actor

assembler

team member

shipping and receiving clerk

welder

Kawasaki Motors

What is the best part of working at the company?
The money was literally the only best part! At the beginning, they make you feel great and important. They tell you to share any concerns or ideas that may better the ‘job’. But they pick and choose who to take seriously. They don’t take everyone seriously and chaulk it up to them just complaining. I used to love my job there. But THEY took me for granted and didn’t see how passionate I was about my job. And took my concerns out of context. They lost a good worker. But they don’t care. We personally as a person, don’t mean anything to them!  And everyone is replaceable no matter how good we truly are! I can’t prove how terrible they were to me, but I’ll be damned if I ever have to recommend anyone to that place!

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Knowing that you and your idea’s truly did NOT matter!! Even if you had great ideas for the company that would help benefit them in the long run.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
LOTS of people! It’s hot in the building. Many different characteristics of people there are a lot of workers that really don’t care about their job. They just are there for the paycheck that wasn’t me. I was not only there for a paycheck. I actually truly cared about what I did! There are also a lot of team leaders and supervisors that definitely have their favorites and can also have their way and get you fired or make you leave just because they don’t like you! So a lot of harsment happens in that building and there’s nothing you can do about it because you know why, because it’s Kawasaki and they make millions so there’s nothing you can do about it. I’m not joking if they had 1 million robots that’s all they would care about is robots they just want their work done they do not care about any living human being! It’s miserable when you get treated like that!

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You are consistently repeating your job over and over again. So if you did not enjoy it, it’s going to be boring and when you feel unappreciated, it does not make a great day every single day.

The corporate office in Irvine is a dynamic workplace filled with dedicated professionals and a supportive management team. The work life balance for hourly employees was fine, but there are a lot of demands place on managers. Perhaps delegating some of the managerial tasks to capable professional employees would lighten their load. My work experience at Kawasaki was very positive. I was given every opportunity to expand my duties and responsibilities, however compensation and promotion did not follow. I did survive a series of staff reductions so feel my investments paid off, especially considering the economic climate. Due to a dynamic sales and marketing department there were a few fun activities throughout the year, including reduced tickets for pro races, community events,  family events, and great product discount programs. In my professional career this is the only company that requires their hourly paid employees to punch a clock. I found the practice to be demeaning. HR did agree to a business casual dress code that included wearing jeans if desired, which is a pretty good perk considering the cost of purchasing and cleaning professional and even business casual clothing.

I loved this job. I think I was there truly in the Good Times. In the late 90's motorcycles sales were still strong and amateur racing was hopping.  We sponsored top amateur riders some of who are still racing professionally today. We supported the riders, families and customers by sending our semi truck and box vans full of parts and technicians to local and national events,

Daily duties were assisting department manager and supervisors , dept. forms, travel arrangements. There was probably close to 52 races/events a year. There was always a box van West, Central and  East coast, manager or supervisor going to an event. Covered parts guy when rider calls got heavy. Lots of event planning because as a marketing department customer relations are key.

I learned a lot about MS Office there. They had in-house training available all day it was a huge benefit to everyone there. 

The manager is still one of my favorite people.  He was easy to understand and work for.

Racing is demanding and the hard part was the annual rider selection the letting young riders go or riders being signed by another brand. Part of last years inner circle wasn't there even though we still supported them at events like we did all riders no matter the color bike.

Enjoyed the event planning big and small and the easy days of travel when you could swap tickets and rows were big. Racing is like a traveling circus so you go from event to event with the same people. The industry is a family.

There are many reasons why I wouldn't recommend Kawasaki for employment. It is a very stressful, physically demanding job. The training for new employees is minimal,the atmosphere is negative all around. Co workers are very negative. The company claims to promote people within the company. Yet I have seen many times favorite employees of upper management receive promotions over equally or more qualified employees. Company service means nothing over promotions or job relocating. Production equipment overall is old worn out outdated and needs replaced. There is very little or no automation at this facility.Everything is done mostly by manpower thus meaning employees are overexerted and risk of overall injury,fatigue,and permanent damage to joints ligaments and other body parts.There is 8 hours of standing on concrete with a 10 minute break,and a 20 minute meal break. Production is based on cycle time,where the employees are required to do their work in a given amount of time. Production operators must run their lines (manually) placing each work piece into each machine around the line making sure they are at the slowest machine online when it's cycle is finished and the door opens. Repeating this process for 8 hours a day.

