assembler

welder

warehouse worker

truck driver

material handler

Great-Dane-Trailers

18 years as the tractor-trailer driver, Monday thru Friday. Pay is hourly with minimal increases yearly. Driving is a very stressful & exhausting job having to drive defensively at all times and constantly be on guard against all the poor drivers, both automobile and big trucks. Know your paperwork as you will be stopped for road inspections on occasion. The job included picking up and delivering customer trailers for repair as well as new & used trailers in all weather. Use tools and chains/straps as needed when picking up some types of wrecks or damage repairs. Deck and unstrap/un-deck new/used flatbed trailers using the outside loading dock.  Deliver and pick up large parts for the Parts Dept., moved trailers in and out the 20 bay shop with the yard truck, maintain/arrange the trailer yard as needed, and scrap trailers. Fuel tractor and yard truck as needed. Check their fluids/filters. Sweep, clean-up, scrap materials, and occasionally help mechanics when it gets slow. Inspect trailer repairs prior to re-delivering to customers and when needing rework notify supervisor before delivering for his opinion. Being the face of Great Dane when interacting with customers, the driver is the liaison, the guy who gets praise or a dressing down, a messenger for both company and customer, and a negotiator in listening to customer concerns and sometimes offering a solution that will maintain the customer's business. The job includes some overtime when trailer pick-up and deliveries increase. The tractor (went through 3 of them) are basic single axle day cabs with automatic transmissions that are small for tall persons, ride poorly due to the short wheel base, and have basic seats which can get uncomfortable on long drives. Tractor preventative maintenance can be poor and repairs are scheduled by the Service Supervisor. The best part of the job are long runs where you go out, come back, and go home.

I do understand that this review is very long but because I did give Great Dane such a poor rating I wanted to explain my reason in doing so.

A typical day was super stressful. My areas orders got messed up and or were not correctly checked by quality, so this entailed me to go down the production line and fix every single trailer and check every trailer for missing welds or unfinished welds. We then would not meet production due to someones failure to do their job right and we all as a team would be threatened to be fired. I soon after being hired found out that we were the only area in the whole plant that had only one shift. The rest of the plant had a day shift and night shift. Due to the plant having both shifts, they had a higher production level but for my area and only having one shift, Great Dane still expected our area to meet the production that would normally take two shifts. I, as a hard worker, Did not appreciate at all being threatened for my job just because we didn't meet an impossible standard for production that they set. I would absolutely never recommend for any person to work at this plant. I only worked here because I had to provide for my bills and had no other choice in the matter. I did however in my time working for this company was told by my lead that I was looking at a promotion to a specialist for my area. I would be right under my lead and have almost all duties and responsibilities as him but I would have to go through him to finalize any big decisions. I also trained a total of 4 people in my time of being an employee of Great Dane. I worked diligently with my coworkers to get our orders done correctly and in a timely manner. I was very happy to see that they trusted in me and my advice even though that I wasn't their boss and wasn't taking the role as their boss.

Show up to work, stretch, put on your safety equipment, locate your tools and get your area ready for production. I learned how to set axles on the frames using a crane, attached and tightened air hoses to brake chambers, installed slacks, torqued the U bolts, control arm bolts, Brake chamber bolts, hanger end bolts to the correct specs. Marked the torqued bolts with a paint pen and filled out the paperwork. Helped co-workers when needed if something came up like the axle builders needed a hand moving things up. Teamwork environment. 

My supervisor is pretty laid back, but can be very serious at any moment. He wants us to work hard and do a good job but is very understanding and knows that sometimes things happen like we can't locate a part, tools malfunction ect. to slow things down and he doesn't get to bent out of shape about it. We do our best to catch up if things slow down. 

The hardest part about my job is working with not enough, or working with worn out air tools that break down. Sometimes we half to share basic hand tools and it can slow things down a bit. When I started we had all the tools we needed and over time they got misplaced, taken home or removed from out area by other employees and not returned. Sometimes it does get pretty warm while working but they have water available, the big doors are open and fans going.

The best part about my job is the shift works great for my schedule, and it's close to home. The job is some what fast paced and the day goes by real fast. The people are good to work with and makes it easy to look forward to coming back to work.

Starts early, Supervisors are usually on-the-ball, but most Team Leaders lack personal skills and management skills, rather they are skilled employees who Great Dane management rely on to constantly pick up the slack of new employees (which 50% of everyone is new because GD can't retain many new hires).

Overall not a terrible place, but pretty cut-throat and most people are two-faced, especially team leaders. Supervisors (yellow-hats) are very to-the-point and have high expectations.

Also, the overtime does not end and you WILL work every Saturday, no questions asked. Not many areas in the factory ever hit production numbers by Friday, so Saturday is mandatory. Plan on working until 5:00/5:30, 5 days a week, and 6-12 or 6-2 on Saturday.

If you can find some enjoyment or sense of pride in the work, have good social skills, and can stay for more than 6 months or a year, you will have the opportunity to move up. 

However, the career advancement is slow, and pay truly is not that great for the work you will be doing. Some folks have been there over 20, 30, or 40 years and will retire with pensions, but they have no other choice at this point. 

If you are young and want to truly make something with your life, Great Dane should be a stepping stone. I don't think many people would like to be stuck there.

