Industrial maintenance technicians keep production machinery running — mechanical drives, hydraulics, pneumatics and the controls over them — and are who a plant calls when the line stops. ⚠ 439,600 employed, growing much faster than average, 45,700 openings a year, and a training pipeline in Florida of four or five colleges.
Licensure and accreditation
⚠ No licence governs this work, and the certificate is not the only way in — which makes this path different from the rest of the trades here. The Florida framework is 1,350 hours in three completion points, published also as a 750-hour and a 600-hour half. ⚠⚠ But with so few college places against 45,700 annual openings, much of this trade is trained inside employers: registered apprenticeships, vendor courses and tuition assistance. So the practical question is not only which programme to take, but which local plants train their own — and the 300-hour production certificate is a recognised way to get inside one. ⚠ Ask an employer what they will pay for; in this trade the answer is frequently 'all of it'.
What the work actually is
O*NET: repair, install, adjust or maintain industrial production and processing machinery or refinery and pipeline distribution systems. The tasks are the shift — repair or replace broken or malfunctioning components of machinery or equipment; disassemble machinery or equipment to remove parts and make repairs; examine parts for defects, such as breakage or excessive wear; reassemble equipment after completion of inspections, testing or repairs; record repairs and maintenance performed; operate newly repaired machinery to verify the adequacy of repairs.
⚠ Two of those matter more than they look. Recording the repair is how a plant learns what keeps failing, and maintenance planning is built on it. And verifying the repair by running the machine is the moment the job is actually judged — in front of people waiting to restart production.
Projected need
O*NET, on federal projections: 439,600 industrial machinery mechanics employed (2024), growth “much faster than average (7% or higher)”, 45,700 openings a year, and median wages $64,520 (2025) — $31.02 an hour.
⚠ That combination is rare on this site: a large occupation, growing quickly, paying above the trades median, and asking for a certificate rather than a degree — 47% of O*NET's respondents said a post-secondary certificate is required and 39% a high school diploma. It is the clearest case here of demand outrunning training.
⚠⚠ A trade taught mostly inside employers
The Florida framework exists and is well shaped — 1,350 hours, three completion points, published also as a 750-hour and a 600-hour half. ⚠ But the state course numbers are carried by only four or five institutions, and seven award a credential across the whole heavy-equipment maintenance series. For an occupation with 45,700 annual openings, that is a very small pipeline.
⚠ The gap is filled by employers. Manufacturers, utilities, food plants and hospitals train maintenance technicians in house, through registered apprenticeships and vendor courses, and they frequently pay for the college portion. So the route into this trade is often the reverse of the others on this site: get into a plant — as an operator, a helper, or through the 300-hour production certificate — and let the employer fund the maintenance training.
⚠ Ask any employer you join what they will pay for, and ask any programme which local plants hire its graduates. In this trade that question has real answers.
Necessary skills
Mechanical fundamentals — bearings, seals, belts, chains, gearboxes, alignment and lubrication. Most failures are one of those, and most of them are preventable.
Hydraulics and pneumatics. Reading a circuit diagram and finding the component that is not doing its job.
Electrical and controls literacy. ⚠ You do not have to be an electrician, but you must be able to tell an electrical fault from a mechanical one — and increasingly to read ladder logic.
Welding and fabrication enough to improvise a bracket, a guard or a repair at short notice.
Diagnosis under pressure. ⚠ The line is down and people are watching. Method beats speed, and knowing that is most of the temperament this trade needs.
Advice
⚠ Consider getting inside a plant first. With so few college places, the fastest route in is frequently a production or helper job at a manufacturer that trains its own — and the 300-hour Certified Production Technology certificate is built for exactly that.
Learn the electrical side deliberately. The technicians who command the highest pay are the ones comfortable across mechanical, electrical and controls — which is the manufacturing and mechatronics path on this site.
Take the maintenance records seriously. Reliability and maintenance planning are the career above the tools, and they are built on the logs you write as a technician.
Florida's demand is broad — food and beverage, building products, aerospace suppliers, marine, utilities, hospitals and theme parks. ⚠ Theme-park and attraction maintenance is a genuine Florida speciality with its own standards and its own hiring pipeline.
Shift work is normal. Plants run nights and weekends, and maintenance runs when production does not. It pays for it, but know it before you choose.
