maintenance technician

tool and die maker

controller

assembler

production supervisor

Flex-N-Gate

•Responsibility is generously handed to you in a way that requires strong initiative or "Go Getter" attitudes.  This allowed me to learn a lot, but also produced a lot of stress as the work pace never slows.
•Company is stable and well established, this makes me feel secure in my job market.
•Company does not seem to want to quickly fire people. They appear to have more of an indiferent approach on people staying or leaving if they do quit.
•Work life there is very satisfying when it comes to projects and successes.  But the Successes are all to shortly lived and forgotten.  It is critical to remember your value as a person while working under pressure in any workplace.
•Progression through the company is favored in this company.  This is a plus.
•There are company cookouts & bowling events on occassion.  Gathering with co-workers was always a fun time.
•There are company politics as there are in most large companies.  I observed higher ups sparing their "favorites" because of their personal relationship.  On the other side, I watched managers who weren't liked being targeted by other managers until they quit or transfered.  I believe situations like these are common in large companies, but I truly disliked this the most.  It prevented me from holding all people accountable equally, as well as other employees complaining to me about the lack of equality.

Truthfully, No one person has the entire story, I may or may not be missing key information as to why certain people are favored, but it simply doesn't make others feel safe to work without always being on guard and anticipating someone's next move.   
I feel that a professional workplace should NEVER be this dramatized or feel this stressful to work in.

Overall, I am thankful for the job and for the experience I am gaining.  I do not know if I will stay here or not.  But I do know there are far worse places to work.  Guardian West is a decent place to grow as an individual, but you need to have a strong pesonality and drive to make it in the workplace.

Only one manager cares and that's my direct manager. They never want to spend money or order parts because they are to expensive. Which reults in people working massive over time every Saturday and Sundays, to make up for lost time from machienes being broke. A lot of the machine's are out of date. Some you can't even get parts for anymore, so the rig hardware to them and then they break again. The ventilation system for the two hottest lines in the facility are a joke. I've had heat exhaustion twice from temperatures reaching over 110° along side of the humidity from 140-200° tanks. This company is falling apart and they except the workers who is not their responsibility to fix the issues with no compensation in pay. They lose more money because they are cheap then they would giving it the right way the first time. They also do not allow you to advance in the company per department even if you spent all your time learning the process inside and out and have more experience with it then a guy walking in off the streets as they require any form of degree, yes any form of degree you could have a social worker degree then be put in charge of chemicals, mechanical and electrical machines that in no way match the degree. This company Guardian West is spiraling down the drain.
They try to make you not think about it by giving us cheap cookouts which have stopped being as frequent,because it cost to much to do.we never know when we will get raises, they are just thrown at us if people complain to much. They are to busy with the football team to worry about the people grinding everyday in a dirty, filthy, poorly managed building.

I've worked in several positions in the painting department. Work is steady and repetitive, which can either be a fine plus or a major pain physically and mentally- depending on your age or if you have family. But as long as you do your job and don't get dramatic with your co-workers, the hours can be bearable- enjoyable even. Everybody I know was a pleasure to socialize with. Only downside is not everyone wants to work very hard.

Management ranges from poor to non-existent. Because of that, people who don't do their job well have no incentive or disciplinary action to prompt them to do better, which leads to major problems further down the line. Furthermore, management is often inefficient and immature when dealing with production issues, which leads to extra hours of work instead of fixing the problem directly. Basically, Flex-N-Gate makes thousands of dollars and doesn't care how the factory is run until an issue makes them lose a thousand of those dollars.

The company is union run, so you are taken care of well enough. Wages are good and get better with their bonus system the longer you work. Vacation hours also increase, but it takes years to obtain a worthwhile number. Health benefits are good. Make sure to monitor your hours and your paperwork for health benefits because while the union tries to help, they'll take any loophole they can to opt out of spending money on you.

