Mathew Edwards: Building Maintenance Teams That Keep Manufacturing Moving

How do you keep a big manufacturing plant running with less unplanned downtime? Martin Engster sits down with Mathew Edwards, Plant Facilities Manager and Maintenance Manager for First Solar in Gaffney, South Carolina. Mathew talks about maintaining a highly automated solar manufacturing plant that is working toward producing 21,000 solar panels a day. He shares how his team uses preventive and predictive maintenance, equipment data, planned maintenance, and smart scheduling to keep machines running. They also talk about something just as important: people. Mathew shares how he builds his maintenance team, supports his employees, develops skilled workers, and makes sure top performers are not asked to carry the entire load. If you work in maintenance, manufacturing, reliability, automation, or the skilled trades, this conversation offers practical ideas you can take back to your team.