equipment mechanic

heavy equipment mechanic

mechanic

welder

engineer

Altec Industries

To start off it’s not a bad company to work for the pay for the work is good it’s personal opinion but it could go up a little bit, great benefits, they would give out some goodies for safety goals reached,lunches etc. they promote from within after a year of employment you can put in for a new spot within the company, they encourage you to do so, they offer tuition reimbursement if you choose to go to college to advance your career as long as it is within reason of what’s entailed as part of the company 

Now for the cons as I saw it
Altec is a no fault company and on a points system meaning
If you were to say get into an accident on the way to work and you were late, it’s a half of a point
If you were to say get into an accident and were injured and did not notify anyone and you were unconscious or so on it is a full point,you would be considered a no call no show and you would receive a point, even if you somehow managed to call it is still a point
They do give new hires 3 days (2 scheduled) (1 unscheduled) however if your like me and have a family, we all know things happen, you get sick, the wife gets ill and needs help,kid gets sick and you need to take care of he/she, even if you call in and by the way scheduled time off always gets approved it is still a full point, new hires are only allowed a certain number of points when on probation, if you get written up for a safety violation (which they are super strict and big on) you will not get hired on as a permanent employee, which they only hire outside through hiring agencies, therefore you are on probation until you meet your allotted working hours,even after that you are still on another 6 months probation which you cannot go over your points or get written up

I felt a sense of favoritism during my time there, it’s a mandatory 10 hour shift unless told otherwise, but yet a select few got to leave before their 10 hours but others had to stay, there was a lot of it’s a team effort yet you would have to help others and never received help back from those you helped.

All in all it is not a bad place to work and I understand the points system and the strictness on it, it helps weed out the ones who don’t fully commit to them but on the other hand not everyone can commit fully where all you breathe, sleep and eat is altec, it doesn’t make you a bad employee, life is life and things happen,un scheduled circumstances and so on, I don’t agree with the no fault policy because if you get a flat tires, your car overheats, you get sick your not at fault for that it’s part of life.Supervisors were great, my shift lead was awesome, the pay was decent and it can go up in increments up to a max.

The workload was overwhelming at times, they have a certain amount of trucks they want to meet and they are always trying to go above and beyond that number I mean they’ve been in business for decades so they are doing something right, some Saturdays came about and it was mandatory you be there, and you don’t find out until last minute so again if you have plans either cancel them or receive a point.

All in all I would say it’s a 6.5 / 10 place hope that all helps and explains what to look forward too





2 Stars for Work/Life Balance due to excessive working hours. 10-12 hr shifts is normal. Mandatory Saturdays are becoming a normal occurrence also. There are a few people in my department who work 70+ hrs/wk to keep orders on schedule. No amount of OT pay is worth risking anyone's physical and mental health. Period.

3 Stars for Compensation/Benefits. Pay is not near enough for what Applications Engineers do at ALTEC. Work loads are not fairly dispersed, which creates inconsistent quality. Not nearly so many benefits options are available now compared to when I started there five years ago. Three, sometimes four Benefits Options are now two. If you don't choose by a certain time, ALTEC HR will choose for you. Mandatory 6% of paycheck is set aside for 401k. Not sure if this is legal or not. Just saying.

3 Stars for Job Security/Advancement. If you don't cross paths with the upper management, it is actually difficult to get fired from ALTEC. People do take care of and try to help each other out, which is nice. Advancement is misrepresented in all departments. Most in-plant moves to other departments are lateral (no increase in pay), and your former leadership's opinion of you follows you to your new position. Once you get on one supervisor's bad side, you are instantly black balled, no matter where you go.

2 Stars for UPPER Management. Senior Managers at the plant I worked at are quite the group. They look for any reason to fire you, while supporting the Boys Club mentality. This means protecting (their friends) who have been proven incompetent as mid-level and even upper-level leaders, and promoting them regardless.

3 Stars for Job Culture. I really wanted to rate this higher. There are lots of great people working at ALTEC who make it a great place to work. Sadly, these people are blocked from promotion unless they damage themselves, physically or emotionally, for the company. This is a very normal thing where I worked.

3 Star Overall Rating. ALTEC is a good place to gain experience at an Entry Level. Whatever department you land in, and whatever your job is, that is where you will stay and that is what you will do for the first 10-12 years of your career. Expectations of advancement should include knowing someone who is already an established upper manager with substantial seniority. If you don't "Know Someone," prepare to be blocked from transferring anywhere, and gain a bad reputation soon after.

