r&d engineer

senior quality engineer

manufacturing specialist

field service engineer

senior scientist

As a Manufacturing Engineer in the Biosciences Division, I had quite a work load but it wasn't unmanageable.  The manager was absolutely horrible, had almost no management training or experience and it was blatantly obvious he didn't have a clue about how to be a good leader. When overwhelmed with high priority activities that required immediate attention and completion to avoid having production lines shut down, he strategically lapsed in being mindful of the potential long term consequences of cutting corners to get things done in time.  BD products are sold in a regulated industry and are directly used on patients and in medical facilities, so quality is necessarily of utmost importance above all else.  This management tended to forget that when the chips were down and all eyes were on him, when a production line was threatening to shut down because of lack of parts, or a down tool, or an out of spec part that requires an update prior to acceptable use.  This manager in particular had no vision for long term quality his only concern was shipping products for revenue. He was also dishonest on several occasions and I caught him in lies which I just let pass without incident, but I had no respect for him after that.  

Processing anything at BD is a nightmare - it takes an incredibly long time and requires input from dozens of other people and committees and boards and often will require execution of a validation protocol to qualify a  manufacturing change, even a small relatively insignificant one.  This is largely a consequence of being regulated by the FDA and other agencies, although many of the processes developed by BD for compliance with regulation are very inefficient and should be revised and optimized.  For example, an associate brings to your attention a mistake in an instruction booklet she uses to assemble a component.  To correct the mistake, you first have to request permission to correct the mistake at a hearing of a special change request board, who hears your arguments for making the change and can grant or deny your request based on a countless number of administrative, technical, supply related, vendor related, documentation related reasons they can use for reason to deny the request.  If your request is granted to proceed, then you have to go through the ECR process, which is almost like Greek witchcraft.  The you have a team of people reviewing that and if all the i's aren't dotted (literally), it will also be rejected and sent back to you to redo or edit. When it is finally approved, you have to go back to every change request board member to have them respond with any changes they want to see included, and then add those as edits.  Then they each have to sign off a page as completion or final approval of the change - the the change is made and the associate\s instructions are correct.  This process has taken over a month on some I processed, in the meantime the associate cannot assemble the component so production stops on that component.  It's an awful situation, and very frustrating.

My advice would be not to work here as a MFG Engineer but working at BD in R&D or as a scientist might be much better and less frustrating.  On the upside, they have recently put out some really good iced tea at the cafeterias which is free, and the people I worked with were by and large terrific.  :)  Be prepared to jump through a series of hoops and encounter miles of red tape along the way to getting anything done.

So this is based on being a part of the Procurement function within BD.  Other teams likely have other experiences, but I will speak to what it is like to be in BD Procurement.  First off, there is zero manufacturing strategy.  What are core competencies, what should be in sourced or outsourced?   Where should things be made?  It is all about maximizing overhead absorption at the BD plants, often ignoring basic LEAN manufacturing practices and running maximum capacity to hit absorption while carrying way too much inventory, then idling the suppliers and plants to fix things, but then it is back to running full speed.  Ongoing cycle with no end in sight.  Folks, LEAN manufacturing has been around for 20 years +, pick up a book and read it.

Senior leadership is full of BD lifers, many of these have worked nowhere else than BD so they have no idea how things work outside of BD and that things could be better.  Consultants come regularly and advise leadership on org structure and how they should be doing things, and VIOLA!  direction changes overnight, goals and objectives change.  Wait three months and another consultant group will come in and direction will change yet again.

They talk about supplier partnership, relationship management, innovation, and the usual advanced procurement practices, but it is all lip service as it is all and ONLY about cost reduction.  You cannot squeeze the suppliers enough for nickels and pennies.   

Not all is awful, they are dedicated to diversity and inclusion.  They talk about sustainability and I think they do want to improve.  Work/life balance is good, they will work with you so you have flexibility to have appointments, take care of children doctor appointments and such.  Pay and benefits are good, as any big company, the medical benefits cost increase quite a bit each year and they push you to the HSA plan or you go broke.

Management varies depending on who you work for.  Some are micro managers and others not so much.  Way too many meetings that could have been an email.  Meeting after meeting to report results of your work, hindering your actual ability to get the work done that they want.  

