cnc machinist

inspector

cnc operator

welder

maintenance mechanic

Barnes Aerospace

The Good:  Barnes has exceptional fabrication personnel and fellow engineering.  They work well at helping solve production issues and if you are good at listening to them you will succeed on simple process controllable issues.
The Bad:  Barnes equipment, production control, and process control is old and archaic.  This includes equipment, tools, processes, and software.  Most of the equipment is retrofitted from some other product or process that it was originally intended for.  Most equipment is over 50 years old and its reliability is sub 50%, causes many production issues, and end of line issues that management constantly badgers personnel about, but refuses to implement the capital or resources to correctly fix the issue.  Top level management has absolutely zero technical IQ and there is literally no engineering voice to make the meaningful changes this company desperately needs.  Preventive maintenance, long term plans, or anything of the sort is non-existent.  Project management support is nonexistent, and that pretty much means you are on your own with no support structure at all.  You need to be careful though because if you need to spend money outside the pre-planned scope of the project which you had no say in you could be in for a lecture or criticized for trying to complete the project with extra expenses.  Management doesn’t listen, literally does not.  You can mention a project task issue or facility issue that requires support for weeks upon weeks and at the end they will keep asking “Why are you late?” and absolutely no recollection of past discussions.  Management cannot and will not look at anything but the end of the month ship list, they lack vision, technical expertise, and general understanding of how to run a heavily regulated manufacturing facility.


Management is either clueless or doesn't care much about you personally doing well. There isn't much training in most areas of the shop by management. It's more or less up to you to ask other coworkers how things are done. The company makes a lot of questionable decisions regarding money and there aren't really any incentives for employees that aren't salary employees. Those that have been there for a while will tell you about how great it was to work there a few years ago, but with the change in management there were a lot of issues with the new people. There are certain supervisors who are given the benefit of the doubt in every instance and they throw those that they supervise under the bus a lot. Management doesn't really care who is responsible if something goes wrong, just as long as someone is. 

Most of the employees are great people, however, there is a lot of negative talk about supervisors, management, treatment, etc. Benefits are very expensive and frustrating to a lot of employees . If you are given anything they will tax you on it. There isn't much job security. They will try to get you to work in multiple areas around the shop so it's not as big of a blow when someone leaves or is laid off. They give a good amount of vacation days and a ton of overtime. Most areas have mandatory overtime, so plan on working 6 days/week. Not much is done to fix the root of the problem, but they throw a lot of "band-aids" on things that need to be fixed. It gets annoying to constantly fix things. Other reviews on here seem to hit the nail on the head. It's good to have them on your resume, but it's most likely a stepping stone to a better job

Some departments are great to work in than others. Managers upstairs were never willing to listen to the peoples needs on the floor. I personally tried to bring up great plans and ideas to improve processes, but they were never willing to fund these projects. It is like pulling teeth to get a process improvement implemented in the facility and the upper management needs to change. The market in the aerospace industry is growing fast and technology needs to advance with the market. If Barnes Ogden does not get on board in the next 5 years we might no see them in business. Personally the people on the floor are wonderful to work with and have great respect for each other.  On the other side of the fence, the management needs to step down and bring more qualified people into upper management workforce and trust people that can bring good ideas to the table and get the ball rolling with projects. Multiple occasions I brought some ideas to the table that management stole and used as their own creations. They got recognized and compensated for my ideas. This is the problem with the business and I hope to find a place that recognizes true talent instead of stolen talent. Barnes used to be a wonderful place to work when I first started, but with problems like the ones I have stated. They are on a slow decline to failure.

Barnes had one of the sweetest contracts in the valley. Landing gear components for General Electric. They had a manager in charge of floor operations who had virtually no experience with aerospace manufacturing at the onset of this project. We worked twice as hard often to do simple things because of an inability of the floor manager and upper level management to properly delegate tasks and hire the proper staff. This was a great contract that was ruined by management. Floor managers then changed every 6 months or so, as did upper management with little or no results (we had one good one, but a couple people had problems with him because he was too 'pushy'.) Near the 'end' Barnes corporate put up posters about how 'globalism' would change the world for the better. Well 6 years into this sweet contract they started sending parts to China. Now all the people from this great project are gone here (maybe 25-30 people)  and the parts are made in China for cheap. Obviously they have a good manager there (in china). I'm not sure how many are left at barnes now, but anyway fly (land) safe.

