production associate

maintenance technician

customer service representative

leadership development program

production

Associated Materials

PROS-
1. The drive home is a, "reverse commute"!! 

2. Beautiful view of Mount Rainier!!

3. Beautiful landscaping!!

4. New hires are started at the same wage, or more, as what the long term Bothell employees currently make!!

5. If you're a new hire and you happen to get a raise, it will be the same amount as what the long term Bothell employees will get!!

6. If you're a new hire and you happen to get a bonus, it will be the same amount as what the long term Bothell employees will get!!

7. Attendance points against you will be periodically removed from your record. In a, "forgiveness", manner. It's happened in Fife once already. But beware, this only happens once every few years so pace yourself!! 

8. Everyone is allowed to attend the, "perfect attendance", luncheons. EVERYONE. Even those without perfect attendance!! You can even take home some of the leftover pizza. Now THERE's a perk!!

9. Like overtime? This is your place!! 60 hour work weeks are the MINIMUM you can do. Working on Sundays and holidays will be offered as well!!

10. The company has its own Zamboni driver!! This guy loves his job. Seems the only way to get him off the Zamboni is to swipe his key!!

11. The hiring agencies this company uses are the BEST! Their intense screening of potential new hires is key. They bring people in by the dozens a week! Happens so fast you'd think they were using one of those revolving doors you see at fancy department stores!!

12. Everyone loves the new Fife plant!! Employees from around the corporation all want to be part of it. There's a constant flow of outside plant managers, production supervisors, production leads, and maintenance personnel, constantly coming through the door. As well as multiple third party analysts, consultants, and number crunchers, always stopping by to join the fun. Thanks to their help, the place runs like a well oiled machine!


-CONS-
AMI Fife is failing. Or, HAS FAILED. Formerly, Alside Windows Northwest of Bothell, I'm surprised the doors are still open. Neck deep in horrendous attendance issues, quality issues, complete lack of experience issues, and all that goes along with it. Complete lack of respect for the very few remaining employees who put them on the map to begin with. 30 year Bothell employees were offered only a 10 percent raise to follow the company to Fife. That's it. Period. 10 percent to uproot your entire life??? For a company that was set up to fail??? If This was Boeing moving 50 miles away, Im sure they would have BENT OVER BACKWARDS for the employees who gave decades of their lives to the company. 

The revolving door hiring policy takes place at a rate to boggle the mind, both in the shop as well as in administration. In the single year Fife has been open, there have been 4 plant managers, multiple H.R. managers, multiple quality managers, multiple maintenance managers, multiple shipping managers, multiple hiring and firing of various supervisors and crew leads, and the low level shop employees are literally brought in by the dozens a week. It's made it impossible to keep up with production demands, despite overtime hours being through the roof. Because of the constant no experience on the shop floor, labor costs and injuries are through the roof, on time delivery is non existent, and quality products are few and far between. That said, the VAST majority of the employees don't even know what they don't know because 80% of them are on the revolving door program. Theres about 15 old school people from the Bothell plant remaining. Everyone else is new from the Fife area. 

The company loses a million dollars a month as we're constantly reminded by our shop supervisor, which I'm sure the corporate partners and share holders are just thrilled about. But they will not allow it to continue forever. At one time, prior to the move from Bothell to Fife, the company was loaded with quality, deeply knowledgeable, hard working employees who showed up on time, everyday. Now, its the exact opposite, on every level. You can find a mind numbing, low paying job, dead end job anywhere. But you'll NEVER find a worse company to work for.

A typical day of work for me begins with releasing a download at 7am for another department, as the girl who works there doesn't arrive until 8am.  I then release a schedule for the previous day, outlining which lines have taken which of their labels and which haven't.  I will release a production report for the plant if the lady who does them isn't there.  I then complete a standard download for all lines, then work on reports for HR until lunch.  After lunch I complete last-minute rush order labels for the lines, the rush and standard downloads for Screens and Shapes, the rush download for all the lines, and the downloads for Bay/Bows, Samples, Rainware, and FedEx.  Any time I have between what I'm doing I order supplies for the plant and place and retrieve orders for toner.  I also maintain inventory for my office and take care of the maintenance of our copier.  I've learned to be flexible and learn computer programs as I go, according to what I need to accomplish with this company, I've learned time and labor management, and I've learned that my time is valuable.  The hardest part of my job is dealing with constant interruptions from people who are actually pretty rude - an example would be I walk a foot away from a computer I'm using and someone from the plant walks into the room, pushes me out of the way, and takes over the computer.  I've learned to stop that behavior from others, but many people lack basic manners and that is hard for me to deal with.  The most enjoyable part of the job is being in charge of myself and an occasional helper.  I like being in control of my situation and am able to manage myself and others efficiently.

It's bad ... You can try for a promotion and be put off for 6 months.. they're so short handed you work 12 hours a day 6 or 7 days a week ... Quality depends on the day ... It's a constant argument ... Management is more concerned with a promotion then doing they're jobs properly.... You have the engineer doing quality because there's no manager ... 3 hrs in three years even company people turnover rate is increasing .. they hire more then who stay and at the end of the day good workers are ran through the mud . People who take it easy get an easy day always .. no teamwork except from certain people not department. Techs the lesser seniority people can run the important siding lines while tech with  years at the job can't seem to do it .  Your expected to go above and beyond but will be punished for another shifts work .... This place needs management held to a standard the plant manager big manager not just plant manager who's there everyday is trying but has to teach people to work even though they clocked in for a job. ... If you ask people about they're positions and questions revolving around different company areas you get an idk instead of clear communication and an answer ... A complete turn around of standards is needed to ensure quality employment.. this is needed at all levels . That place says not my job not my problem more then any company. 

