moldmaker

production worker

manufacturing associate

injection mold operator

senior program manager

Hi-Lex Controls

The job isn't bad by any means. It's simple work, the pay and benefits aren't too shabby, and most of the TLs and supervisors are easy enough to get along with. Were it not for the events of the past couple of years, I'd happily recommend Hi-Lex.

However, our President of Operations, Vice President of Operations, and Plant Manager were all replaced within the span of a year and a half. Our new management has attempted for the past year to implement Six Sigma lean manufacturing principles and have so far fallen flat on their faces at nearly every turn.

A year long staffing crisis on both manufacturing shifts, endless material shortages, repeated short shipments, a massive number of customer claims, and haphazard organization have lead to the bigwigs from Japan taking a more active role in running things. This has gone about as well as the transition to Lean Six Sigma.

Morale is lower than it's ever been in over 40 years of operation, downsizing of middle management positions has forced TLs and supervisors to take on numerous new responsibilities, and our Plant Manager is despised by literally everyone, even his own admin assistant.

In the past year, it's been like rats fleeing a sinking ship. Multiple supervisors, salaried professionals, and even managers have resigned, usually after numerous altercations with the Plant Manager.

Frankly, the elephant in the room is the Plant Manager. His questionable decisions, refusal to heed the advice of his more experienced subordinates, reputation for lying constantly, and his belief that it "isn't his job" to talk to or listen to hourly associates have done tremendous damage. Things can not and will not improve until this man is finally walked out the door like his predecessor. Until that happens, DO NOT SEEK EMPLOYMENT HERE!


Most time is spent trying to change over a line to a different process. When that’s happening or when the line breaks down you can scramble to find your process sheets in a mess of other tattered papers. You could use the computer archive on your screen but only a tenth of all process sheets are scanned and your screen may be tilted sideways for three months straight because the hinge broke. Going in everyday I expected there to be at least one screaming match in the department and they’re so desperate for employees no one gets penalized other than attendance. Do not expect to hit your quotas and expect overtime, they’d rather work you down to your core than buy new machinery or hire more people. Temps tend to be lazy and screw up your productivity and it’s a revolving door of them consistently. The floor is unsealed dirt covered concrete with cracks and potholes everywhere. They attempt to clean the floor but I have my doubts the rideable floor cleaner is functioning or is fit to clean the terrain in it’s current state. In the summer they let mosquito ridden water accumulate on top of the shipping container lids. They then bring them in and dump them next to the workers on the bare floor. We would wait up to two hours for a material delivery with no supervisors in sight. The end all be all was that warehouse knew, they just didn’t feel like digging up our parts from the back. I’ve seen several major injuries while there and they seem to follow OSHA basics after the fact. Basically show up everyday and you have job security, if you can tolerate the rude and disgruntled team members.

very very fast paced. people do not treat you professionally. the parts are light, the jobs are not hard, however it is a line with up to 6 people, some people run slower than others and you lose as a team because of the way they figure out production/sales. they do not figure in downtime for kinks/maintenance on machines. they do not like to let you use the bathroom facilities when necessary even if you bleed through your pants. they do not yell at the slow, lazy people instead they place fast, smart, nice productive workers next to them and yell at the good workers to use them as an example without emotionally affecting the others. they work you 6 and 7 days a week forever 10 and 12 hours a day until they physically run your body into the ground, then when you need surgery, they fire you and try to deny your unemployment benefits.have a good LAWYER ready fast. it takes 1 year to win your unemployment and you lose your health care immediately. I made 30,000 per year, my unemployment was under 10,000. their jobs cause carpal tunnel very quickly, surgery does not cure it. standing on concrete that many hours with no relief causes plantar fascitis and metatarsal(very painful) that will also take several surgerys, does not cure, you will have these physical disabilities for life. they will just hire new workers with no symptoms

What is the best part of working at the company?
Weekly pay. Even when hired on

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everything else. Noisy co-workers, pretty boy HR. HR decides if you get holiday pay or not, 8 min breaks. Supposed to be 10 but it take 1-2 just to walk to the break area and walk back to the line

