assembler

mig welder

assembly operator

tig welder

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Donaldson

Donaldson Filtration Solutions was a good company to work for that had steady growth and bright future potential. My experience working for Donaldson's was overall a pretty good one and have since referred several people who have been fortunate enough to get hired on and have established themselves nicely with the company.

One nice thing about a typical day at Donaldson's was that it usually was far from typical-(but in a good way!). There was plenty of opportunities for advancement and if you were ambitious and worked hard they seemed to notice and you could parlay that into an advanced position. They offered many training classes that any employee could take advantage of along with all positions being open to all employees to bid on. Donaldson's was one of the very few places I have ever heard of that often took someone's pure raw ability ahead of strictly seniority. It was one of just a handful of manufacturing/factory employment opportunities where a newer employee could obtain a position over someone that had much more seniority, provided they were the better candidate. I think more manufacturers would do well to follow their example.

I thoroughly enjoyed my position as Team Lead for the time I was able to do it-(about a year and a half). The challenges were at times difficult but very rewarding if we were able to work as a team to come up with solutions to complex problems and situations. I would have loved to stay there if it were not for the opportunity that arose to work at John Deere Harvester Works along with an issue that I will discuss below.

Overall, the experience was very positive and I enjoyed my time there. The only concern I had-(and part of the reason why I left) was it seemed that upper management seemed out of touch with issues on the floor and that there were certain employees that received "special consideration" when it came to addressing potential behavioral issues and meting out discipline. Other than those few things, it is a good place to learn and potentially advance in a career related position.

Donaldson Filtration Solutions is not your typical company, but I mean that in a good way. They are one of the very few companies that I have ever been associated with that value on the job skills above other determining factors such as seniority and who you know. In my opinion this allows them to put the best people in the best positions, a motto a lot of people preach but few follow. I give them a lot of credit for that. 

Other than that, Donaldson's is a solid company that offers steady employment in a progressively growing environment. They also offer excellent advancement potential through probably the best "in-house" training program I have ever seen. Any employee can sign up for additional training that is extremely beneficial and related directly to their position in the company. The management does an excellent job of promoting Lean training that requires a passing grade on a written exam for certification. It is an excellent and very thorough barometer to observe how much the employees' are learning collectively. 

The only issue there is in connection with the co-workers in the company is that there seems to be a lot of "shift-warring" going on. We run all 3 shifts and there seems to be friction between 1st and 2nd, 2nd and 3rd and of course 3rd and 1st. You get some of this anywhere you have a fast-paced low error expected company but here it seems pretty bad from time to time.

The hardest part of the job is dealing with the above mentioned bickering between employees and/or supervisors. The company has a lot of narrow-margined deadlines which are tough to meet sometimes and I believe this contributes to the problem. The most enjoyable part of the job is that Donaldson's is a progressive company growing at a steady pace that would make an excellent career for someone who is motivated, organized and hard working.

I worked for the “Industrial Air Filtration Division” of Donaldson for almost 15 years.  For the first five years of this time, the job was pretty good, actually enjoyable.  Even though working for Donaldson did not perceptibly become less than good until about 6 or 7 years into my career with them.

In the first couple of years, medical insurance went from a 90/10 split to an 80/20.  Ok… They just came into line with most other companies, but then later down the road, they started pushing High-Deductible Health Insurance Savings Plans (which were aimed at younger employees), while making traditional plans (chosen by older employees) much more expensive.

I watched as management turned over from people who lead, to pencil pushers who could care less about the people they managed (or their customers) as long as stock prices where good.  Field support dropped to almost nothing, as the company kept reducing head count in the support departments.  I have watched as many good people, hard and productive workers, have been terminated or punished because they voiced their opinion of the company’s direction

Making sales was more important than meeting the customer’s needs.  Equipment which had not been adequately tested for performance was pushed onto the customer with little to no concern of the expense the customer would face.  The only customer complaints that were truly followed up with were those customers whose purchases were large and valuable.  Smaller customers were generally left to fend for themselves.

In closing, I feel that if the Donaldson Company does not take steps to address its current corporate culture, it will soon start to see an exodus of employees and customers to their competition.

A very toxic management structure.   While there are a couple of decent supervisors the majority prefer to do whatever they want regardless of what is in the contract.  If you file a grievance against them for a violation expect possible repercussions.  It is also not uncommon to hear from them if you don't like it take a point or be threatened with the pulling of your scan card if a disagreement occurs.   While it is preached about respect and decency there are a few supervisors who regularly fly off the handle and scream at group leaders or anyone else they decided upset them off.  Hopefully the new Plant Manager will be involved on the floor and turn things around otherwise it will continue to degrade in quality.   It has gotten so bad that people that have been there 5, 10. 15 years are leaving to go other places to work.   Giving up benefits and seniority for a more pleasant work environment. It is really sad that a company that was once so great to work for has degraded into what it is and from what I hear from those still working there continues to degrade to.  If you take a job here good luck and do what most of the new hires do watch for something better while making decent pay.

