maintenance mechanic

machine technician

welder

shipping and receiving clerk

laser operator

Freedman Seating Company

I'll start with the bad news first. This company is known as Freeman Seating located near the South Austin neighborhood in Chicago's troubled westside. It's a typical assembly/manufacturing operation which will run you though a series of interviews and electronic exams before offering you a position with "mandatory overtime." The company will boast diversity and history but don't let that fool you, it simply takes advantage of desperate immigrants and other people who need to take any work they can get. The 85 percent hispanic staff is strictly a coincidence of this exploitation, not a conscious effort at diversity. The human resources department is soulless/unsympathetic, and will openly discriminate against veterans, seniors, and people on medications through its unethical hiring policies. The good news is the job is fairly easy to get and comes with long hours built in which is good for anyone who loves working 6-7 days a week mandatory. As long as you can read a tape measurer in english, you are basically qualified. The company's PR package promotes family growth, personal time, and future development and they do have some education and retirement options available for anyone wanting to sign up for the long haul, so it's not a total loss if you're looking for something entry level. Unfortunately when I was there they seemed to be taking in overqualified candidates and were looking for the cream of the crop with very little to offer in return. The brass tacks- if you need a job fast, can tolerate some level of discrimination, am comfortable with mandatory overtime, and don't mind spending two or three days interviewing for a job, this might be your place. If you want to work hard for an honest company, try somewhere else, especially if you are qualified.

If you are new to the industry then working here will give you a good sense of work-life in a warehouse environment. I was in the assembly department and the work was easy enough with a lot of repetitive motions and heavy lifting. Management does not care about you just the chair count. There are a few exceptions but they are far and few. There are workers who don't work and supervisors don't seem to care and they do ride the ones that do work kinda hard. But, that seems to be the norm in places like this. The money is not very good. There is OT but you have to be friendly with on floor supervisors to get it. Be careful who you talk to, keep your head down and work. It's not that bad.

Load truck,Deliver product,interact with customer on any complaints or concerns,inspect product on production line for installation concerns,Go over any questions from management team,hardest part of the job was getting parts shipped in a timely fashion to the customer, the most enjoyable time was solving problems for the customer that seemed impossible to complete in a timely fashion.I only had co workers when needed to help accomplish a big project, I would have to say I learned a great deal of patients working with customer associates on the production line, my management team was based in chicago but was very supportive of me.

Shift start at 7:00 am - 3:30 pm
As supervisor my responsibilities were help co-workers in production lines, re-drilling and tapping car seats frames.
Reported seat cover damaged to be replace them.
Looked for missing parts physically and through the computer to finish goods.
Keep tracking orders status.
Complete orders, so they can be taken to shipping.
Make safety meetings weekly to the entire department.
Report discrepancies on blue prints to design engineers.
I've learned how to work with M2M software and read blue prints. 
The most enjoyable time was Christmas Party and free lunch.

This is the first time i ever posted on a company, the worst company i ever worked for ..Pay is awful for welders ! they want a lot for very little money and only hispanics in management positions.They pay sucks because they always have folks they can pay cheaper ..This isn't a job for real welders ...you just running stringer welds vertical ..welds dont even have to look good that's why pay sucks ! Mostlly production is putting toghter as many seats as possible.No room ever for promotion with the Hispanic clique in company from HR to production..Mostly ex-cons they give the jobs so they can pay cheap for the work.

"Good Ol Boy" company culture. Promotions and bonuses are based upon who you know and not On performance. H.R Dept. Is by far the worst when dealing with employees and conducting business in a professional manner.  Management is not on the same page and constantly pointing fingers among each other. Last but not least the location is high in crime. Employees have experienced car theft and had their vehicles broken into on various occasions.

Company offers a great product to their customers. Minorities makes the company millions but they pay pennies but expect to work to meet their needs. Advancement isn't an option no growth. Management has people skills and can be unprofessional at time and rude and racist. There are no minorities in upper management. Poor conditions for factory workers. Nor do they offer track development program either.

Good place to start, but if there's no reason to stay and there's another opportunity elsewhere for you. please take that opportunity. It's not horrible but it's not the best either.   

What is the best part of working at the company?
I learned so much and I met great people here. If you are noticed you have the chance to get promoted.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
I believe there's times the load of work contribute to people feel overwhelmed and I noticed some employees feel even slaved or at least that's what I saw what it happened to most of the labor employees.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Family oriented but there's always a black sheep in every family.

A typical day at work was working at the computer.
What was learned was Solid Edge ST5 & autoCAD 2006.
Management was and still is a family owned business bearing the namesake of its founders who actually built items for the Chicago Worlds Fair in 1893! There were food trucks that came every other Friday during the warm months...The cons: the coffee was mediocre at best & the CAD system was Solid Edge, not Solidworks...

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance mechanic 8 salaries reported	$27.50 per hour
Machine technician 10 salaries reported	$18.30 per hour
Welder 8 salaries reported	$24.69 per hour
Shipping and receiving clerk 4 salaries reported	$19.00 per hour
Laser operator 1 salary reported	$20.75 per hour

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