Altec is a very stressful, finger pointing environment where you will never be thanked, and mostly barely be acknowledged. They have a annual review of their employees with a possible rating of 1-5 the scoring system goes like this
1 - Probationary period (In reality they would have fired you already)
2 - Below expectations (If you get a two you are getting ready to be fired, so start looking for another job. You will get 2's on individual categories but if you get an overall 2 you should look for a job!)
3 - Meets expectations (Altec takes this to mean that you go above and beyond every single day and are perfect in every way) This WILL be your score
4 - Exceeds Expectations - (You cannot get a 4 don't even try)
5 - You are a Unicorn (Much like Unicorns 5's don't exist! Again don't try)

Overall Management doesn't care about the employees, all you will hear is that you are losing money for the company, yet every year they tell you how they had a record breaking year...essentially they think you are stupid and can't remember what they said the other 364 days of the year!

Management has different rules for different employees and it all depends on the friends/enemies you make. If you start in some positions (sales, quality, manufacturing) you have potential to move up in the company, if you start in Apps Engineering you are screwed, you better glue yourself to your seat for the next 25 years and be ready to take your whippings like a good little stepchild.

I have been with the company for 11 years, and am still there and considered an exceptional employee, but will be leaving soon to start a new career

I started at Altec thinking it was a well organized, fast paced plant for building trucks and doing what I love, I was quickly proven wrong.  Altec only hires a few qualified personnel and the rest is comprised of people who have no mechanical background whatso ever.  There are only 1 or 2 managers there that love the job and understand the time and effort it takes to complete the job, all the rest just think they can base work time off all the other plants when the other plants have triple the amount of people and space. I realized in a very short amount of time that Altec doesn't care about quality or the workers, they care about getting trucks to customers whether it correct or not. The leadership is comprised of people that have no idea how to do the job except what the book tells them and they have no desire to learn even when the workers try and explain and prove why the book can be wrong sometimes. The people that are completely apathetic and lazy have nothing expected of them on a day to day basis and not questioned when they are blatantly avoiding work all the while the people that actually buckle down and work are pushed day in and day out for results that are not possible and are scolded when something takes longer than what the paperwork says. I have seen people that aren't worth the boots that they wear succeed and the ones that work tirelessly be put down and even let go. The pay is decent and the benefits are good, but in my opinion it is not worth the constant idiocrasy that goes on in the plant everyday. If you are worth your salt in any way shape or form, please do not go there.  The people I left that are fantastic workers, just a hand full, are actively seeking new jobs as we speak.  They cannot keep good employees for anything.  Leadership is terrible expect for 2 of them and somehow they expect to ride the worthless employees until they hire good ones. If you choose to work there, good luck my friend.

a typical day.
  we started with a morning meeting to find out what night shift got done and what we were expected to get done. then we would go to our weld stations and start working usually we had parts issues and most often could not find the team leader to get the issue taken care of. a lot of the time we had faulty equipment to work with (most often the hand held grinders) but if we turned them in to get repaired we had nothing to work with. 

what I learned
   in the 7 years I was there I learned ho to run the lasers and press breaks before I made the mistake of transferring into welding. then I learned to weld parts for lift trucks.

management
  management at altec is for the most part poor. the team leaders are not chosen on their abilities to lead but because they are either a buddy or a yes man. upper management doesn't really hold any regard or respect for the employees. they will tell you in the meetings and new hires that altec is a family oriented company but when your working 10+ hours aday 6 days a week I don't know whose family they are talking about. in the 7 years I was there I learned that in their greed to make a dollar that they sell and promise to deliver way more product than can ever be done in a standard 40 hour week with the equipment and employees that they have. so if you work there you will be living there.

workplace culture 
  in general most every one I met or worked with on the floor  there were really good  people. every one tried to do the best they could and be as friendly as they could be given the situation that they had to deal with.

hardest part of the job 
  dealing with parts issues, poor management and unrealistic goals.

most enjoyable part of the job 
  working with some of the people and getting out of that place at the end of the day

Environment is good. Supervisor clueless. Engineering clueless. Spent 3+ years there and no advancement unless your teachers pet or exactly what they want you to be. Worked the hardest spot (mainframes) and went above expectations but still not enough. Spent my day redoing things that we have already done later down the line because of carelessness.  Great place to work if management would recognize that 1st shift wasn't the best. 2nd shift carried all the load but 1st shift got the credit. Expectations are high (which should be but you can not produce 12 products a week with a newbie crew) was hard producing 12 units a week with a veteran crew. Again the supervisor on 2nd shift when I was there was never around and constantly asked the crew what was going on and how I'd worked. He had no clue but stayed in office majority of time. He never took the time to learn the process or job that he was managing.  They want to say work life balance and say that home life is most important but when the time comes that you have a family emergency they look down on you and will fire you if you don't have the vacation time to cover.  I would still be there giving my all if it wasn't for them letting me go for something I had no control over. I worked from 330pm to 2am every night. Most time until 3am or 4am just to get the job done so we didn't have to work sat or sun. The first year there we worked every Saturday for more than 6 months. Could be a great place to work if management would treat all shifts the same. Too many favoritism within the company. If you was friends with someone in management then you had it made. If not then you didn't go nowhere. 

