cnc machinist

application developer

welder

machine operator

cnc operator

API Heat Transfer

This company is so desperately trying to go lean that they are missing major production issues that could easily be fixed. Corporate management pushes lean and gemba and kaizens and value stream mapping and metrics and reporting boards at the expense of all else, including their customers. Each department manager spends an hour a day prepping for “gemba”, which is an hour- long group walk with over 20 people EVERY SINGLE DAY. Includes union reps pulled out of production. Do the math. Over $500K in direct labor costs every year wasted walking from whiteboard to whiteboard repeating the same info over and over. And if their board is not current they get called out on it in front of the group. Two specific upper management personnel lead by browbeating and intimidation. No compliments or mentoring, only criticism and humiliation.  

Maybe if all that $ was put towards employee training and advancement and continued education for management there wouldn’t be as much turnover as there is. And whiteboards????  Is this the 1980’s???  A single digital gemba board showing the status of major jobs would be more efficient and also impressive to employees and customers. Still be communicative but cut gemba down to 20 minutes and actually be modern and up-to-date.  API is an old-fashioned, primitive company and you could do much better elsewhere. 

API was a very different place when I first started years ago.  They were much smaller scale, and rules were more lax.  I was able to set my own hours around my kids' school schedule.  They were also very open to me performing a variety of different jobs over the years.  While there, they allowed me to apply for an internal opening that I did not have a college degree for, but able to learn on the job. I also had wonderful trainers.  I performed that job for over 20 years, and was still able to be a back up for other departments. Hardest part of the job were the deadlines. Management (in the earlier years especially) was always lenient when it came to family issues, illnesses, etc. and most everyone was a pleasure to work with.  Allowing us to work from home during Covid was a plus.  Unfortunately, in order to financially survive the pandemic and keep work flowing, a lot of job cuts had to take place, including mine.  It was a shock after 26 years, and even moreso that my job went overseas.  I miss my co-workers but I am thankful for the opportunities they gave me.

When I started with the company 11 years ago it was a great company to work for, they cared about their employee's and took care of them.  

Then they were purchased by API and everything started to slide. First the incentive sharing became harder to attain, then the raises stopped (I haven't had one in over 7 years) now the 401K is being messed with.

We have recently been purchased by another financial institution and haven't seen any real changes yet.  

There are promises of raises in the works (heard that song before).  Good employee's are quitting or being released from their jobs.  The morale at the company is horrible and frankly I'm quite surprised that more of the long time employees haven't left already.

Currently the organization is very TOP heavy in VP's, I expect with the new owners this may be their first area of attack to bring the business under control.

If you would have asked me 3 years ago if there were places to advance to in the company  I would have said "Yes", now I feel that there is no where to advance to and it just keeps getting worse.

My first impressions of API were very ho hum. The offices had dirty worn-out floors with dust all around. The shop has an antiquated wing that is just pitiful. There is a newer built add on that is a complete opposite of the old, well light and somewhat clean. What a contrast. The entire place needs a coat of paint.The employees (union) are very nice, friendly and helpful. They were more than patient when they were spending time with you. It seem like my trainer was always putting out other peoples fires. This made training very difficult, because of constant distractions. There are newer machine tools arriving soon, which is encouraging. Work is not that difficult if you can navigate the complete unorganization and lack of any standardization. Job classifications are inaccurate and need to be updated. Pay is below average for what is expected of you. Vacation for new employees is poor. O.T. is plentiful.The place has a very nice pension plan that my interviewer omitted during my interview, that i think is the only reason to work there. Management seemed to want a fight with the union. Is was a good transition job.

The company is being divided into business units and sold off individually. The current management was brought in to push profits up to increase the market value for the best sale price. Noncritical high $ positions were let go, employee programs were cut back, the union bonus plan was eliminated, and the company is now running bare bones just trying to push as much product out the door as possible to show sales growth. They are pulling in orders from future months and shipping them early to artificially show an industry spike.  The 2022 raises were delayed and are now scheduled to be given in july, but they were cut across-the-board by 50% and are now well below the inflation rate. The only pay that wasnt cut was the executive bonus program. Vendor payments have been decreased and other accounts have been put on payment plans to maximize the cash shown on the books for prospective buyers. Spending has been cut back, and improvement programs put on hold. 

Promised atmosphere and luring 6 to 7 days work week with a supposed busy booming company .one line had no orders sweeping while enough to work 40 though.       
   And if you like to be micro managed by a top heavy company where bosses walk around w clip boards and constantly take little notes .. having hr siding w management  as a team  when a bosses  mis conduct and  terrible people treatment is ok .unprofessional puts It lightly ..and safety while using overhead cranes w heavy equipment comes second to training . Then it might be for you .. I’d say run ..  cause they will side wrongly if you defend yourself against people treatment and not in union to help or protect you ..they will let you go rather than fix the issue.  My gods truth honest advice … amen 

Terrible company; full of liars and cheaters. Management is lazy, incompetent and will sabotage employees work to make themselves look better while expecting their employees to work seven days a week. They are a culture that promotes chauvinism and favoritism. The facility is filthy and in disrepair; even lighting in the offices does not work. Computer systems are obsolete. They provide almost no training or support to new employees and degrade them if they cannot perform to expectations. Treats union members like dirt. Do not even bother applying here. Very high employee turnover. Terrible benefits. Barely a 401k match.

A lot of talent has left this shop in recent years. There’s not too many people here willing to show you the ropes, and that want to see you do good. A lot of people here would rather see you fail and allow you to do something wrong so they can look like a hero. Management is awful, the work is repetitive, most employees are miserable people whose only purpose for still being there is the pension they cling onto. It’s not a great environment. If you walk in there with any actual knowledge you’ll be talked down to unless you do things the way they’ve always been done, which despite being done for so long, doesn’t mean it’s the best way. 

The company overall underpays its employees. With what little they do pay us they have now reduced hours for hourly people and cut salary peoples pay by 25% for the last several months. Except for directors and VPs their pay was secretly only cut by 10% and they think no one knows that. The rumor is that there was a big secret meeting telling them not to say anything. The people making the most money got the smallest pay cut and upper management is oblivious to everything. They dont know what we do and the atmosphere is horrible. this company is a joke

Major turnover.  Over 90 years of experience has quit over the last 2 months. In the last 3 years inflation has gone up over 10%, but there has only been a single raise of less than 3%. There have been no bonuses, and no employee awards or recognitions. The longer you stay the less you make. Turnover is high and morale is low.  They pride themselves on being “lean” but don’t realize how miserable and overworked everyone is. Good luck finding anyone outside the union who has worked here longer than two years. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cnc machinist 1 salary reported	$30.64 per hour
Application developer 6 salaries reported	$75,417 per year
Welder 1 salary reported	$22.00 per hour
Machine operator 2 salaries reported	$30.63 per hour
Cnc operator 1 salary reported	$19.00 per hour

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