maintenance technician

injection mold operator

technician

finisher

tool maker

Cooper Standard

A typical day's work includes, but is not limited to, reviewing and final approving all appropriation requests, as well as each fixed asset disposition requests; reconciling all North America construction in progress accounts; tracking all capital project spending and verifying they are in budget and in compliance with company policy and US GAAP regulations for useful life terms when the project capitalized. Some other tasks throughout the month include global reporting and reconciling on all capital projects from SAP BPC (a business planning consolidation software application) that I administer globally, creating project and capital work orders in all legacy applications. From this job I have gained the experience of upgrading and developing a new forecasting software application from scratch, working closely with our international counterparts not only with project management from the SAP BPC implementation, but from the day to day global project tracking, and upholding our K2 workflow application; ensuring all appropriations are compliant with our company's delegation of authority and hierarchy. I have been with this company for the last seven years and been fortunate enough to develop several close relationships with my colleagues and most recently grow with a team that has not always seen eye to eye, but has prevailed to be an exceptional group of people. I have learned through team work and perseverance there is not a lot one cannot accomplish. The hardest part of my job is dealing with the time changes globally. Working with a global application you are dependent on data from around the world, it is hard to be available at all hours of the day and I do not like for my internal customer to be delayed when waiting for system maintenance from me. The most enjoyable part is working with the people. As I mentioned above, I have been with the company for quite a while, I have grown up with these people and learn a lot from many of my colleagues. I have built amazing rapport and working relationships that will last a lifetime.

I began working with Cooper in August of 1999. Through the years, I had many opportunities for advancement. I owe all of my experience to the management of Cooper. Each of my managers took me in, led by example, and taught me everything I needed to know to be successful. The hardest part of the job was dealing with the people that just didn't want to work. Some of the efficiencies for certain areas were lower than others and some people would take advantage of the fact that we (management) would take that into consideration and not discipline as we should. The most enjoyable part of the job was knowing that each morning when I left, I had achieved a goal. Knowing I did something that actually mattered, made a difference was always a huge accomplishment for me. From dealing with employees that made things difficult for others, to making a sound decision on how to handle machinery errors and downtime, to working with the people to allow them to spend time with their families. It was always enjoyable to know I helped with all of these things. Due to the amount of people that worked at Cooper at the time, making a flexible schedule for people was very feasible. The biggest love of Cooper was my direct managers. Being on third shift, I was "alone" the entire shift. My managers trusted that I would not make a bad decision. That I would always know what to do and how to handle the situations that presented themselves. And each morning all of management would have a detailed report of how the shift ran that night. If any questions arose or anything needed to be known, the communication was always there for them to review.

the first hour I have to rush and get all the jobs that are affiliated with the water spider filled, then take all the empty bins that I collect and rush and get them filled, then I have to check all the benders and fill them if need, then check if any job needs part if so then I have to go back to the warehouse grab the parts and give the operators what they needed. its pretty much like that all day and a lot of times I will get a lot of calls over the radio saying an operator is out or in need of parts. I have learned that it is very important to communicate regularly and work your hardest even if the shop is at 100 degrees, you can't slow down at all or else you will be behind and you will not be able to catch up with your routine. management can be really difficult on occasion because if your rushed and have to grab parts and you have forgot to scan those components then there goes the count in inventory it is very difficult to track where those parts went. Co-workers, the people I work with some have attitudes and some keep to them selves and some like to joke and mess around, you'll find these typed of people at every workplace but if I'm late to the wrong person I HERE it. The hardest part of my job would have to be the amount of responsibilities the water spider has most people don't relies how much work and running around we do. the most enjoyable part of my job is moving around the whole shop, I don't have to stand in one spot all day and on days I get frustrated I can take it out on boxes that I have to break down.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Unreasonably strict attendance policy. No exceptions for illness, even with a Dr. Note. Training was adequate. Operating an Extrusion Line, by yourself, w/o an actual line assistant, while maintaining a quality product is not realistically achievable. They need to move to all microwave lines. Heat curing in a salt-tank is inefficient and not very safe for the operator. They do enforce their safety standards.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Operating a line by yourself, being responsible for all aspects, from rubber feeder to operator, to dimensional analysis, to lamination and packing/coiling the finished product... all while the line is running. This process setup would never pass an IATF Audit (required for Automotive suppliers). That is why Cooper Standard will never be a player in the automotive industry supply chain.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
I found the culture to be a bit rigid, stressful and a bit depressing. I did like the low amount of overtime required. The attendance policy is unrealistic and doesn't take into account the demands of working families where both parents or a single parent must navigate work and home life.

A Typical day at work was never typical. My day could start at Midnight, 3am or 8am and could end at 4pm , 8pm or 11pm. During the course of the day I was supporting end users in Europe (France, Germany and Poland), Assisting with application errors, and Approval (BizRights) Requests; Also was supporing New Financial Implementation in process here in the states which included working with developers and the RCC and CCC Teams during the pre-integration, integration and UAT testing. Have been through 2 Go-Live cycles from integration testing,UAT, Data Migration Testing, Pre Go Live, and Hypercare. From day to day I had to be extremely flexible to accomodate the needs of other teams. The hardest part of the job was knowing that there was so much work to be done, that not everything could be done in one day. The most enjoyable part of the job was working within the security team. We supported each other at all times, and communication amongst our team was very important to each of us. We all had some idea what the other was working on so at anytime we could jump in and assist if needed. My other enjoyable part of the job was assisting the end user in resolving their issues in a very timely manner.