Goals for the never ending cost reductions are not reasonable.  Impossible to meet them, and they just keep coming.  They acknowledge inflation yet expect year over year cost reductions without providing the resources or leadership to allow for supplier changes, material changes or manufacturing location changes.  It is all about how much can you beat down the supplier without BD having to do any engineering or approval work to get the savings.   Very limited Value Analysis/Value Engineering resources and commitment to enable cost savings.

There are worse places to work, it is all about what you can expect.  Don't expect career advancement as there is very limited opportunity as people do not leave or move.  Pay/Benefits are good but you are a rat on a wheel simply beating suppliers down for cost daily.  



Great career for a single person or someone with a very patient spouse.  As a Field Service Engineer II for BD Pyxis products, I'd start the day at home reading emails and doing e-Learning or attending a weekly regional meeting online.  Next, I'd triage my service calls and schedule the service, then I'd leave home and head to my first site.  I'd continue to receive service calls throughout the day, so emergent calls can sometimes force a reschedule, but you'll learn how to manage time and ensure that everyone is happy with your service.

Our product line kept adding new equipment, so I was always learning how to service new products.  I also continuously learned new standard operating procedures and FDA guidelines in order to service our products the correct way on every service call.

My field service manager was terrific, and he made sure that any resources I needed to do my job was always available.  Good work was rewarded, with a year-end bonus and accolades for exemplary work.  BD flew me out to Las Vegas Nevada after I earned the Global Service Star award, and it was very fun shaking hands and talking with the company's vice president and other leaders in our company.

The hardest part of my job was the mandatory on-call schedule.  I worked with two other field service engineers, and we rotated a one week on-call after every two weeks.  While we did have a plan in place if the on-call work lasts more than 16 hours, it was rough when this schedule happened more than a couple days in a row.  Yes, you may work for sixteen solid hours, go home and sleep, and work another sixteen hours on the next day.

The best part of my job was the people that I met, every day!  The work was enjoyable and rewarding, because I was servicing a device that I knew made a nurse's job much easier and ensured that a scheduled or emergent medication got delivered to a patient in as short of a time as possible.  And meeting new people in the healthcare industry was fun, with plenty of opportunities to make new friends.  Training a new hire and watching him or her grow, or meeting a new customer and letting them know that we are problem-solvers and that they are in good hands with us.  I Know this, because I've personally serviced Pyxis equipment from 1994 as a contract technician with the Pyxis Corporation, long before BD acquired the Pyxis line of medication dispensing products.

They will tell you 1-2 nights travel, It turns into 5-6 nights travel every week. They will tell you you have a certain geography and then it turns into your covering all US without any additional compensation. Besides doing Education you will end up doing a lot of the project managers work?? Dont think about questioning any policies because the retaliation from the managers is brutal ( They are worried info will get passed onto their bosses) . Your name will then be spoken amongst all the managers  t/o the US and you will be known as a trouble maker. They find ways and reasons to NOT give you an Annual salary increase and or any bonus. If you happen to up sell on any account for any additional modules, Forget it... you dont get a PENNY but who does... the salesperson thats not even their anymore. Work your butt off, travel your butt off, do your work and the PM's work. If you have a family or grand kids... forget about them... you wont see them anymore.  I have actually witnessed a manager speaking with a potential new hire stating travel is only 1-2 nights per week  LIES LIES LIES!! Just be honest with people.. you eventually find out the truth and then your stuck in the job because then it looks like your job hopping. They get their claws in you and then make you suffer with unappreciated and tireless travel and work, When you get back to your hotel after your done working at the hospital all day or evening and also night shift...OH NO you don't, your not relaxing  or sleeping after a hard day at the hospital 8-10 hrs,( Standing the whole time educating ) Its now time to do project manager work on upcoming cases.( Why that becomes my job is beyond me)  Thats right computer work and phone calls for at least 2 hours each night. Project managers will travel to the sites that are convenient for them. Just completely frustrating...JOB ADVANCEMENT..... NO NO NO! I had seen good people who new their jobs very well and would not get promoted after working 8 years and even with that they had to JUMP through hoops and do a GREAT deal of EXTRA work ( not getting paid for) to just prove worthiness.( Give me a break)  working at least 50 hrs per week PLUS  travel via airplane t/o the US all while your getting paid for 40 hrs. UPPER UPPER management swimming in money while we are doing all the work. So glad I spent time and money on getting my masters so I can be treated like dirt.Thanks for remembering us.. NOT!