Pros – Benefits, Fun industry, Good working conditions, Int'l environment

Cons – 1-Old boys’ club network at the upper levels. Too many unqualified people undeservingly got to managerial and executive positions. They seriously lack a wide spectrum of skills and knowledge, although they enjoy their power.
2-If you are part of the Old boys’ club network, the company will unfortunately assume that "seniority" (years with the company) means being qualified and competent to rise to managerial and executive positions.
3-There is a large salary gap between executives and the rest of the employees. This salary gap is discriminatory and proves how the Old Boy's club functions.
4-Executives never take the blame for their mistakes and bad decisions, but the smaller guy will.
5-There is no communication from top to lower levels because executives always believe to know better.
Advice to Senior Management – I spent so many years working for Kawasaki Headquarters in CA, I love the company and it hurts me seeing how the old boys’ club is destroying the company. Over the decades, managers and executives have been strengthening an old boys’ club network, undeservingly promoting each other and even hiring friends. The only one that can fix this large scale problem is the Japanese headquarters, they need to come to the US to clean up the house.
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A typical day at work is pretty easy depending on where you are, for example I’m in machining, I come to work every week day and do company stretches first thing in the morning, move to my line and start running the line. All machining lines are in a u shaped  pattern and are usually you and one other operator. The workload here is not a hard set number of parts to manufacture but how many you can produce in one hour, the management is okay but your other operators and team leaders are very helpful and kind and there not so hard set on running perfect all of the time.

So far I’ve learned a lot about manufacturing, I’ve learned how to use highly precise measurement tools and time management skills along with troubleshooting cnc machines.

The hardest part of the job though is probably keeping yourself from getting too bored because running the same machines in the same pattern day in and day out gets pretty boring after a month or two, but with that being said I would say the best part of the job is interacting with your fellow operators and learning how to fix the machines you use or see how they work.

Management is okay as previously stated, I don’t interact with upper management very much but I can say with what experience I have is that most of them are very kind helpful and knowledgeable about their profession and they do care about your wellbeing.

The company makes profit despite itself.  The top two managers the president and the VP are both really good people.  From there the bottom falls out.  Horrible company to work for the supervisors will tell the sales people there job is is to inform you of everything that you do wrong (different from what they would of done)!!  If you are in need of a help with a problem do not call your manager you are supposed to call another salesman yet do not say anything negative.  Job security well as long as you fall just below your goals and tell the management how great they are you will do fine.  If you exceed your goals or do not make a sale the way they think it should be done you are not right and job security goes out the window.  They you are supposed to increase your sales each year but the amount of engines on mowers does not meet demand.  Then the end user buys a Kohler and they see the engine is equal or better at a lower price.  The same territory had 5 people call on them in less than 3 years.  They realize they must pay well in order to have any employees stay longer than a year.  After a year you see the problem it is hard to walk away from the money yet you cannot stand the company and the management.  I would only suggest to my worst enemy to take a job.

We usually started at work at 7:30. I was a multi-task person. First thing in the morning we picked parts. Pick tickets (yellow sticker with location,part number,dealer number, spur number and invoice order number.) I go to the bin to pick the part I verify the part with the the one in the bin. Spur number is important for sorting because we batch pick several parts and put them in a tub. Sort tub are numbered so you would pick 1-24, 25-48, 49-72 and 73-100. You take the spur number( A-24) on the pick ticket match it with the tub(A-24).After all the parts are in the right tub then they get sent down from there to be pack.Then we decide by diamension of the product wether it ships UPS or LTL(software will tell us). UPS goes into the UPS truck.Large boxes go truck.Once the part is done I move on to receiving parts. After I get a HI-Low I take the parts off the in coming trucks and sort the parts out.  We use CV60's (scanner) to receive the parts shipment. Clean up the aisles for empty boxes or trash. I learned how a parts warehouse works. The management was great to all of us. The people I worked with were great. I really like every job there. Working for Kawasaki was enjoyable.Nice place to work.

This job was a saving grace for me when I had to leave a job that was taking an emotional toll on me. The jobs are simple to understand and people here are either friendly or don't talk to/bother you if there is no reason to and keep to themselves. There are the normal gossips/nosey individuals, but that's to be expected in many workplaces and it is obvious to tell which ones to stay away from. 

Turn over is high and on-hand training could use some help, as they often have assemblers who were cross-trained to cross-train other assemblers which causes some things about a job on the line to slip through the cracks. Break times seem short since your 10 minutes includes whatever time it takes you to leave your line to walk to or back from cafeteria. 

If you do your job fast and precisely and communicate concerns or questions well, you should survive here. Muscles will hurt, but they are the same motions over and over each day which is perfect for someone who needs a mental break but needs to put food on the table. Benefits and PTO kick in after 3rd month 

Hot work environment, Demanding and timed. Benefits out way the negatives somewhat. Promte people with little time with co.. If you're a family member you'll get hired or promoted faster. Seniority means nothing. Most lower level mgmnt. has no seniority. Certain employees get prefferential treatment and easy work. People with seniority get pushed harder. Lack of motivation and lots of employees don't qualify for the positions they hold. The pay is minimal and the raises are a joke. Health insurance increases every year. Lack of respect from upper mgmnt.. The feeling of a dead end job and lack of recognition for your skills. The more you know, the more you'll do for the same pay as the guy doing a brainless job. It's a job you have no choice to have because there is nothing in the area better. They know that and abuse that fact. Bottom line, your bills get paid, foods on the table and clothing is on your families backs. That simple and nothing more. If thats all you want in life, go for it.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Actor 5 salaries reported	$20.21 per hour
Assembler 2 salaries reported	$20.32 per hour
Team member 7 salaries reported	$20.29 per hour
Shipping and receiving clerk 5 salaries reported	$19.46 per hour
Welder 3 salaries reported	$22.97 per hour

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