Overall: It's rough and can be stressful. The company has little to no professionalism. If all you want is an easy job that pays well, Flex-N-Gate will take you and keep you as long as you do your part. But if you have family or health problems or like to fix broken systems, look for other options first.

Now take it as I am a mother of 4 and sitters are expensive. You can apply but you most likely will not get the shift you desire. Instead you are given an alternate shift and may stay on that shift for as long as they please. Now the benefits are standard, but you are apart of a Union. Suppose that isnt all that bad. Yet management is all who is hired for the job. I had three awesome leads who I would recommend to lead groups all over again. Then there are a few that do not deserve to be there but are because no one else will fill their spots. Now a work day is very repetitive and boring once you get the hang of it. However for 19$+ I'd do it all day long as its not that stressful on the body. (depending on what youre personal limitations are.) However, you have to be very determined to not let the day get to you. as well as the people who make the work atmosphere a little sad. In addition to that you may also find issues where people may bring personal life into professional. They do not know how to separate the two and cause problems for all. Do try not to be apart of that. Work overtime is almost all the time. I had a couple days of 8 hrs but mostly worked 10 or 12 alot. Personal days are not the greatest and I was told that if I took time for an appointment or sick day I would be pointed. So and so many points and youre terminated. Overall, despite my time there and the small issues that arose, I would still give this place a 3 star rating as its an older manufacturing environment. It aint pretty and its dirty, but it pays the bills. 

This place was one of my favorite jobs to work. Only because of The gig I had. I was a Tugger so I had luxuries that nobody else had.. As long as I did my work. No one bothered me.  I was able to do the heck I  pleased as long as I shipped out the bumpers. 

But I can’t say the same for the people that worked on the line. If you work on the line, Especially the front line, (rear line was easy) expect To work long hours. If production wasn’t met which was often, The Ergonomics here is terrible. People on the line is viewed as numbers literally. They have no respect from management at all. If you were not quality or material handler’s. You are viewed at the bottom of the totem pole. It’s very hard to move up. Once you max out you’re stuck.  HR are fake caring. Don’t trust none of them..  I’ve seen them fire pregnant women before.  Superintendents and Supervisors are all stressed because they feel like they Jobs on the lines everyday which cause them to nitpick everything. 
The only thing matters is shipping quality parts to SHAP. They need to focus on that more. 

Like I said above I got away with a lot cuz my job was simple. As long as I got the bumpers out they didn’t care. I’m just being unbiased because I was on the receiving end of favoritism. 

The only good thing I can say is now this plant has a Union as of the time of this review. Which was voted right after I’ve left. So the future should be better here.

Job pays 12.00 an hour as a bumper assembler and after 3 months, there will be a consideration by the company to convert your temp contract to a full time employee. Once hired on, and if you join the union, the pay will be 16.20 an hour. Which is great because of the mandatory 6 day work week. The 6 day work week will allow you to get alot of hours and overtime, but be prepared to not have a life outside of work due to the demanding work hours.

The job itself consists of non stop work. Using the restroom during work hours may slow down the the line or will cause the person next to your station to fill in for you which will cause them to do double work. So when the line shuts down due to maintence, that is a good time to use the restroom. Also, depending on if there is a shortage of people cause of attendance, you may be required to work at 2 stations at once.  Your job task will change every week, there will be a station rotation every week. 

The most laid back shift is 3rd shift, but even then its non stop work. If the temp agency tells you no one is in a rush to do anything because the assembly line is slow, dont believe them for one second. on 1st shift, everyone is in a rush to do everything. I would not reccomend this job only because for 12 dollars an hour, the job does not warrant the pay. Ive had other jobs in the past where I did less work and got paid way more.

