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Plant Engineering Supervisor*

3M · Menomonie, WI · $95,591–$116,834 a year · Full time

Posted Aug 14, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

About your past

Tell me about an incident investigation you led. How did you get from what happened to the real cause, and how did you present it to site leadership?

What they are checking: Whether they dig past the first easy answer and can explain findings plainly to people above them.

Tell me about a time you had to give hard feedback to a skilled technician who had been doing the job longer than you.

What they are checking: Whether they can coach experienced trades people with respect and still hold a clear standard.

This role is open to people coming from military or public sector work. How does what you led before carry over to a manufacturing maintenance team?

What they are checking: Whether they can translate past leadership into plant terms rather than assuming it transfers on its own.

Tell me about a time you recognized a safety problem nobody had reported and fixed it.

What they are checking: Whether they look for hazards actively rather than waiting for reports or injuries to surface them.

What would you do

How do you model safe behavior as a supervisor when the line is down and everyone wants it back up fast?

What they are checking: Whether safety holds for them under production pressure, since that is when shortcuts happen.

Walk me through how you balance preventive maintenance against breakdown work when your crew is short-handed.

What they are checking: Whether they protect planned work instead of letting firefighting eat the whole schedule.

A mechanic skips a lockout step to save ten minutes and nothing bad happens. You find out the next day. What do you do?

What they are checking: Whether they act on near misses consistently, not only after someone gets hurt.

How do you keep production supervisors and your maintenance team from blaming each other when equipment goes down?

What they are checking: Whether they can build trust between departments that naturally pull against each other.

About the work

You'll own WIMs reports and incident follow-up. What makes a corrective action actually stick on the floor instead of living in a binder?

What they are checking: Whether they know the difference between paperwork closure and a change that prevents the next injury.

How do you use Overall Equipment Effectiveness to decide where your maintenance crew spends its time?

What they are checking: Whether they can turn availability, performance and quality losses into real maintenance priorities.

What technical direction would you give a crew on a recurring failure of the same machine every few weeks?

What they are checking: Whether they push toward root cause and reliability work instead of repeating the same repair.

Practice this interview out loud.

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The full job description

As published by 3M.