I worked there night shift for almost a year.  Just were 10-6am.  Once you completed your training and felt comfortable in the position you are to be assigned to it wasn’t too bad.   Training was brutal.  Not organized.  Employees not helpful.   It’s your responsibility to learn your position and there really isn’t any guidance.  Especially your orientation period you are put wherever the made need you and they don’t take the time to rotate new employees through all departments.  Mandatory OT almost every weekend.  No PTO for new employees 1st year.  Strict on attendance.    They will work 21-36 days straight at times.  Little time for family unless you have time not the company and have accrued PTO.  Management had frequent turnovers.   Production floor has high turnover rate.   They are union and employees can get bumped from there position or shift with little notice. Time and a half on saturdays and double time on sundays regardless of hours worked during week.   Excellent benefits.  Stock options, FSA, HSA, 401k, increased hourly pay, and great insurance.

Work wise and co workers are good.  Just can't have a life outside of work.  Will go on stretches of 10 hr days and 8 on Saturdays for months.   And then will get slow and offer lack of work to people.    Then before they even come back your on overtime again because they can't manage there workforce and have to many off.   Management must love you to work overtime.  We had 21 people in our department and then they fire and lay off and move people to other departments to where were down to 13.   After going a while just working 7-3 we go to staying caught up to then cutting us down and 2 hours later overtime is posted and having to work 6 days a week again.   Completely ridiculous.   Plus then when the plant manager is talking to workers he laughs about it and says at least we broke a record and didnt have to work the 1st Saturday after letting people go because every other time he ever has hes made people.    It's like you don't mean anything to them and they can just joke around about taking people's jobs away from them.    Plus do it 1-2 weeks before there 6 months so they can't draw unemployment on them.   I do not recommend this place at all. 13 of us is left and at least 6 is looking for new jobs.

I was an Engineer there for almost 10 years.  Long ago, it was a decent place to work.

Donaldson likes to think it is a technology company.  Unfortunately, their customers view them as a commodity.  As a result, margins are always being pushed lower.

In order for Senior Management to try to keep the share price up, they have cut benefits, had layoffs in four of the last 5 or 6 quarters, eliminated the meager pension plan, and increased the workload on those who are left.

Since the cuts disproportionately, affected the workers, not managers and Senior managers, there now seems to be one manager to every three to four employees.  Micromanaging seems to be the favored method.  

Project development has been changed from smart engineers who understood when there could be issues or complications, to using a standardized process, with in-experienced workers.

They have a few patents that have not run out that are worth something.  As soon as those expire, watch their competitors eat their lunch.

In short, STAY AWAY!  Unless you like being micromanaged in a company with declining sales and regular layoffs, while wearing jeans.

Job attracts some of the nicest people and somehow keeps some of the worst. Will work long hours never have a home life. If you can put out numbers the other shifts will get the weekend off and yours will work all the time. Management is inconsistent and play favoritism’s with the points system and change the rule book monthly if it benefits them. They will tell you one thing and do another. They put safety first as long as it doesn’t cost them to much money or time. They have line speeds but turn it up to get every second of you have to push you as fast as your can work. End of the day your just a number to them your gonna spend 10hrs a day in there at 6-7 days a week while they all have every weekend off. Your gonna work that not because of lack of trying to catch up but lack of them doing there jobs to get your line the products it needs to catch up to have any kind of a break. If your looking to live at your job then this is the place for you!

I've had several positions within this company and given small opportunities to grow.  The development environment is lacking the necessary support from management.  My current role has given me great exposure to our global regions so I would really like to visit, develop relationships, and train my coworkers/colleagues on their home turf.
The workplace culture is divided by groups; the group I call home is mostly upbeat and very busy. Daily I'm on email, jabber, phone, and WebEx with domestic and international personnel. This is the part I love (it doesn't hurt that I believe in the product development process and love what I do); the challenges faced are time zones, culture, and language barriers.  Meeting with some of our global team members has helped strengthen working relationships, communication, and encourage a more sustainable training program.

A typical day starts with a little crying and thinking of where I went wrong in life to end up here. When I get to my department, I find out my assignment for the day and spend the next 8-12 hours hoping for a quick and painless death, preferably in my sleep at home before coming in to work. On Wednesdays, I find out if I have another week of 8 to12 hour days and likely the upcoming Saturday. And maybe even Sunday. There is little time for a personal life of any kind. The management doesn't care that people are overworked.  "If they don't like it, they can leave" is the general attitude. The union is the most pathetic, useless and incompetent uaw local I've ever seen. so if you do go here for some reason, don't bother joining. 
Most of the people I work with are nice and helpful when needed, but everyone from the supervisors and up are corporate puppets.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assembler 54 salaries reported	$21.35 per hour
Mig welder 8 salaries reported	$29.61 per hour
Assembly operator 15 salaries reported	$18.56 per hour
Tig welder 8 salaries reported	$29.59 per hour
Field service technician 1 salary reported	$27.08 per hour

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