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Co-workers will talk to you in your face then talk about you. 2nd shift team leader sleeping with employees and HR. If you like to kiss behind, especially the team leader you will stay a long time. If you you don't tolerate the bs you not going to last. Especially on 2nd shift. Team lead and assistant team lead will try everything to slow the 2nd line down on purpose to get hours. Front line can literally do whatever they wanna do, go fast or slow. Got people taking vacation days almost every Thursday or Sunday so just be prepared to work somebody else job if someone is out on those days. Would be a better outright job if they had Korean team leaders instead to establish order 1st and 2nd shifts

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Everyday BS. Get use to it. Even if somethings not right about not have your frames on or cellphones out on the line your going to have a meeting. But the meeting is useless because people on the line still do it regardless. Especially if you the team lead pet or "customer"

Hi-Lex isn’t a bad place to work. It’s easy to move up if you’re a driven individual. The benefits and pay are competitive. However the corporate culture at Hilex is absolutely abysmal. Consistent 7 day weeks with no time off, unattainable production targets, and poor management all make for a very high-stress work environment. 

Hilex preaches that they follow priorities in order of “Safety, Quality, Production, Cost”

It’s closer to “production, safety, cost, quality” 

The turnover rate here is extremely high, and for good reason. New operators are thrown to the wolves and then berated when they fail to meet production goals in one week. 

At every step hilex is trying to cut costs and cut corners. This leads to an understaffed building with a high turnover rate, an undertrained work crew in which morale is at an all time low, and machines that are two decades old that are continuously being modified to run new parts that lack the capability to efficiently run quality parts and meet production standards. 

Hilex will be your “home away from home” whether you want it to be or not. Hilex is no stranger to 10 and 12 hour shifts, 7 day work weeks, even working over the holidays. Unless you have vacation time- don’t ever make weekend plans.

This particular company works everyone extremely hard. However, it did teach me to be more precise on my work and more precise to want to do even better than the job I was doing. I loved working with my co-workers on a daily basis, who I actually ended up gaining great friendships with. Yet, the hardest part of my job requirement was the consistency of how much I had to speed up my process as I got further in tune with my job the longer I worked here. Also, it was very frustrating when my machine would break down and how long I would have to wait on maintenance to fix the problem, and then not making rate, etc. Last but not least, the most enjoyable part about my job was the rate of pay (11.00/hr.) and mainly the co-workers I got to work with because overall they were wonderful to me and took to me very easily. I loved them and absolutely loved working in the department with them that I did.

This company has a lot of pros; they seem to be very disorganized and unwilling to change their ways as the world around them evolves. Of course their are a few employees who hold the place together and I thank them for all that they do because if they ever decide to leave it will take this company awhile to find a replacement. Every day we had to deal with machines breaking down, unreliable employees, last minute schedule changes, short breaks but long walks from one side to the other which was hard to even go outside on our break by the time you reached the doors you had to walk right back. Everyone at work seemed to be in a horrible mood unless you knew a boss and then was able to not work. The hardest part of the job was the employees who did not work which made your job 10x harder and the inconsistency of production due to machine always down and employees who were tired of working multiples jobs. The most enjoyable thing about the job was overtime.

What is the best part of working at the company?
It's a job


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The hours. This was the first job that has ever asked me to come to work 14 days in a row. Their people said it happens every summer. Some were on day 21. Some never worked overtime. There's no rotation for overtime, it's who they give it to, and it's always the same people. Not based on seniority. From what I saw, it was based on who you knew in the office. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
They'll send you home Wednesday morning without working at all, then ask you to work Saturday and Sunday. 
Certain individuals stop the lines to text on their watches, and then they don't get scheduled overtime with the rest of the line, no repercussions for stopping the line. It's about who you know here.


What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You work in the same spot, doing the same job all day. No rotation. When I was there they allowed one earbud with music.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Moldmaker 3 salaries reported	$30.24 per hour
Production worker 1 salary reported	$14.13 per hour
Manufacturing associate 2 salaries reported	$17.75 per hour
Injection mold operator 1 salary reported	$18.18 per hour
Senior program manager 1 salary reported	$78,000 per year

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