I worked there for over a year in 2 very different areas. Favoritism is a huge problem there. To the point where unsafe, unproductive employees are not only protected from the consequences of their mistakes, but are actively supported, to the point of promotion. I enjoyed my job in both areas, my coworkers were great and very lovely people. I can not say the same of my immediate leadership. Team leads were unprofessional, bordering on a near complete apathy for the work. They played favorites as much or even more than the supervisors. Allowing some employees to screw off, even joining them in doing so, but yelling at those not on the good list for being slow, even when they were not at fault. What truly was the last straw for me was the very serious OSHA violations moving loads with an overhead crane over employees. I brought up this issue, and not only was it not solved, I was written up for providing evidence of it. 

Also, the engineers are treated like gods but haven't a clue how to actually build something beyond what's on the computer. They were taught what to think, not how to think.

Others may have better luck here, but these issues, along with a singular mindset of numbers over quality, despite their incessant ringing the bell of 'quality is most important' whenever possible, I can not, and will not recommend Altec as a good place to work. At least not the Daleville, Virginia location. Your results may vary.

I really enjoyed my time at Altec.  It is a great company to work.  It has great work life balance and was very flexible with the schedule for people with families.  They have excellent benefits -  some of the best I've ever seen at a company.  The environment for the most part was great.  The people were awesome in exception of some at other locations that can be rude and very blunt when you ask a question or need assistance.  There was a steady workload some days but I didn't feel my skills were really being used in the position I was in.  People get passed over often for not having a degree despite having years of experience or even working at the company for years.  They will hire someone with a 4 year degree in an unrelated field over someone with decades of experience but no degree.   However, they do have an education program for employees.  There aren't clear pathways or training programs for employees to follow to advance within the company.  That would really help to limit the number of people being passed over for positions they are more than qualified for.  Desirable positions don't open very often and I saw them hire externally over internally many times.
The compensation was decent but raises weren't that great.  Typically around 2% or so.  Other positions received far more opportunities to earn bonuses and/or extra cash incentives.

Service department offers Potential to learn hydraulics, electrical and flux-core and MIG welding. 
Work on a variety of equitment.
Possible travel 
Some overtime
Constantly receive a raise that barley equals cost of living increase (6-10% max) 
Managers talk like superiors but have very minimal control to do anything (Glorified secretaries) 
-Raises are limited at 6-10%
-In order to get rid of someone they literally have to write them up 3-4 times or the associate points themselves out by showing up 1 minute late too many times at which point management couldn’t do anything about it if they wanted to. Of course this creates a terrible environment where everyone (besides one suck-up) competes to do the least without appearing to ever have free time. clocking in on time 80% of the paycheck, no matter how unproductive not only will each person continue to receive 6-10%. If they are entertaining or at least warm their hands before going in for manger appreciation they will likely work their way to the top. 

Worked there for nearly 10 years and experienced a gradual, but steady, decline and disconnect from the stated "Company Values".  Our location started as "different" from the other established locations, but was eventually forced to adopt old and ill-fitting policies and procedures that were counter to our local culture.  Also, over time, managers were replaced with under-skilled and/or weak cookie-cutter individuals who could only toe the company line and would/could not form their own opinions. There was SERIOUSLY incompetent management at several levels, but especially in the Inside Sales department.  Unqualified individuals were hired for important positions (e.g., Safety Coordinator) just because they were already employed and wanted the open position.  Relatives and/or spouses of HR employees were treated differently (i.e., better) than other associates.  Supervisors who had been promoted from the shop floor were paid far less than equally-qualified individuals hired from the outside because the jump from hourly pay to salaried pay was too much of an increase.  I could go on and on, but these are just some examples of what I experienced working for a company that appears to be one thing on the outside, but is something completely different on the inside.  

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Equipment mechanic 324 salaries reported	$33.60 per hour
Heavy equipment mechanic 64 salaries reported	$34.95 per hour
Mechanic 13 salaries reported	$63,192 per year
Welder 2 salaries reported	$25.60 per hour
Engineer 7 salaries reported	$75,000 per year

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