sales representative

assembler

cnc machinist

territory manager

r&d engineer

CONMED

This review must begin with a disclaimer: It may seem unreal when treading this review, but it's only because it may be hard to believe the content. Please know that this review is coming from an employee with (15) years experience, who was in a position that paid decently and I loved the work that I did. Although, there was a great decline in the company from the time I started in 2005 and when I left in 2020.
Hostile environment speaks for itself. 
The company changed from scheduled pay raises to raises being determined by managers. At this point, the issue of biasness became even more evident. There were managers who were close to employees within their departments, and it wasn't a secret that those employees received better raises even if their performance didn't support it. 
Industry pay is public knowledge, but it wasn't until I was over (10) years in with the company that I learned that this company was at the bottom of the industry in pay for every position within the company. 
Along with the low pay, employees were expected to produce at a rate above what was possible. This was mainly due to so many employees leaving the company to go to other companies, because of many of the issues that I am writing about in this review.  Because of the work overload, low quality became an issue, along with dishonesty from management trying to cover up quality issues. I also witnessed many  other forms of dishonesty, but I will defer any other comments that would seem negative, The one good point that I could say about this company is that it's a great place for sales persons. The company provides you with the product. You make money from selling the product, and the company buys the product back from you when you decide that this company is not for you.

What is the best part of working at the company?
This company has a very challenging environment which makes any professional excel in their roles. Due to the diversity of technology in the company's divisions you can be exposed to new learning and development experiences.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
This company is a follower and not a leader in the Madical Devices industry. Their product development is allway lagging their top competitor's outperforming products which leads to low market share and unstable sales. Also, there are many middle management roles still under people that are obsolete with as much  as 15+ years in the same position although upper management is refreshed every 2 years.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment and culture is divided in silos between new hires and almost permanent employees. There is a lot of gossip about other employees that new employees need to adjust to. Also, the culture and work environment is impacted by the fact that the company is constantly reingineering its workforce.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive early, attend many meetings (not working meetings), work on breaks, constant follow-up on your teams (otherwise getting delays from them), adjust your timelines based on priorities reassignments or resources unavailability, fighting lack of support from your peers, recapping what tasks needs to be moved to next day and what are the new tasks and end up your work day after 10 hours working on site.

Not enough help, Poor systems implementation, Budget systems and skeliton crew. More willing to save a dollar than do what is right or needed. IT dept is understaffed and 10 years behind in tech. Lay offs are common especially on quarter end. Their Finance VP will ring the bell on wall street to show you how good they are doing as they are laying people off that afternoon. This place is a stepping stone. Everything is moving toward automation and what made the Medical device manufacturing space what it was (the people) is now being replaced by machines and people that can do the job cheaper. I have seen many experienced folk get laid off just to be replaced by a kid out of college. Also there is a huge lack of innovation and their R&D roadmap does not offer much for the horizon. I would not consider them for a long term career. Management is filled with people that really do not know how customer service works or what it takes to run an effective enterprise IT helpdesk. 

The hardest part of the job was being unable to help each person that needed help, being unable to answer the phone or focus on fixing each problem and needing to handle 20 things at a time when you can only handle 1. Enterprise company with a small business level of thinking. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was helping the good people. Its nice when you see the stress in their eyes and you can offer a glimmer of relief for them. It is not much but when you see someone on the edge and really having a hard time its nice when you can bring a smile out of them in an otherwise unsmiling day.

You will be stuck for trainer which is not available for you as new hire you can get this training for production or assembly, and need to wait forever when you have the trainer available again to show you something else to learn and do or sign you off to be able to do that task ,it takes from 4 months up to 7 months to move on other areas to work and cover due to shortage of trainers and lack of good management, the policy of attendance is horrible using 10 points during a year if you stuck for any reason like accident on the road or have any other family issues will lose the point for calling out and of your points are gone you are done working there ! No fair no mercy with manufacturing employees who building this industry! Qualified and certified technician from college they also don’t go by that , they dealing with certified as a high school graduate starting them with production line, then can move them up to service and repair after being Electronic technician in CONMED for 1 year at least, no matter the skills had it before or any kind of certification they have ,All electronic assemblers and service and repair should pass solder evaluation test or not going to be hired, even if no work with solder is required in the job description 

They have a 3 strike system. 3 strikes in 3 months and your out the door. They are always hiring for cnc machinist. One guy put in for vacation. He turned in a vacation form. they approved it. They fired him because he took 4 days when he only had three days coming to him. He thought he had 5 days. He would have easily paid it back. They lost a good worker. If you sign up for overtime and something came up or if your late, you have to pay the company back for that time.It is also a strike.If you forget to clock in, it is a strike.If you have a tool out of place, you can be wrote up... That is considered a strike. If you are late due to no fault of your own (accident ahead) and you are out of personal time, you will be terminated otherwise you use your personal time if you have any left. Rules are the rules. Bottom line is... if a company is always hiring for a certain position, consider it a red flag. A typical day at work... must be on time always.What I learned... walk on egg shells. The hardest part of the job is making sure I was in compliant every moment and TAKT sheet is completed every hour on the hour. Most enjoyable part of the job... working in a very clean/orderless shop and learn that setting up jobs on lathe and mills can be done in a very short time. Machines are well maintained.