I worked here for two weeks. Theyll tell you they are "covid minded" and yet no work station has cleaning supplies. Alot of people walk around not wearing the proper ppe for job or covid. Very little training. I was put on a line after a day. When i was told id be in training a week. Meaning the pace for the entire line weighed on my shoulders. They have 30 supervisors and leads on a shift. And your lucky if you can understand who youre talking to. Communication is a huge part of safety and half of the shop cant speak english. Theres A translator for each nationality but good luck finding them. Easy to get hurt. Two people were hurt in the same department, same day, different shifts. On top of all of this they hired me in at 14.75 a few weeks ago. Now they are hiring 15.75. Ive met people who have spent 10+ years in this business. And was making the 14.75 just like us. Get two breaks for 10 hr shifts. A 20 anf 30 min lunch. 20 is 3 hours into shift. Lunch is 6. Then you have 4 more hours to go. End of the day you are constantly looking over your shoulder. You have no personal life to spend the money your making. On top of all of this your shift can be told to you at the begining of it. If your expecting an 8 and they say 10. You work 10. There is no 8 hr heads up here

What is the best part of working at the company?
Being heckled by the Managers and scorned by HR as mindless pions. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When there are more people at the time clock that can reasonably clock in at once before shift start so a portion of the people there are going to be late and they have a very strict attendance policy and administrator of it. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
No one really knows what is going on because turnover is so high that everyone is new. The leads and more senior folks are so busy throwing up obstacles for each other to their own benefit that they don't have time to invest in the newer employees. So it's just a revolving onslaught of insecurities and mistrust leading to an unprecedented turnover rate. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Show up on time. Clock in late. Go to your position. Get yelled at by someone working near you and more senior for being late and doing your job wrong. Get to use the bathroom and be terminated when you get back for poor attendance or performance.

I come in at 6am and work until 4pm with two 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch in between.  I worked at the end of the assembly line for casement type windows, attaching hardware kits to the assembled windows, labeling the completed product, scanning out the label, placing the window on a large cart with the rest of that specific order, then pushing said cart down to the transfer area where shipping will take it.  The toughest parts of the job are the frequent heavy lifting and fast pace nature of production, and sometimes the long hours.  The best part of the job was my co-workers.  They were very friendly and helpful the whole time.  The management truly cares about you.  They are obsessed with worker safety (this is a good thing.)  If you call in saying you can't come to work because of an injury, the next time you do come in, they will chase you down, ask you what happened and if you need anything to help with the injury.

10 hours a day 6 days a week. They finally bumped the pay up (after I left) everyone on the floor got along pretty well aside from a few trouble makers but you'll find that everywhere. I taught myself a lot about continuous improvement, you can always make a process better. Upper management was horrible, having a plant manager that's never worked in a warehouse telling you how to do your job isn't fun. Hardest part of the job is loaded windows and doors one by one onto trailers fighting the heat or cold conditions. Plus doing that 60 hours a week with 1 day off. 
The part that was good was how we could still have fun while doing the job. Even when I had to write people up they usually didn't argue because they knew they were wrong. Plus when you're done loading and it looks nice and it order, kinda makes you proud. And the customers, loved my customers. I haven't worked there for 5 years and I still get calls. 

This is a manufacturing facility attached to the corporate office. They had recently been acquired and made leadership changes at the top but nothing seemed to change to help those at the bottom of the ladder. Employee happiness was consistently low throughout the production lines and very little was being done from a leadership standpoint. There is zero accountability across the board and the HR team does a poor job of pushing leadership to do better. The benefits are decent and the pay was competitive last year when it was assessed but has since stagnated with the current inflation we're experiencing in 2023. If you want to make a paycheck and have low expectations from your superiors, this is an okay place to go. But if you want to feel respected in any role you take here (apart from obvious executive positions), I'd check out another manufacturer. 

If it weren't for above average pay I don't believe this company would have any employees. Very old school and siloed. Almost as if manufacturing, corporate and distribution are three different companies. Very little training and career development opportunities in most areas and expected to just learn on the fly. Private equity firm just wants to grow top line sales and sell so most management decisions are made just to get by in the short term but very little long-term initiatives. The systems are all very outdated and it feels like the company still operates like it is in the 1970's. It is crazy to think this company has been in the building materials industry for over 60 years and still can't build a window because manufacturing turnover is so high. Management makes employees feel they are just lucky to have a job and just throw money & excuses at things instead of trying to learn from the rest of the industry

I was a glass dropper for Associated Materials.  I really enjoyed the job. I wish I could have worked there longer, but for unfortunate reasons I had to leave. The employees and managers were nice and welcoming. Pay was excellent. The hour were 40 to 50 hours a week with an average of 45 hours. It's hard for me to understand all the negative reviews, but I have an excellent work ethic. Some people complain that the plant was hot, but the solve is to bring one or two water bottles. Pure water and ice machines are readily available.  They follow OSHA protocol  to the T. Also many of the employees are from Nepal or Africa, so there is a language barrier.  The task are fairly simple,  so hand signals and teaching by demonstration are sufficient.  My temp advisor  was excellent. Helpful in every regard, quick to respond when I had questions. Very personable, insightful, and resourceful.  I highly recommend working for Associated Materials.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Production associate 3 salaries reported	$17.70 per hour
Maintenance technician 12 salaries reported	$28.81 per hour
Customer service representative 5 salaries reported	$20.80 per hour
Leadership development program 54 salaries reported	$55,000 per year
Production 1 salary reported	$62,000 per year

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