software engineer

receiving supervisor

machine operator

A.Y. McDonald Mfg. Co.

All in all a good place to work, could/can be great depending on who and what position.  As with any company there are things that could be improved on, but I enjoy my work and look forward to coming in and contributing on the majority of days!  My immediate coworkers are great and are always willing to invest time in teaching you new concepts to help you advance. 
Working for a "small" company has it's benefits, with A.Y. you are only a call or a short walk away from the CEO, who will welcome your comments and questions.  My managers have always been open to questions and concerns.  The company will give you ample chances and the resources to improve and retain your position should problems arise.  It shouldn't be a surprise if you are asked to leave or are terminated.
A few critiques: communications is terrible in some areas, lots of time wasted when a simple email or note would be enough to prevent issues.  Discipline/critiques can be very subjective, two people, same mistake, two different approaches and outcomes.  Recognition was a problem per a recent engagement survey, it's improved since but can be sporadic and vary from manager to manager and who you are, it feels forced, non genuine.  More harm then good in that case.  We don't need to be best buds, but we need to be professional, we are all here with the same goal.  Final critiques, same idea presented by different employees, one gets a no, the next gets a go with bells, Discouraging next time an idea comes up.  With safety issues, ideas have been floated as general improvements/updates and turned down, next it becomes a "safety" issue and overnight money gets allocated and the change made.  No credit given to the person who wanted to make the improvement before it became a safety issue.  In general things could be done on a more proactive basis, vs. reactive, saving a lot of wasted efforts and resources.

I would recommend A.Y. to a potential job seeker, but won't sugar coat it.  I look forward to being part of the improvements as I continue my work with the company, heading in the right direction!

At AY McDonald there is a feeling of family that they forcefully push on you to an almost excessive degree. Whether or not you're into that depends on the person, but I know a lot of my co-workers were awesome people whom I loved to deal with on a daily basis. It could get a bit like a high school at times with drama and things at times, but what can you do it seems to be sort of common in most places. Now the bad.

Upper management is always pushing numbers down your throat. At the weekly meeting every time it was always about numbers never being good enough and they want more out of you. They are not appreciative of the numbers even when you show improvement as a whole, they just always want more. So much so that supervisors seemed very stressed about it, even getting a little upset if you were to chat for a couple minutes or so. Not only this, but some of the rates are just unachievable and they never will change the rates to benefit you, only if the rates are too easy to achieve will they change it. I understand you need a set rate, but why not have a set number of parts a day you have to get through like several other factories do.

This isn't a big issue on paper, but AY has a set number of work hours they want per week, so they make you work A LOT of Saturdays. Sure some are into this, but I hated it. I'd rather live more of my life than spend it in a factory. 

The work is very tedious at times, you can get really stiffed on jobs factory side. Very boring jobs with a lot of downtime are common but there are also overly laborious jobs so be mindful of this. Time goes very slow. Not to mention you will either have to work 2nd or 3rd shift, both of which are awful with the amount of Saturdays you work. I do not recommend AY, it is a dead end job that will drive you crazy.

TL;DR: AY is a place that has boring work with many Saturdays needing to be worked with upper management always angry with the workers on the floor.

What is the best part of working at the company?
The pay and benefits were the only redeeming quality. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The management, the coworkers, and literally anyone whose last name is McDonald. Family company? They're only in it for profit. They fire people for no good reason, but keep the filth that makes the place bad to work for. How this company still is in business is beyond me. They do not reward good work ethic. You can learn every position there, but they promote based on contrived and favortivistic means. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Absolute garbage. The hours are atrocious, they force overtime on the workers even when there is nothing to do, and will fire people who have good track records and promote those who work the system. If you're injured on the job, they try to weasel put of paying for anything. I watched a guy's hand get permanently disfigured in an accident and the company not only claimed it was his fault, but also had him back to work the following weak with ridiculous amounts of broken bones. This is toxic capitalism at it's finest. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I learned every position, so I literally spent all day putting out fires because they won't cross train everyone. I got no real benefit from learning everything I could. All I wanted was a promotion to day shift, but they wouldn't grant me one. I was the best qualified candidate at the time. I was taken from a favorable position because they hired someone who would "be great" in that role, but they knew nothing about CNC machines.

Let's face it. In today's economy, people just want to go to work, do their job, and go home, with as little stress in between as possible. That simply will not happen with this company. Ever. I've worked fast food, I've worked convenience stores, etc. All the bad jobs you can imagine. I'd rather go back to work for burger king than this place. For starters, they have no idea what talent or skill is. I have almost 4 years experience as a machinist. Not an operator, a machinist. I also have 5 years experience on material handling equipment most people in the place have ever see, much less used. The job they gave me was painting and assembling parts? Seriously? I sling iron all day. All 130 lbs of me. Slinging Iron. Even if I did land a Machine operator job or a job in shipping or something, it would still feel bad because the people with those skills get paid the exact same as an assembler does. They even switch duties with the asemblers in some situations. The benefits/insurance stuff is average at best. The vacation/attendance policies are some of the worst I've ever seen. Management lacks knowledge of the day to day activities of the plant. Some hourly associates, namely the techs, try to act like management, in some cases even try to act like they have MORE authority than management. All in all, this is the worst job I've ever had. Would not put my worst enemy through this experience. If there ever was a company that needed a labor union, this is it.