I will tell you as a 25 year experienced cnc set up machinist and worked for Conmed for over 5 years (2015 to 2020), that this company changed so bad since I got hired that I no longer wish to come back as I went out on a separation agreement due to covid 19 and was supposed to return. But my position wasnt available and they offered me associate position as I was a lead CNC set up machinist who trained everyone new and temp on my cells.. They cut the PTO days and holidays down.. was 10 holiday and now 7 or even maybe less.. cut unpaid PTO out and you need PTO to take time off or if you get 10 incidents whether its 1 min late or 1 hour in 1 year you are terminated.. I am not even going into the management system as its the worst.. upper management has no clue as to how a production shop works.. They have no experience in a production shop and rely on engineers to make things happen and once its written in stone ,you cant change it to make any process better.. you like running 1 piece at a time in a production shop with orders over 100,, then this place is for you.. Made alot of friends there and their is some great people but so long suckers.. To get time off, you have to plan months ahead in a book so that only 3 people per shift can take a day off at a time

A typical day will include writing reports, phone calls with customers. I was in charge of sales for the whole Middle East Africa. I learned so much about commercial local laws. Was exposed to different cultures and sub cultures. Was also exposed to different languages and different accents. Part of the job is extensive travelling which made my job interesting, exciting, tiring, but most importantly a bit tough on the family. I was away for travelling purposes more that 100 days a year for 10 straight years. Travelling, however was the best part of the job as I had a chance to meet different people and different classes of people, different cultures, and different business laws in the different countries I travelled to. I was in touch with my superiors on a daily basis to discuss challenges and how to overcome them. preparing forecasts was the hardest part of the job as it was based on assessments on what is expected of customers next year. I lived in a relatively volatile part of the world which made speculations a bit of a gamble. Political and economical instability played a role in this difficulty. however; I was as successful in this as anyone can be.

I have been with ConMed for 3 1/2 years now. I was a  Surgical Assistant and Surgical Tech for 15 years. I still currently hold my CST credential. I had to leave the OR due to injury and ConMed took a chance on me. I did have some administrative background prior to the OR but had been away from any type of computer work for a while. I worked very hard to learn all I could and now  I am currently the Medical Writer Manager. I have had the chance to grow and be promoted twice in those 3 1/2 years. The management is really supportive. If you show that you're willing to learn and grow they work with you to move up within the company. All of my colleagues are supportive of one another. You always feel like they can help with any questions or challenges. I feel like I can go to my manager with any issues or questions and she will help. I love what I am doing and know there is more room for me to grow. The job is stressful with deadlines, regulatory clinical changes, learning curves, and staffing needs. Adaptability is a must, but those concerns are found in any career today.

In my 14 plus years at CONMED/Linvatec I learned to work in a high performance environment based on lean manufacturing practices with 5S and Kaizen as its foundation. 

The most enjoyable thing for me was working with highly technical equipment in a high performance work-team that specialized in the production of tools in the field of orthopedic medicine. It really felt like I was a significant contribution to a company that was helping doctors and other medical professionals improve the lives of people worldwide.

Although I had some issues with corporate level decisions, the local management of CONMED were a great group of highly intelligent individuals. They and my fellow coworkers were like my second family away from home and by far one of my favorite aspects of the job. 

The hardest part of my job was the commute from Spring Hill to Largo I preformed each day, a ~108 mile round trip. But I considered it necessary to work in such an environment where I got to utilize my skills on a daily basis.

As much as I appreciated the opportunity I was given, this place is designed to keep you confined to one area. It will not matter that your experience ranges far and wide. If you are hired there as a machinist, you will be confined to one area unless you are certified by ConMed to work in other areas. I have never heard of this in all 10 years of my working in the related field. I was more than capable of operating several machines in the building, but it was forbidden without in-house certification. Aside from being the quality control specialist, heat treat operator, rework tech, among other things that they require you to do, my largest concern was the issue of in-house certification. Why waste a talented persons skills by keeping them confined to one area when other areas can use the expertise just the same?

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Sales representative 75 salaries reported	$67,700 per year
Assembler 40 salaries reported	$17.27 per hour
Cnc machinist 8 salaries reported	$30.37 per hour
Territory manager 11 salaries reported	$50,682 per year
R&d engineer 25 salaries reported	$111,589 per year

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