This place was great 5+ years ago. Great incentives, great culture, great management, it was a company that a lot of people could see themselves retire there. Now they have taken away all incentives, took away a week of vacation away from everyone that has been there over 5 years, and the culture is absolutely down the drain. People can’t get out of here fast enough, good people. 3 years ago I would have been more then happy to try and get a friend or family member a job here, now everyone that works here tries to warn anybody about this place. They don’t care about your safety or doing the job right, just do it and do it quick, everyone is overworked and expected to do three different jobs but get paid for one. Especially engineers, we have lost probably 75% of our engineers and all there work has landed on the rest, and that is only burning them out and causing more to leave. Unless there is management change at the top levels, This place getting any better. So unless your super desperate to pay the bills, I wouldn’t come here. 

Covid-19 hit aerospace companies HARD, but Barnes Aerospace has weathered the storm well because of the employees. Some perks were taken away, but I personally would rather a PERK be taken away than lose my job altogether. Manufacturing as an industry on the whole always talks the "safety" talk, Barnes walks the walk, the management team is new but they listen to the employees and are transparent in their communications, although Covid-19 did make conventional communication challenging. The management encourages the employees to take ownership of their job while providing guidance and training. Open door policies and frequent engagement with management on the shop floor are keys to our continued success however there is room for improvement, managers are frequently in meetings for several hours to all day multiple times a week, clear goals and objectives are not set, don't always know if working the overtime helped accomplish a goal because feedback is not always provided.  

I would not recommend working at Barnes. 
The management from corporate to in house management really doesn’t care about the employees. The pay is okay at best but not what you would think for Aerospace. They lowball everybody. 

They laid off more than 50% of the shop with out notice. They have taken away some benefits and vacation time. 

When given the chance to sit down with corporate, it was asked, “What is the incentive for being here anymore?” Corporate responded with a snarled look, “Your paycheck.”
 
Well anyone offers a paycheck so that isn’t unique to Barnes. 

Barnes has been asking more and more of its employees, covering jobs of those they cut. Earning new certifications, only to get the run around on compensation. HR just baits you on like a donkey following a carrot on a stick. 

I have plenty more I feel like I should warn people about but this is getting depressing. 
Simply avoid Barnes Aerospace Lansing Division.

No organization, terrible engineering, and even worse management. Zero communication between management, h.r., to employees. Certain people get treated better than others depending on their friendship with their boss. Excellence in work is not appreciated unless you suck up to upper management. Cliques are a thing there. Not a very sanitary environment for being aerospace. Nobody cleans up after themselves. Almost no welder there should be certified to weld something going on a turbine engine. (Ive literally watched weld tests get tampered with so they would pass inspection). Just an all around bad company to work for. But if you want your first aerospace job, go for it. Get your foot in the door and some experience on thin material, then run to something better.

I worked at both the OEM facility in Windsor and the MRO facility in East Granby and the difference in locations is as visible as night and day.
OEM facility in Windsor was well ran on every level, not saying it is perfect but there was unity between all the employees and a community with solid communication.
The MRO facility has a very visible disconnect between the floor and office associates. Office associates are held to low standards and are seen as continuously hard working from management while the floor associates are being micromanaged like they aren't working enough or treated with respect or acknowledged for their work. Management tries to show they care by doing monthly lunches when goals are met and meaningless weekly early morning meetings. There are a ton of other issues but it starts with management and hopefully this location change and be as great as Windsor or the other facilities.

Management is VERY unorganized and will not fix the very obvious problems that are causing the plant to not meet their monthly goals. Favoritism for certain employees is very obvious and does not help with the teamwork and working environment. There is basically no training for new employees and makes it very difficult to know if you’re even doing anything right. No one really wants to take the time to help train either, having other employees train you while they are asked to do their daily tasks is not an efficient way to properly train anyone. They also want you to constantly work and so there’s no good balance between work an and life. They just constantly ask you for more, never reward you for anything or show appreciation, it’s always negative; that no one is ever doing good enough, and they continuously need more from you. I would NEVER recommend anyone to work here

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Cnc machinist 1 salary reported	$26.50 per hour
Inspector 1 salary reported	$29.00 per hour
Cnc operator 1 salary reported	$23.50 per hour
Welder 5 salaries reported	$28.42 per hour
Maintenance mechanic 3 salaries reported	$29.06 per hour

Working at Barnes Aerospace: Company Overview and Reviews

Barnes Aerospace

Barnes Aerospace Ratings

Popular jobs at Barnes Aerospace

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected