maintenance technician

machine operator

furnace operator

production associate

production helper

Bodycote

You get what you put in, but expect it to take a while. They are ok to work for. I was already an employee of the previous owner before Bodycote purchased our company. I was able to keep my position and pay. They pay about what every manufacturer pays. Starting $14 to $15 p/h if they like you. It's hard work and it can be complicated if you don't have any knowledge of steel and aluminum. You have to be prepared, ready, willing and able to learn a trade. There is a lot of physics to Heat treating. There are many different types of steel for many different types of purposes. Everything from gun parts to transmission gears. There's no such thing as a stupid question. You will have to know what you're doing, in a timely manner. If you don't get it in the 1st 30 days, forget it and move on to the next job. Very fast paced. Expect overtime and lack of personal life. There's a lot of money to be made if you learn the trade and make sacrifices. It's extremely hot in the summer. It can also be cold in the winter. It depends on how well the ventilation is in the building. If it isn't state of the art, you will be cold. You work with very large furnaces with 8ft. Flames curtains. It can be dangerous work if you're lackadaisical. This is not a job for slackers. I know, I tried to train many. I was a supervisor. It took me 13 years to get somewhere in the industry. Our plant burnt down because a group of lazy individuals decided to teach a newby a jobhe shouldn't have been doing on his own. It takes five minutes for a plant to burn to the ground. If you are unsure of what you're doing, say something! It will save lives and jobs. I liked my job. Bodycote definitely needs to work on somethings, but the benefits are good and they will treat you good if you get it together and do your job. They don't have many perks. Before Bodycote took over we got bonuses, their mentality is that your pay is your bonus. Upper Management rarely puts in a whole 40 hrs, regular Floor Management and employees work 40+ always. 

My experience with this company was unfortunately not what I had hoped for as an HR professional committed to building healthy, transparent, people-centric workplaces. While there are individuals who genuinely care and try to do the right thing, the overall environment is heavily influenced by internal politics and a culture that discourages constructive questioning or positive change.

Leaders who raise concerns, offer new ideas, or attempt to implement improvements often find themselves marginalized rather than supported. This dynamic creates a climate where decisions are driven more by personal alliances and favoritism than by business strategy, data, or sound organizational principles.

Workloads are frequently excessive, with employees—including leaders—expected to take on an unsustainable number of responsibilities with very limited training, guidance, or resources. This not only leads to burnout, but also undermines effectiveness and accountability across the organization.

From an HR standpoint, one of the most concerning issues is the lack of transparency and business acumen at key decision-making levels. When information is withheld, priorities shift without explanation, and processes lack clarity, it becomes extremely difficult to build trust or move the company forward in a meaningful way.

Overall, this is a workplace with potential but significant cultural and leadership challenges. Until the organization is willing to embrace transparency, support those who advocate for improvement, and adopt a more structured, equitable approach to people and operations, it will continue to struggle with turnover, inconsistency, and employee disengagement.

This is literally the most toxic, disfunctional workplace I have ever had the misfortune of being involved with. Long term managers treat new employees like they just fell off the turnip truck even when they have vastly more experience with other organizations. Do not point out their shortcomings or they will find passive aggressive ways to retaliate. The main reason behind it seems to be they all want to seem like the smartest person in the room yet are clueless about what they are doing. Their HR department is extremely unprofessional and unsupportive in every aspect. They will ask what is needed to better do your job, not provide the requested resources, then reprimand for not meeting a goal. Most employees, including managers are expected to complete the workload that should be distributed among multiple employees. Management frequently disregards their own quality requirements and procedures. They will give prospective employees high expectations of a good work environment which will almost immediately disappoint. Management does not treat others with respect, often cursing at or talking over others while speaking. I would NEVER select this organization to work for again if I had it to do over again. Whether you are a prospective employee or customer I would strongly advise you to look elsewhere.

A typical day at work would include loading or unloading parts and/or materials from customer and commercial trucks, setting those materials up for heat treating process(es), creating hard copy job cards for the purpose of tracking the steps of the processing, programming the furnaces to heat treat at customer/code specific/material dictated temperatures, inspecting parts after processing to confirm the success or failure of the process in achieving the customer's desired results. I learned to set up the parts, program the furnaces, create the job cards, create the charts that show the heat treating process, create certifications, inspect using industry accepted methods and equipment. Management was easy to work for and with; although many plant managers (8) were in that position during the 5 years I was employed there. Co-workers were easy going and team oriented.  The hardest part of my job was to operate the equipment when it was not in top working order (i.e. self-propelled car bottoms wouldn't function and required a forklift to push/pull the cars in and out of the furnace, furnace temperatures not adhering to the program which required slowing or speeding up the ramp rates to comply with specifications). the most enjoyable part of my job was operating the overhead cranes to load and unload the largest pieces up to 160,000lbs.