Programs that lead here
A program is a field of study, one level above a degree — each page says which degrees it
covers and which Florida institutions award them. ⚠ The count is institutions that
awarded a credential in the field in 2023;
it is not a promise that a school runs this exact degree, and it counts something different
from the course-based list further down.
Careers filed under the same broad field in the federal classification
(MECHANIC AND REPAIR TECHNOLOGIES/TECHNICIANS) — often they share early coursework, and each row says which group it is filed in.
⚠ Worth reading BEFORE you commit: switching between neighbours is cheap early and
expensive late.
Selected, not exhaustive — the courses specific to this path plus the foundations it is built on.
A course number does not identify a course in Florida: always check your own
institution's catalog and take a syllabus to an adviser.
OCP A — Industrial Machinery Maintenance Assistant, 450 hours: safety, hand and power tools, fasteners, lubrication and the basics of a plant. ⚠ A hireable exit, and the usual first rung.
⚠ ⚠ Carried by four or five Florida institutions under the state course number — a very small pipeline for an occupation with 45,700 openings a year. ⚠⚠ Much of this training happens inside employers instead, through apprenticeships and vendor courses they pay for.
OCP B — Machinery Maintenance Mechanic, 300 hours: bearings, drives, couplings, alignment, hydraulics and pneumatics. The mechanical core of the trade.
⚠ ⚠ Carried by four or five Florida institutions under the state course number — a very small pipeline for an occupation with 45,700 openings a year. ⚠⚠ Much of this training happens inside employers instead, through apprenticeships and vendor courses they pay for.
OCP B — Machinery Maintenance Technician, 150 hours: diagnosis and the transition from replacing parts to finding causes.
⚠ ⚠ Carried by four or five Florida institutions under the state course number — a very small pipeline for an occupation with 45,700 openings a year. ⚠⚠ Much of this training happens inside employers instead, through apprenticeships and vendor courses they pay for.
OCP C — Industrial Maintenance Specialist, 450 hours. ⚠ The top of the framework, and where controls, troubleshooting and planned maintenance come together.
⚠ ⚠ Carried by four or five Florida institutions under the state course number — a very small pipeline for an occupation with 45,700 openings a year. ⚠⚠ Much of this training happens inside employers instead, through apprenticeships and vendor courses they pay for.
Certified Production Technician — 300 hours, and ⚠ named here deliberately: with so few maintenance places, the practical route in is often a production job at a plant that trains and promotes from inside. This is the certificate built for that.
⚠ ⚠ Two carriers under this number, though the MSSC certification behind it is taught more widely under local titles. It belongs to the manufacturing path on this site — listed here because it is a realistic way INTO maintenance rather than a maintenance course.
Mechatronic Technician — 400 hours combining mechanical, electrical and control systems. ⚠ The single most useful addition to a maintenance technician's skills, and where the pay difference shows.
⚠ ⚠ Three carriers. Where it is not offered, the automation and electronics courses on the manufacturing path cover similar ground.
Where you can take these courses in Florida
8 Florida public institutions teach courses on this path. The count is
how many of the 6 listed courses each one carries — it shows where
the path is best covered. It is not a statement that a school offers this as a
degree; for that, check the institution’s own programme list.
MTI
Manatee Technical College
5 of 6
NFC
North Florida College
5 of 6
HBTC
Brewster Technical College
4 of 6
WTI
Withlacoochee Technical College
4 of 6
BBTC
Big Bend Technical College
3 of 6
FMTC
Fort Myers Technical College
1 of 6
IRSC
Indian River State College
1 of 6
SFC
Santa FE College
1 of 6
Sources
Requirements change. These are the authorities that decide them — check them directly before
committing to a route.
O*NET — Industrial Machinery Mechanics (49-9041.00) — Task statements, 439,600 employed (2024), growth “much faster than average (7% or higher)”, ⚠ 45,700 annual openings, median wages $64,520 (2025), and 47% reporting a post-secondary certificate is required.
Florida Department of Education — Apprenticeship — ⚠ The employer route, which matters more in this trade than in any other on this site. ⚠ fldoe.org has refused this project's tooling since 2026-09-02, so the link is for the reader.
IPEDS — Completions (C2023_A) — ⚠ Seven Florida public institutions award in CIP 47.03 — a very small recorded pipeline for an occupation of this size, which is the finding this page leads with.