maintenance mechanic

lead mechanic

customer service representative

administrative assistant

Bay Valley Foods

The average day starts with a pre-shift huddle where your supervisor, lead or someone from the previous shift tells you about how things ran on the previous shift and about what you're line is running and any changes that'll take place later in the day like a flavor change or pack change. You sit there hoping the machine you run had a good day and then worry about how it'll be running when you get out there because every time there's a shift change your machine seems to mess up. After the huddle you leave the break room, wash your hands and go to your work station where you would meet up with the previous shifts operator. You talk a little bit about how the machine ran, what issues there were, any fixes that were made and then you take over and the previous shift operator leaves.
You spend most of the day just doing checks and making sure your machine stays running and sometimes you end up having to do multiple changeovers to switch to a different flavor. We got 2 ten minute breaks and 1 thirty minute unpaid lunch. the time you go depends on when your utility comes over and sends you to break.
I was surrounded by tons of very nice co-workers who I got along with. We tried to help each other when we could by doing things like putting bottles back on the line or taking bad cases off, etc.
I learned a lot while working there from how to identify and troubleshoot problems to learning how to communicate effectively and ask for help.
Management was alright I guess, they tried to communicate with the plant and had a monthly plant meeting to talk about how the month went and any new plans that they were implementing which is more then some places do but some of the decisions they made on things like the order to run product were poor.
The best thing about working there is definitely the people, everyone is friendly and tries to help each other. Some people have bad days and it was always nice to get help from others.
There was a lot of hard parts like management making poor decisions that made the day way more complicated then it needed to be but honestly I ran the oldest wrap in the building and it was really obvious. The wrap just didn't run the way it was supposed to because it hadn't gotten the care it needed over the course of its 20 year life span and that forced us and maintenance to try and find work arounds in order to run well. Speaking of this my line ran 48 oz bottles and it is the biggest product ran by any wrapapac in the building. The wrap was literally not designed to run it so maintenance made parts to be able to run it but even with all of that it was 50/50 on whether it would run well or if it would run poorly for however long we were forced to run it which was typically about a week or two.
I honestly am pretty neutral about Winland Foods but I did get to work with my best friend and several others that I knew from outside of work so that colors my view quite a bit. 



First job I’ve had where colleagues were for themselves instead of for each other which doesn’t help with team morale and isn’t beneficial for company to surpass target quotas. It ends up becoming a toxic work environment so you better have a strong personality to deal with it. People can easily complain about you and get away with it because no mediation is involved which should be necessary for the type of company this is. Very cliquey so best thing to do is either conform to make your life easier or keep to yourself and keep conversations at a bare minimum as well as only work related. 

Do your job and show that you want to improve and management will be on your side. I don’t understand why people think you have to be a butt kisser when people will support you if you have good work ethic. 

Try your best to master your craft on your own because people will not help you if they don’t like you and you will be thrown out to wherever they place you without proper training but be expected to produce the same results as someone more experienced lol

Once I got to work, I had to check the production schedule.  
what was and will be run that day.  Get the report from the night technician regarding what was already made and the checks done.  Got my cart ready with syringes, sampling cups, gloves and swabs.  Before I entered the production area, I had to put my lab coat and hair net on.  After washing my hands went straight to pull my samples.  I had to set priorities since the lines had to wait for the mixes to be checked and approved by the lab before packaging and the pasteurizers and mixers had to wait for the lab's approval before transferring the product to the holding tanks and fillers.  Once the lines start running we had to do checks every hour for the same product.  Whenever there was a change of product, label and container size the operator would call for lab personnel to check and approve.

ator would call for lab personnel to come and check the product (by sam

The beatings will continue until morale improves. You constantly were Voluntold overtime and work that had nothing to do with your job. Everything was broken. Nothing was fixed unless you were a production line. NO communication. Abusive workers that nothing would be done about. The joke was you could do whatever you wanted as long you showed up to work. They tell you family and work balance is important and then force you to work no matter what was going on in your life. The job was cited as a part of the reason for suicide three times in the last 10 years. I was on year 5 and couldn't take it anymore. I wouldn't recommend this job to any with a life. the pay was good, but not worth giving up your family life. And there was no moving up. They would lie to you that anyone could move up. They meant anyone but you. everything was a lateral move to every part of the plant. This place was misery wrapped in hate with a bow made of suffering.

Your work ethic and dedication will mean nothing to corporate. The overall goal of TreeHouse Foods is to maximize the stock price each quarter. No regard for the overall needs of individual production facilities or the employees therein. Be prepared to do the work of three people. As employees leave at the factory level, work is divided between those who remain, however that doesn't stop corporate from hiring more directors and executives or secretly promoting from within or bringing their "buddies" on board; extremely top heavy company. Poor corporate infrastructure to support individual business units, grey corporate policies that don't translate to the factory level, discrimination, and gross abuse of travel and related expenses by corporate are just a few of the negatives that will make you question why you continue to partake in the struggle at the factory level.

I found Bay Valley a great place to work, I was trained on over 10 machines that I could run well. The place however needed a lot of repairs between the building and machinery. Over-all on most days the job was enjoyable. A typical day started with a production staff meeting, would then get assigned to areas  other than what we were scheduled for if production needed to change for that day.  we went through 3 supervisors on my shift so things were pretty chaotic, and at the end we had multiple temporary supervisors who were not at all familiar with the workings of our facility. The hardest part of the job was when you needed something done and others couldn't help you complete a difficult task without arguing. The best part of my job was learning how to do so much, and the friends I made along the way.

What is the best part of working at the company?
My co-workers are wonderful,  we work amongst each other as a union.  We protect each other. The family culture and good pay is why I pray to stay. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lack of work during summer, lack of communication from management.  How the new employees get special treatment,  more time off and no accountability.  Treat loyal and proven by years of service as if there trying to replace us.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Great if we dont think about managers/ front office 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Not to many days I can remember not feeling like I'm walking on eggshells.  Its almost like them vs us . Omg the personal favoritism.

This company participates in some very shady business practices. There is mold everywhere in the plant. Maintenance will put a bandaid on a ship that needs a new hull and tell you to go sailing. The city should really watch their waste water situation because it's definitely not legal what they're sending out to the city. They put me in another department with a significantly lower pay scale then had me doing the same work I had been doing before. They hired an absurd number of upper management production struggled to keep up. Classic big business mistakes and upper management looking out for themselves while production workers struggle with poor training and a general lack of knowledge about what goes on in the facility.

Start worked at 3am troubleshoot machines and prepare second shift production. Repair or fabricate anything necessary to start production line on time. I have a mentor who teaches me different responsibilities outside of my skill set. This helps me to be knowledgeable of other roles within the manufacturing facility. Management on 2nd shift do not micromanage so I am able to help my coworkers with varies tasks that are needed. The hardest part of the job is not having enough help when multiple machines breakdown. The most enjoyable thing about my job is learning other job responsibilities within the facility.

Bay Valley was a great place to work, but my assignment was cut short due to the financial standing of the company.  A typical day could include running a batch or two in the pilot plant and then heading back to the office to catch up on paperwork for other projects as well as formulation changes for others.  During my time there I learned a lot about seeing projects from the preliminary stages in the lab through plant scale ups, as well as first production.  Travel was necessary for much of the plant scale up, as there was limited capability in the home plant.  While traveling, most of the day consisted of time in the plant monitoring production and overseeing testing of product as it came out of retorts.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance mechanic 2 salaries reported	$30.04 per hour
Lead mechanic 2 salaries reported	$34.11 per hour
Customer service representative 1 salary reported	$17.50 per hour
Administrative assistant 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

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