Job Description: Plant Engineering Maintenance Supervisor Collaborate with Innovative 3Mers Around the World Choosing where to start and grow your career has a major impact on your professional and personal life, so it’s equally important you know that the company that you choose to work at, and its leaders, will support and guide you. With a wide variety of people, global locations, technologies and products, 3M is a place where you can collaborate with other curious, creative 3Mers. This position provides an opportunity to transition from other private, public, government or military experience to a 3M career. The Impact You’ll Make in this Role As a Plant Engineering Maintenance Supervisor, you will have the opportunity to tap into your curiosity and collaborate with some of the most innovative people around the world. Here, you will make an impact by: • Promoting a safe and sustainable working environment through modeling safe behaviors as well as recognizing and resolving safety related problems. Actively lead incident investigations and WIMs reports, including presenting incident resolutions to site leadership. • Provide supervision and technical direction to Plant Engineering personnel for performance of maintenance tasks on machines, systems, and facilities to maximize Overall Equipment Effectiveness. Providing coaching and feedback to employees and utilizing corrective action to resolve conflict and inappropriate behaviors. May include oversite of Plant Engineering support functions such as custodial, buildings and grounds, stockroom, etc. May include responsibility for procuring specialty maintenance parts. • Schedule, assign, and direct personnel in performance of tasks for maintenance of equipment and facilities. Provide technical direction to personnel and assist in diagnosing equipment problems as required. Monitor progress and evaluate completed assignments to confirm use of correct procedures and to evaluate quality of work. • Leading, coaching and developing employees through direct supervision, floor presence, and providing recognition. Additionally, overseeing training completion, CMMS utilization, policy administration, regulatory compliance, and participating in hiring processes including internships, student helpers, and contract workers. • Leading Plant Engineering strategic priorities. Representing plant leadership team through supporting initiatives across the plant, including but not limited to supervision coverage for alternative shifts, being on-call and supporting 24/7 operations through flexible work schedules when required. Your Skills and Expertise To set you up for success in this role from day one, 3M requires (at a minimum) the following qualifications: • Associate Degree or higher in a related technical field (completed and verified prior to the start) and a minimum of five (5) years of manufacturing experience in a private, public, government or military environment OR • Bachelor’s Degree or higher (completed and verified prior to the start) and minimum of three (3) year manufacturing experience in a private, public, government or military environment Additional qualifications that could help you succeed even further in this role include: • One (1) year previous leadership, supervisory and/or management experience in a private, public, government or military environment. • Experience with participating in daily tier management process and participating in improvement projects (Kaizens) • Obtained CRL, CMM, CMRP, CMRT, CRE or CAMA certifications. • Understanding of Environmental and Regulatory Compliance, NFPA, and OSHA & MSHA Standards (MSHA required for mining sites) Work location: • Menomonie, WI Travel: May include up to 10% domestic Relocation Assistance: May be authorized Must be legally authorized to work in country of employment without sponsorship for employment visa status (e.g., H1B status). Responsibilities of this position may include direct and/or indirect physical or logical access to information, systems, technologies subjected to the regulations/compliance with U.S. Export Control Laws. U.S. Export Control laws and U.S. Government Department of Defense contracts and sub-contracts impose certain restrictions on companies and their ability to share export-controlled and other technology and services with certain "non-U.S. persons" (persons who are not U.S. citizens or nationals, lawful permanent residents of the U.S., refugees, "Temporary Residents" (granted Amnesty or Special Agricultural Worker provisions), or persons granted asylum. To comply with these laws, 3M must help assess candidates' U.S. person status. The questions asked in this application are intended to assess this and will be used for evaluation purposes only. Failure to provide the necessary information in this regard will result in our inability to consider you further for this particular position. Supporting Your Well-being 3M offers many programs to help you live your best life – both physically and financially. To ensure competitive pay and benefits, 3M regularly benchmarks with other companies that are comparable in size and scope. Chat with Max For assistance with searching through our current job openings or for more information about all things 3M, visit Max, our virtual recruiting assistant on 3M.com/careers. Applicable to US Applicants Only:The expected compensation range for this position is $95,591 - $116,834, which includes base pay plus variable incentive pay, if eligible. This range represents a good faith estimate for this position. The specific compensation offered to a candidate may vary based on factors including, but not limited to, the candidate’s relevant knowledge, training, skills, work location, and/or experience. In addition, this position may be eligible for a range of benefits (e.g., Medical, Dental & Vision, Health Savings Accounts, Health Care & Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts, Disability Benefits, Life Insurance, Voluntary Benefits, Paid Absences and Retirement Benefits, etc.). Additional information is available at: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/. Good Faith Posting Date Range 08/14/2026 To 09/13/2026 Or until filled All US-based 3M full time employees will need to sign an employee agreement as a condition of employment with 3M. This agreement lays out key terms on using 3M Confidential Information and Trade Secrets. It also has provisions discussing conflicts of interest and how inventions are assigned. Employees that are Job Grade 7 or equivalent and above may also have obligations to not compete against 3M or solicit its employees or customers, both during their employment, and for a period after they leave 3M. Learn more about 3M’s creative solutions to the world’s problems at www.3M.com or on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn @3M. Responsibilities of this position include that corporate policies, procedures and security standards are complied with while performing assigned duties. Safety is a core value at 3M. All employees are expected to contribute to a strong Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) culture by following safety policies, identifying hazards, and engaging in continuous improvement. Pay & Benefits Overview: https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/careers-us/working-at-3m/benefits/ 3M does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. Please note: your application may not be considered if you do not provide your education and work history, either by: 1) uploading a resume, or 2) entering the information into the application fields directly. 3M Global Terms of Use and Privacy Statement Carefully read these Terms of Use before using this website. Your access to and use of this website and application for a job at 3M are conditioned on your acceptance and compliance with these terms. Please click on the following links and select the country where you are applying for employment to review the applicable Terms of Use (link here) and Privacy Policy (link here) . Before submitting your application, you will be asked to confirm your agreement with the terms.

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