So I’ve been working at AY for about a little over five years, it is the highest paying job I ever had. However just like life nothing is given to you. I work hard, and bust my you know what, I give 110% effort every day. I take pride in my job and the work I do. Within my five years this is the fourth job Ive had. I am a millwright (maintenance) but I started out as a machinist. I applied myself, studied hard and got into the position I am in today. So There is room for growth, only if you want to apply yourself. AY is one of the only few places left that still offer a pension so between that and the pay and the benefits it is a great place to work, not to forget about how upper management goes out of their way to know your name. There are quarterly lunches, A fall picnic, Holiday party, etc. That upper management doesn’t have to do, but is happy to do. I spend a lot of time at AY, so does everyone else, cause there is a lot of work to be done to keep the customer happy, which means there is a lot of job security, so after these years I can definitely see how we are more than a brand we are a family. I enjoy my job and my fellow coworkers, in my opinion it is the best place I’ve ever worked. On a sidenote if you have Attendance issues or are late for everything, don’t waste yours or my company’s time. You won’t last, but if you want something more than a job, something you can call career, well hey guess I’ll see you in the shop! good luck

I enjoy working at AY McDonald. I enjoy the work that I do and the people that I work with. Everyone is always willing to help and instruct you on what you need to learn. There are 2 very important downfalls about working here though. First, employees are not treated equally. One employee may get written up for something while another employee does not get written up for the same action. The most important downfall about this company is vacations. I would be willing to bet that AY McDonald is the only company in the tri-state that gives their employee a vacation, but designates when that vacation will be. The one week vacation that a new employee gets has to be used the last week of July (the company shutdown) every year. AN employee does not get a vacation that they have control over until the third year of employment. It's ridiculous. Shutdown is shutdown and should be treated as such. Not treated as our vacation. Most other companies will allow employees to draw unemployment for a shutdown. So an employees ability to take a vacation with there family is almost impossible at this company until you have 9 years in! Also, this company doesn't realize that their employees are actually people , not machines, we make mistakes. Making mistakes isn't always bad. It's how we learn.

Worked as a foundry laborer, quite easily the worst and unhealthiest job environment I’ve ever worked in, foundry yet the only form of ventilation is a couple small busted fans, co workers discussed to me how they commonly fainted from the heat like it was normal and told me not to talk about it too much because “the company wouldn’t appreciate it”, almost passed out myself multiple times and since it’s a factory job you obviously can’t just walk away, it is also a very dirty and obviously hot environment of which you’re not provided any work clothes so expect to ruin your clothing, after every day I’d blow my nose and it was just straight black sand on the napkin (prob not healthy). In the end I wanted to make it work only to get falsely accused of taking pictures of the grown old adults during my break time in the break room, like what? Got threatened to face “consequences if it kept occurring” though it was straight hearsay by those weird schizophrenics. just didn’t even bother to show up next day, you can most definitely do much better, weird people and horrible work environment for the pay. almost makes me wanna call osha to see if that environment is allowed

It's a "family company" but they will throw you out. I understand attendance is important but sometimes life happens. Supervisors nice people but not very knowledgeable and ultimately push unobtainable quotas. If your machine is down, even if it's out of control your production is hurt. Previous shift messed up, your production is hurt. The work aspect is typically easy however it can be boring/repeative but it's a factory. Short but paid breaks. Raises good but determined by quota. I've seen favoritism and some racism during my time there. Manager turnover is from what I've seen is high. Safety wise it's okay for a factory. Owner and uppermanagement do visit often, they do talk to you/involve you which is nice but doesn't really change day to day operation or the issues along with it. If you want to work here try to get hired early into the year so you have more pto. I started towards the end of the year and had very little.  

What is the best part of working at the company?
Coworkers are fantastic, but upper management and HR are awful. I have been in this line of work for over 15 years, and I have never worked for a company that treats its employees like they're disposable. Also, ever since this company implemented DEI, it has become very political(extremely liberal) and they have stopped promoting within. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Upper management(those above supervision) and Human Resources are constantly pushing an agenda on its employees. HR isn't what HR is supposed to be, so be warned. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Coworkers are great people in most departments! The culture went down hill quick after implementing DEI and forcing it onto everyone.

The work place culture at A.Y. McDonald  is second to none.  When they talk about "family" they mean it.  I have both witnessed and been on the receiving end of what it is like to be part of the "family".  It means so much to know you have the full support of everyone that works here.  The management team is easy to work for. They let you do your job and if you have questions all you have to do is ask.  I get to travel the country telling the story of A.Y. McDonald.  It is such an easy sell.  In a world where customer service is virtually non existent, customer service is priority one at A.Y. McDonald. Our customers like to hear that. 
The best part of my job is being able to go out and meet our customers on their turf.  I enjoy building relationships with them and gaining their confidence.  
This is a great place to work and I look forward to you joining our team!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Software engineer 2 salaries reported	$80,881 per year
Receiving supervisor 1 salary reported	$67,500 per year
Machine operator 1 salary reported	$34,000 per year

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