In the interview they mention that you will have some mandatory overtime, but that is just a bold faced lie. After your supposedly 3 month training period you will be working more 10s than regular hours. They definitely do not pay you enough for the amount of work you do or the amount of work they ask you to do. I will say the team members here are nice, but there is a huge disconnect with management and the employees. They really only care about the numbers at the end of the month and I get that its a business, but they should also care about the people that make them that money. So if you’re looking for a place that pays you poorly to the amount of work you put in and essentially guilt tripping you to work more overtime, this is the place for you! Good luck if you get covid too, they don’t pay you for covid leave anymore and will force you to use your ppd and if you’re just starting and get covid you’ll be out of all your ppd! Also if you care about covid spreading this place doesn’t even enforce their own rules. They say you have to wear a mask if you’re not feeling well or have came into contact with covid but everyone pretty much ignores it or has the mask under their chins. 

A typical day at work for me would be to arrive before 8 a.m. and check my email. I would gather data for spreadsheets/reports and have them out by the daily/weekly/monthly deadline. Then I would typically sort invoices, scan those that are emailed to customers and send them out, and fold the rest, stuff envelopes, and have them ready before the mail carrier picks them up. The rest of the day is spent sorting AP documents, matching, answering phones, doing collections, filing, and handling any issues that may arise. I learned a lot about accounts payable in this job. The management is great, my co-workers are great. It's a relaxed environment most of the time, and I don't have a real schedule, which is the most enjoyable part of the job in which I am able to make my own hours. The hardest part of the job is the pressure at the end of the month when reports are due.

They expect you to do your job. This company has some people in upper management without a back bone. I know the saying that the customer might not always be right but they are still the customer, but There are some things that the customer will never be correct on and that is company policies. They expect you to abide by security and company policies, but sometimes it makes you look negative in the customers eyes. If the customer doesn't like it, they can call upper management and get you in trouble just because they were dissatisfied. I down know....seems like a witch hunt at times especially during reviews and auditing time. Vice president and that upper management are too quick to conclusion and don't give many people that were let go a chance. They will keep you on for probationary period only to let you go a day before its up and hire a temporary person to fill the position in between full time hired people.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Decent pay. Tons of overtime if you want it. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Poor management. Zero accountability. Employees can basically do whatever they want without being held to any standards. Many employees come to work under the influence of marijuana, stinking of it and management turns a blind eye. Not a place to work if you have any kind of work ethic. The bad employees will drive you away like they did me. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Loud and dirty. Easy work, but very repetitive and boring. First shift is favored over the off shifts. If you’re not on first shift, you basically don’t matter. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Stressful since I actually cared about doing a good job and being productive, and I was surrounded by employees that were just there for a paycheck.

I come in make sure everything from night before is good. Some orders can't be put on because lack of info on work orders. Unload the trucks go through all paperwork make sure everything is accounted for pc count is correct all materials are correct. Check everything count, weight & take pictures of everything then put orders on with pictures & put all parts in designated area per heat treat specification. There are only Two people that do my job one in the morning & I work second shift. I take over what ever he doesn't finish & I make sure everything is put on & cleaned up before I leave. I also make some local deliveries we have one 18 wheeler & two box trucks I am licensed to drive both. The best thing is probably that I work alone and can pace myself to get everything done in a timely matter, & do get to get some overtime usually about 4 or 5 hrs a week.

I inspected machine parts on rockwell hardness inspection machine with 100kg ball tip for softer metals,150kg diamond tip for machine parts or smaller parts and materials,for bigger raw material we would grind a even and flat piece in material polish and indent it with a brinell 3000kg portable or standup indenter and randomly read parts with scope we could than visualy check the parts and could see with eye if indention size had changed on the chart we could read actual hardness according to our scope reading,i would than record on paper my readings and prepare for shipping if it passed requierd hardness if not i would reject to be revaluated and run the process of heat treating over till it met requirement

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 19 salaries reported	$29.74 per hour
Machine operator 3 salaries reported	$23.33 per hour
Furnace operator 12 salaries reported	$22.67 per hour
Production associate 2 salaries reported	$17.25 per hour
Production helper 1 salary reported	$15.50 per hour

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