Management is terrible. If you have goals and dreams keep them to yourself. If you share the idea of wanting to grow with the company, management will use that to keep pushing you to work harder Daily - even though they plan on not promoting you (If that makes sense). There’s a lot of favoritism, curruption, wrong doing etc. I guess what I’m saying is to prepare yourself for this world at flex n gate (Ventra Plastics)5. It’s very misleading and unprofessional. I spent five years trying to be the best leader I could be. Pushing myself to learn more daily, becoming more resourceful daily, leading by example daily, following through with projects and impossible task that my manager would give me daily. And most importantly being honest and consistent DAILY. But that still wasn’t enough. Prepare to have your intelligence beat down daily. Prepare to see people get promoted just because there uncle or aunt works up-front somewhere. Prepare yourself to deal with the unprofessional world of managers misleading supervisors and supervisors misleading team leaders and so on and so on. I had one Great boss while working for flex n gate. He changed my perception on a lot of things and I can honestly say if it wasn’t for him I would’ve left 2 years earlier than what I did.

I scheduled audits for all the plants and suppliers and then created audit forms and conducted the audits.
When I needed to issue a non conformance I would do so but also help to bring them back in conformance by reviewing with them the policies and procedures and work instructions at their locations.
I learned a lot about hard work when I started out on the floor in the assembly area and paint line.  I learned about Quality control when I became Quality.  I learned clerical duties when I became the QS clerk.  Then I learned how to run things by myself when I became the QS Coordinator.  When I became Corporate Auditor I learned stress and how to deal with it.
Management was most often stressed and it showed.
Co-workers were great we worked as a team.
The hardest part of the job when I worked the floor was working such long hours and not getting a day off many times for weeks at a time.
The hardest part of being an auditor of the process was Management and Corporate not being on the same page as to if they wanted me to find the non-conformance's or ignore them.  This caused much stress daily.
The most enjoyable part of the job was learning new things.  The feeling of accomplishment and the people.  Yes even when we were all stressed.  I loved the people there and miss them.

A typical day at work is getting there 15 minutes early to sit in your car and wait a few minutes before 7 am. That way they would pay you for your time. If you clocked in any sooner they would write you up and sometimes would try to give you an absence point to punish you. The human resources manager also manage payroll... math and organization are not hers trong suit. Neither is showing up for work, because she was never there. If you have an issue with a Supervisor, Coworker, or other manager she would avoid you at all costs.

Managers have come and gone. I worked there for a short while and we had several different plant managers. The ones that left were fired. The maintenance team didn't fix anything until it broke. Oil leaks and dust were everywhere. Material spills were constant. Training was inadequate.  The culture was "hurry up and get it done whatever the cost". Safety was laughable. I've saw the maintenance manager work on hot equipment and brag about it. He recently was promoted to Plant Manager so it's not going to get any better. 

The only positive about the job is the benefits and the pay. The owner of the company is a Billionaire. In respect to how much the top gets paid, we still only get a small piece of the pie. However, it's better than other businesses in the area.

I have worked for this company for 10 months and it is awful,  management is so judgmental of some employees that really care about there job, I understand that in every job there is politics but this place is ridiculous, poor job training and they blame the employees for errors, in other words they are the fall guys,  how do they expect employees to do a good job if you change the job day to day, maybe if they had 10minutes a day to review with there teammates the job would get done correct.  High volume of scrap due to employees walking around talking and gossiping. From the moment I walk in the door i already know who is fire or getting fired, the union is a joke, rep only  fights for you if they like you and some follow what management tells them to do, why pay your money to them if no one will help fix the issues you have. Lots of nepotism supervisors and management family members get a past, and other employees have to kiss there behinds just to get excepted, then if you don't you have a aditude problem,  aren't we there to do a job and not kiss behind, maybe if you were expected to do that all day you could concentrate on your job! Where is the owners, need to check out there investment cause I'm sure they would be surprised, were most of the scrap is comng from, management family members.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 5 salaries reported	$32.71 per hour
Tool and die maker 1 salary reported	$36.30 per hour
Controller 4 salaries reported	$116,250 per year
Assembler 19 salaries reported	$16.08 per hour
Production supervisor 2 salaries reported	$67,750 per year

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