders and makes tactical decisions to optimize utilization of resources in
alignment with equipment availability and plant priorities.
• Provides technical guidance and expertise, assisting and coaching Maintenance, Operations and QA associates on an ongoing
basis. Identifies performance gaps and identifies and implements training plans.
• Tracks and evaluates maintenance performance using Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), generating reports through
Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) in alignment with Maintenance Excellence initiatives.
• Ensures alignment of all maintenance associates and full compliance as it relates to the following initiatives: Maintenance
Excellence, Management Operating System (MOS), Safe Quality Foods (SQF), 5S, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP),
Process Safety Management (PSM)
• Ensures departmental/individual compliance with National, State, local building/mechanical/electrical codes; safety codes,
OSHA regulations; fire codes; company's and customer's policies, procedures, and standards.
• Oversees daily operations of projects assigned to the department.
• Manages the development of long range planning in support of the company's, customer's and maintenance department's
goals and objectives.
• Creates and updates the preventive maintenance program for the facility and all equipment, assigns responsibility to
appropriate staff, and keeps daily maintenance checklists on all equipment
• Responsible for developing and monitoring the maintenance repair and capital improvement budgets
• Keeps equipment maintained and functioning to meet all production and quality requirements, to include reducing downtime,
increasing output, and reducing energy costs
Provide emergency response for maintenance related issues for a 24 hour, 7 days a week operation
• Lead and ensure conduct of management operating system, continuous improvement and process excellence activities.
• Work with Continuous Improvement in identifying support needs, operating trends, opportunity areas and results.

3. Equipment
Experience
Textile Equipment:
 Sulzar looms and textile beaming equipment.
 High temperature plastic extruders
 Knoll high speed tie-in machines
Corrugated Packaging Equipment:
 High speed corrugation machines.
 Maxco box erectors packaging equipment
ESL / Aseptic Filling Equipment (Sidel Rotary – Evergreen Gable Top)
 Sidel rotary bottle filler (400 Bpm-600Bpm)
 Promec bottle Washer /Rinser – 108 washer/81 Head Rinser
 Evergreen filling equipment ESL EQ5- EH1 -EH3 -EH3G-EH4 (Gable top carton fillers)
 Stork Linear filling equipment (Aseptic) 240BPM
 Bosch filling equipment – 48 cup / 84 cup Aseptic filling machines
Packaging Equipment
 Arol capping systems – 15 / 20 head high speed capping systems.
 Fuji Sleever systems – Single / Double Head application.
 Dimac case packers – Star wrap 25 / 35
 Alvey palletizing systems 881 / 884 / 891
 Fords Packaging Systems (Aluminum foil capping systems) Double /Triple punch
 Nordson glue systems / Nordson BLUE system
 Belcor Top sealing systems – Glue / Tape
 Stork Blow Mold injection systems
 Douglas Case packers Axiom ARC – 2/3/6pack systems
 Tap Tone leak detection systems – X -ray and fill level
 Robo Pak / Lantech wrapping system
ESL / Aseptic food Processing Equipment
 Tetra-pak processing equipment VTIS ALEX – 105-132 GPM
 Direct /indirect and cascading Pasteurizers/ Stork – Tetra Pak.
High Speed Printing/ Labeling Equipment
 Hitachi printing systems / PH ink jet printer
 Video-jet Printing systems -T100 high speed printers
 Fox jet barcode scanning systems
Drives / Servo
 Power flex VFD drives
 Dan Foss VFD drives

4. Employment
History-
Whitewave Foods- Maintenance Supervisor
Aseptic /ESL , Long shelf Life Dairy Products (Mt Crawford VA)
- Directs and coordinates activities of 13 maintenance associates engaged in repair,
maintenance, and installation of 11 Dairy Filling / 3 Aseptic Processors, tools, and
equipment, and in maintenance of buildings, grounds, and utility systems in a 24/7
liquids/food processing facility. Responsible for productivity, quality of work,
departmental safety, assisting in controlling costs and reducing waste in maintenance, and
other assigned departments.
Performance Highlights:
- 2010-2014 Annual Performance Review was Above Target.
- 80% Work order/PM completion rate
- 78% Maintenance Labor Utilization
- 98% CBT Safety training completion rate for all Technicians.
Hero group/WhitewaveFoods- Electro Mechanical/ Maintenance
Aseptic / ESL, Long Shelf Life Dairy / Juice Products (Mt Crawford VA)
- A joint venture between HERO group and Whitewave Foods- Assisted in the installation,
set up and commissioning of all new production equipment including a High speed Inline
filler and state of the art downstream packaging equipment.
Performance Highlights:
- Assisted in Training/Installing/Starting new equipment.
- Creating and implementing new SOP / PMs for all new equipment.
Whitewave Foods-Electro-Mechanical/Maintenance Technician
Aseptic /ESL , Long shelf Life Dairy Products (Mt Crawford VA)
Responsible for repair and PM of production equipment including high speed rotary fillers,
Gable top ESL and Aseptic inline fillers. Ensures operation of machinery and mechanical
equipment by completing maintenance requirements (both planned and unplanned) on
production, packaging and processing equipment (optimizing uptime and minimizing
downtime) and utility systems (to provide continuous supply of heat, steam, cooling,
electric power, gas, or air required for operations) and; following diagrams, sketches,
operations manuals, manufacturer's instructions and engineering specifications.
Troubleshoots, installs and repairs electrical apparatus, such as transformers, VFD’s,
wiring and electrical and electronic components of machinery and equipment, including
basic PLC control systems.
Provides related technical guidance and expertise; assisting and coaching Maintenance,
Operations and QA associates on an ongoing basis.
Maintains continuity among work teams by documenting and communicating actions,
irregularities, and continuing needs. Closes out work orders in MP2/ MVP/CMMS, while
writing technical summaries and descriptions, detailing work performed, for permanent
record keeping.
Complies with the following initiatives: Maintenance Excellence, Autonomous
Maintenance, Management Operating System (MOS), Safe Quality Foods (SQF), 5S, Good
Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Process Safety Management (PSM)
2010-Present
2009-2010
2003-2009

5. Packaging Corporationof America-Maintenance Technician
World Leader in corrugated packaging. (Harrisonburg VA)
 Provide technical assistance and preventive maintenance to all corrugate production
equipment including boilers and building and grounds equipment.
2001-2002
Wayn-Tex Inc.– Machine Operator / Maintenance Technician
World Leader in Carpet Products (Waynesboro VA)
 Worked as an operator for three months upon entering the maintenance department.
Responsible for repair and PM of production equipment including extruders, beamers,
weaving looms and overhead cranes.
1992-2001
Brown & Root Construction Inc.– Pipe fitter assistant
 Assisted journeyman pipe fitter with fire watch and retrieval of parts and equipment.
References
Darren Chesnut (Maintenance Manager)– 540-282-9262
Jason Life (Maintenance Tech )– 540-820-5213
Scott Irving (Maintenance Supervisor) -540-487-0287
1991-1992

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