Your day starts off with a meeting . Mostly about how you are not performing to their standards. Threats of disciplinary actions for stupid things like eating at your job, taking a couple extra minutes to use the bathroom on your break... After the brow beating, you make your way through the SAFE environment. You fill out all the paperwork, get your labs ready, call for maintenance, get your machine calibrated and about an hour later you're ready to go!  
Management are so busy throwing each other under the bus, they don't have time to print your bar codes or ID tape while they are shoveling a piece of cake in their mouth and scanning their e-mails for more dirt. 
Training is a joke. They throw you on a job and say read your book. 
Kudos to people who love working those long hours and weekends. They obviously have no life or they budgeted themselves around it. 
Don't bother making plans for your days off because there are none and you will be greatly disappointed and frustrated.  
The most valuable lesson from working here? If a company is using a temp agency to hire its' staff, they are in big trouble. Bad news for you, just don't do it. 
No employee appreciation, only criticism. Cooper giveth and Cooper taketh away beware. You could be a supervisor today and line staff tomorrow!   
Hope this helps the next poor slob that comes along..   
No more country Thursday!!!!!!!!

Management at Cooper is from the Dinosaur age!  For example, any possible improvements or changes have to travel through multiple levels of management, gaining approval at each level, before any possibility of changes is made.  One change I proposed took over two years to implement, and then it was barely recognizable and not practical.

Also, their concept of overtime is nearly always 'mandatory', which they do NOT tell you when you're hired in  or when you're training!  I've seen people work 12 hour shifts for months on end (NOT voluntarily), with no actual communication as to why.

Communication from the management team is non-existent, and they have no apparent desire to change despite lots of feedback.

Safety culture is just a term, and has very little basis in practice.  For example, I personally observed the Safety Manager in deep conversation for 20 minutes with a Supervisor about what she feeds her dog and where she gets the food, the day after an employee was seriously injured.  This was during the so-called "Safety Walk".  

Every job is physically challenging, but improvements in ergonomics are practically non-existent.  Wears you out, pays the rent, but gives almost nothing else back.

When I first started at cooper, I was part of an area that had just launched in the area. When I started I would work 8 hour shifts. 7AM-3:30PM, but after working there for a while my 8 hour days turned into 10 to 12 almost everyday, until I was working 12 hour shifts for almost 3 months straight. I learned a lot since working there. I learned how to make parts for vehicles, and I also learned how to tell if a part is good, or bad. I learned how to do paperwork for my area, and I started helping the team leader, and I was going to apply for the back up team leader position. After about a year of working there, I decided I needed to see a change. So I moved to the Cutters, where I learned how to make the steel come out straight, and to cut them by length. Management is okay at best. I find some managers there know what they are doing, and others somehow got to be a manager just because they were popular in the plant. I would say the hardest part of the job is just waking up in the morning to go to work since I work almost 7 days a week almost every week. Obviously the most enjoyable part of working there is the paycheck because of all the hours you have to work

First off, I worked at the Kent, OH branch. This location was bought out by Cooper Standard in August of 2018. At first, not much changed. Then our manager suddenly left (red flag) and was replaced with a nice guy from another location. Work loads increased slightly but without ever attempting to add personnel or adjust wages accordingly (red flag). Our direct plant manager seemed to try his best to have our backs, but the company has problems higher up. From the first day of the buyout till I left 6 months later, their stock prices dropped by half (red flag). Raises always seemed to be like the second Cold War with the run around we would always get. They continued to pile more responsibility and work on us. The final straw for me was it taking them 2 months, to pay me my vacation time! Each time I’d ask they’d say “next check”. They even had the audacity to say I was lying till I showed them my pay stubs. I’ve been gone almost a month and am actually still waiting on some of the money they have yet to pay me.

What is the best part of working at the company?
There is usually always overtime available. If not in the building you work in then you can request to work O.T. in another building. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
When the machines don't run smoothly or parts are not available for you to do your job, it can be stressful. Also, being short-staffed means you will be moved to different positions based on what the customer needs are which will lead to mandatory O.T. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Overall, it is a good environment to work in. The team leads and supervisors are helpful when you fall behind and need to catch up. Most people are team players and will help you when they can.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Before every shift there is a mandatory 5min safety meeting. This is a production company so making numbers is important. There is a break every 2hrs. 10mins for a regular break and 20mins for lunch.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 6 salaries reported	$26.50 per hour
Injection mold operator 2 salaries reported	$21.60 per hour
Technician 2 salaries reported	$19.09 per hour
Finisher 2 salaries reported	$16.54 per hour
Tool maker 2 salaries reported	$31.50 per hour

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