BD Sumter is a very large manufacturing facility which has five business units and is one of the largest manufacturing plants in the BD network. Each of these business units is large enough to be a stand-alone manufacturing plant and the plant as a whole produces a staggering amount of product. The products have longevity and market share - so the plant is stable and has had a very long life. The benefits are good - although the standard relatively high deductive health insurance applies. Wages are good for the area as well as bonus potential.

In order to enjoy your job or do more than just survive at the salaried professional and management levels - you must be a person who is driven toward achieving/exceeding goals and has the ability to see opportunities for improvement and develop a plan to achieve those with a relative degree of independence. This often translates into long days and a challenging work/life balance. If you are not assertive and goal driven, you will find BD Sumter a difficult place to work. The hourly employees are relatively stable upon day shift - although there is turnover on the night shifts. While improving, there are too many grey areas for accountability amongst the hourly employees. 

If you are identified as an employee with potential, you will be given opportunities to show that you are ready for a higher level role. If you are not identified as such, it's challenging to get promoted. There is a backlog of tenured day shift supervisors and managers - so you will have to make a decision if you are willing to wait for a position to open or search at another site or outside the company for a promotion. You will need someone superior to you strongly advocating for your promotion in order to do so. There are several associates who have been promoted from supervisor to manager - but it is exceedingly rare for an internal manager to be promoted to the director level. That being said, if you can thrive here, you will certainly be able to find promotion opportunities outside of BD. 

BD is a great company and BD Sumter is a great resume builder for early-to-mid career employees if you are a fit for the culture. The work culture is demanding and it is not for everyone.

I had a love-hate relationship with this employer. 
Was good to me overall because I am a skilled and good worker. I had a pretty sweet gig there myself, was able to fix machines and troubleshoot technology which I love and they usually left me to it because I always delivered. I was paid to my satisfaction, and the benefits were decent for everyone there. I liked the 12hr alternating shifts, 2 days on 2 days off, alternating 3 day weekends. I quit because I moved my family to a different part of the country.
However, their management team is not skilled by even loose definitions, and they make terrible decision as a rule, as though it’s a required part of the job description. 
I’m grateful that I worked there because I certainly gained in tech exposure and skills, but it was a baptism of fire. No training at all, and an unfair expectation that you know before you could possibly know. They have a tendency to hire people who are not at all qualified for the positions they put them in, which is fine if you give them training or lower your expectations, but they do neither. 
I have never heard of anywhere with such a high turnover rate. Was there for 8 years and was the most senior person of about 80 people on night shift with a handful of exceptions. Most people I worked with were there for about an average of about 2 years. Even day shifts and the office was swarming with newbs. (Almost never got rid middle management though.) I remember one meeting where the plant manager asked for feedback on how they could lower their turnover rate to below 40% overall, and to below 70% for the production floor alone. All this turnover rate is despite their ridiculously high pay rate for the area, something like $16-$18hr or more to start for sweeping floors. 
It still blows my mind, looking back. But I’m grateful for the things I learned there, and if you want to make some decent coin this place will hire you, as long as you can handle the pressure and just shrug through all the bull. 

Assisting Managers, employees, and third parties with the following: 
Organizational moves, new hires, terminating employees, any questions from mangers/employees on personal information, and verification of employment.
Assisted our internal Benefits department with reviewing, rolling out annual enrollment, assisting employees with questions regarding benefits questions, and completing Medicare forms.
Updating our internal intranet with important information newly updated policies for all employees, managers, and our Human Resources department to assist employees.
The HR department worked very closely with each other for support and assistance as well as managing ourselves. Training, creating guides, and running reports to assist my team with providing the best services for our employees.
Assisted our Payroll department with running reports on any changes from our HRIS system that feeds to our Payroll system ADP. I changed this information, added all new hires to ADP to ensure pay by the first pay period, and helped with any extra tasks the Payroll department needed assistance with. 

In 2010 our company spun off of the originally acquired company and we created our own Human Resource call department. We created our own SOP's for go live and succeeded. This was a challenge we managed ourselves and worked as a team to make this such a huge success. 

Prior to our go live in 2010, I worked in Customer Service with no HR background at all. I learn a lot of Human Resource information and laws from my coworkers, school, and self research. This experience I received while working in my last role as a Human Resource Specialist, was an amazing opportunity. This allowed me to were many hats and cross train with departments to learn more aspects the Human Resource departments offer employees.