Management has no idea what they're doing. If a person is a Quality Manager it would be reasonable to assume they have a basic understanding of quality procedures and techniques, unfortunately at GD this is not the case. This was made painfully clear when I asked the QM if there was a company quality manual. I was told there was not and that it was something I would need to work on. As a quality staff member this is not something I should do as GD is a larger can mpany with several locations. This is a function of corporate. When impointed this out I was met with snotty attitude and informed that the manager knew what a quality manual was and they were only for ISO certified companies. This is obviously incorrect and shows the managers lasck of knowledge and experience. The QM only knows how to put out fires and their answer to any issue is to add another inspector to an area. This doesn't get to the root cause nor does it fix the underlying issue. After being is situations time and again where the QM didn't want to make a decision it became clear they don't have the basic knowledge base to successfully do the job or help me advance in my career so I made the decision to leave.

They preach safety but that’s where it ends...unless company equipment gets damaged...then they scream and scream 

As soon as the line is 2 minutes behind there’s managers screaming about picking up the pace, rather than making sure the job is done right, or everyone has what they need.

If your manager has a problem with you, they will call you into the office to yell at you, and then complain that it took you too long to get there (you know, cuz you were working and then walking all the way across the plant to get there) and production will be hurt...never realizing that they could walk out to you and only take you from your work for 60 seconds instead of 20 minutes. 

They won’t write up the people that don’t do their jobs because (and I quote) “last time I did that they complained about me on their Facebook”. 

Talk to HR and told “this will be confidential” and 5 minutes after meeting is done, the other person comes up and says “I hear you have a problem with me”. 

For what it is, it’s okay, just know that NO ONE will have your back. It is always everyone for themselves. If you go into it knowing that and accepting it, you’ll be fine. If you go in thinking that it’s a good place and your voice matters, you’ll give up in a few weeks. 

HR WILL lie to you. They will tell you at your interview that you'll be working four 9hr shifts and one 4hr shift, with some overtime and occasional Satudays. This is a lie. They will all more than likely be 11-12hr shifts mon-fri. They have alternating Saturdays marked as optional mandatory overtime that switch weekends at seemingly arbitrary times. We have worked every one of these since I started, and have left at the end of the scheduled shift 3 times, and NEVER on the 4hr Friday shift. If you work nightshift, dayshift will screw you over; you have a set number of jobs to do, especially on the Saturdays. Certain Jobs need done by certain days. Dayshift will take the easiest of these jobs and only stay over an hour or so extra and leave the harder jobs for night shift. Because they have less people on nightshift to begin with, these jobs will take all night and usually don't get done. These jobs are usually what's completed on Saturday shifts, and dayshift will, again, take the easiest, almost done jobs and go home earlier and leave the harder jobs for nightshift, leaving them there all night. Very aggravating and making it feel like you can't have a life outside of the job because of the long hours.

This was the worst job I’ve ever been subjected to. Injuries come so easily due to lack of concern by those responsible. I’ve witness hand injuries, serious back injuries, and received head injuries due to these conditions. No one wants to report any injuries because they’re always grilled by the safety team to either sign off on it or sit in front (to avoid loss of time injuries). I worked there for 7 months and they refused to hire me on full time because of injuries THEY were responsible for. So no benefits, no pay raise, no benefits, and no future. I had 3 supervisors tell me they would not hire me due to the OSHA recordable accident they were responsible for. I was forced to quit, point out, or work with an injury caused while working for them.
The safety team is a joke. All they do is try to protect Great Dane from liability. My last injury I was talking to a nurse and they were in there trying to blame me before I was even able to explain the injury. I wasn’t aware someone without medical training was allowed to diagnose an injury. Which is also why I am currently talking to a lawyer.


A typical day consists of working to complete goals while having about half of your team help you, while the other half talks and stands around . 

I believe I learned that sometimes you need to just shut up and do your job; drown everything else out.

The plant is very obviously management-first. Although there are a couple actually good Supervisors, some of them are not qualified to lead the plant at all. 

The workplace is relaxing, I talk to a couple people in my area and old areas. However, some areas such as "Rivet Press" are PURE drama. Everyone's gonna find an easy target and for a short while it was me. With time you learn to just ignore it all and do your job, that's why you were hired in the first place. 

The hardest part of the job is the physically demanding labor. It wouldn't be that bad if everyone stepped in to help every once in a while. It's quite tiring pulling a 100 lb plank of wood 26 times a night.

The most enjoyable part of the job is the people- most of the time. There will be a couple people who are just blood thirsty and you can't really change that. 

The one thing I can say is, you'll survive. Just shut up and work. That's the key.

Excellent pay. I was a paint specialist and earned a few more than starting pay. They tack on an extra dollar an hour for night shift too so most of the benefits and pay are good. Depending on your placement you can have a great team to work with or one that is less accommodating. The job is very stressful as management constantly asserts the need to maintain production but half the time you have to pick up extra work due to the high turnover rate. Some bosses are great and you can tell corporate and upper management is just as hard on them as they are on you concerning production minimums. I greatly enjoyed my work there but for the entire year I spent at Great Dane we worked mandatory over time. Most weeks I clocked 56-58 hours over six days. There were few times that we didn't come in on Saturday; maybe 3 or 4 weeks a year we worked 50 hours. The brightside is you get a decent two week Christmas shutdown break and a small Thanksgiving and black Friday break as well.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assembler 1 salary reported	$17.80 per hour
Welder 1 salary reported	$20.50 per hour
Warehouse worker 1 salary reported	$10.50 per hour
Truck driver 1 salary reported	$18.00 per hour
Material handler 1 salary reported	$19.50 per hour

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