I think the most enjoyable part of this was providing excellent service and information to all employees, managers, and third party companies.

Over time, it became impossible to reconcile my personal values with the culture and leadership practices here. I’ve witnessed decisions that disregard both integrity and the long-term interests of the customers, in favor of short-term optics or self-preservation. When concerns are raised, the default response is to gaslight, deflect, or dismiss—rarely to reflect or improve.

The organization’s inconsistency in priorities, shifting standards, and failure to retain top talent only reinforce the deeper issues at play. Accountability is selectively applied, and initiatives that could genuinely move the business forward are often sacrificed to maintain comfort.

 If you go here, you will have to decide if you'll be complicit in a structure that rewards politics over principle and perception over performance.

When reps are looking for other opportunities, NO ONE will ask you why you're looking for a new role outside of BD.

Pros:
-If you negotiate to come in as a Senior sales rep (8-10 years prior experience), the pay is decent. *** please note it is very VERY difficult to get this coming in and even after paperwork is signed, you'll have to double check it was inputted in the system correctly. (Spoiler alert, it usually is NOT correct and you'll have to be persistent to have it adjusted)
-work life balance is consistent with other outside sales roles

Cons:
 -internal systems are broken (ex. it takes a week or longer to get a capital quote to a customer) -micromanagement is rampant with excessive paperwork because management doesn't know how to use the tools at their disposal -mediocre/subpar products that are regularly on backorder and mostly overpriced  -favoritism and caddy behaviors amongst teams and management = bad culture -retaliation/managed out outspoken/knowledgeable reps

Working 12 hour days in an extremely hot (90+) and stuffy environment with an impossible workload was a normal workday in the Canaan plant.  The molding department is by far the epitome of dysfunction in Canaan. 

This company does everything in their power to cut costs at the production workers expense. Management limits training so that skills nessecary to safely perform the job are never taught in an attempt to save money. Continuous additions to the daily workload by the beaurocrats in the offices have created an enviorment of that makes it literally is impossible to do your job. 

BD will also threaten your job at every possible opportunity in an attempt to force their workers to meet their impossible expectations. The molding department is extremely understaffed and over worked. Mandatory overtime is common due to the fact that the temporary workers usually do not last long because of the conditions.

Despite making more product than ever, there is no where to advance to in the molding department. People have been working there for decades and the only way to possible advance is in the unfortunate circumstance of someone dying. 

 The management has decimated the staff leading to poorer quality and a disgustingly filthy work enviorment.

The equipment and technology at the plant is all pre Cold War era that is in a constant state of disrepair. Management turns a blind eye to the obvious problems with production flow from the dilapidated machines for fear that it might have to be addressed and affect their bottom line.

Management just cares about one thing, not the anxiety ridden working enviorment, not the insane workload with failing equipment, not that your prescriptions cost hundreds with their health insurance, just the numbers.

A NEVERENDING amount of information that they can never fully train you for because operations are always changing and new curveballs come at you every day that not even the management knows how to handle sometimes. The pace is grueling and you are always behind, which results in constant weekend overtime pressure. You will be considered a bad worker if you don't cheerily agree to weekend overtime, regardless of the circumstances. So the only "good workers" in their eyes are the ones who work 7 days a week. The benefits are good, the facility is wonderful and clean, the co-workers are incredibly nice and helpful -- because they HAVE to be. Positivity is one of the very biggest things they hire for because they know stress is huge at this job. The pay is okay but should be higher for what they demand. It's very software intensive and not all the workers have college experience, so a lot of mistakes are made. As soon as I thought I was getting "good" at the job, a new and totally unexpected scenario would get thrown in front of me and often no one (including my manager) knew how to handle it. Thankfully, all the customers are business contacts and internal installers, so they're almost all very polite and professional. But the company product lines are so numerous and ever-changing that we would get questions every day that no one knew how to answer, causing jobs to get backed up and customers to get upset. The overall operation puts too much faith in off-the-street workers with no education to handle complex SAP and Excel operations. Many employees look like Trump giving a speech:  they have no idea what they're doing or saying, they're just rambling, waving their arms, and making things up.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
R&d engineer 17 salaries reported	$116,438 per year
Senior quality engineer 4 salaries reported	$104,025 per year
Manufacturing specialist 34 salaries reported	$21.60 per hour
Field service engineer 8 salaries reported	$35.82 per hour
Senior scientist 15 salaries reported	$102,000 per year

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