tool and die maker

shipper

machine operator

manufacturing engineer

packager

Leatherman Tool Group, Inc

Leatherman makes great tools and many of the people who work in the factory are awesome. But as others have said here, management is pretty horrible. While I was working there, I experienced constant double-speak, lack of follow through on promises, criticism of employees without any real guidance for them to fix issues, and outright contradictions from week-to-week from managers about job performance, growth, and training. 

This consistently lead to some of the most talented people leaving the company, or being forced out by making their jobs miserable. There was a huge diversity and inclusion initiative touted by management, but we also heard that behind the scenes, management thought it wasn't worth doing. And when push came to shove, there was no real support for employees who complained about inappropriate workplace behavior. 

This showed in the day-to-day treatment of workers. For management, the people who make the tools were just a means to an end: making sure increasing production numbers were met every month, even though we were in the middle of a pandemic. Quality and morale both suffered because of this. For all of the great people I met and experience I gained working there, it is ultimately overshadowed by all of the negative stuff.

Well while working there I learned quite a bit. Not through training because they don't know what training is. For the most part it's just work. I had three days of "training" and not even a year into working there they expected me to know everything. And with that said I was capeble of running any of the 9 presses they have with minimal rundown of how to operate it. The work life balance  is just that. If your alive you work. For most of my time there it was mandatory 50 hour weeks. Sounds like a good paycheck hu? Well after months you get burnt out right quick! And waking up at 2AM is never fun. Especially for work. There taking measures to be more secure. Only after an employee was threatened on property by homeless. And subsequently quit because of that and the response they where givin. They where told to carry a knife and mace.... Good answer guys. And this is my opinion and it's mine alone. The supervisor of the department I was working in is a liability to the company and is extremely disrespectful. Core value much? 

It was one of the best places to work for in the local Portland area, it had the vibe of a new era for everyone. pay was average but the potencial was great. until new culture took over, the comapny wanted the most share in the multitool market, in a bad way. so millions of dollars were spent on new overly complicated equipment that stunt the entire factory. then - deadlines were missed, material was wasted, ideas became more unobtanable, and questions of who was to blame became terminations, good and bad personel was let go with no other expalnations - personel with decasdes of service where told to find a new chapter, culture became toxic. and schedules were change - people with no daycare suffer for a while until they found balance, until a few months later they had to drasticaly change schedules to meet poor planed production schedules. some of us the fortunate ones went on with our lifes and found a new place to enjoy life and work balance that is crucial for families. because of this I feel this company is not people friendly.

The upper management continues to make costly mistakes for the company which in the end, the hourly employees on the factory floor end up paying for those mistakes. Supervisors (one in particular) gives higher reviews for "favorites," instead of high marks for hard work and knowledge of the job, resulting in lower raises. A 1% annual raise, but in most cases, no raise at all. Leatherman used to have excellent benefits, but now they are sub par at best. If you are desperate for work its a good place to get started, but don't plan on staying long term. You will work hard for little gain.

While It's true that LTG was a good place to work , The overall Morale was way down :
  Micro-management is the number one reason for my leaving after a good number of years at the factory ......  it took me nearly 18 months to get hired on full time , then ...after awhile the shift leads would only talk to the workers if there was an issue .....  there were also cliques among the different shifts . . . .  .  lets just leave it as favorites * .......  Management as much as anyone could benefit from some 
sensitivity training . ( i.e ) 
    putting themselves in the shoes of the other guy , so to speak .

At the time I worked there - the Overtime was actually frowned - upon ....

While the workers were asked for their input on ideas to improve possesses 
or how to streamline something , 
      It was seldom - if ever paid any
attention . . . .  . . 

The one good thing I can say ; 
   as a complete certainty , is that
       SAFTEY  IS and WAS  always Job #1
;--)

Leatherman was a bummer.  Cool factory, cool people, cool product but some really bad choices in leadership.   Leaky old greasy equipment, air quality is terrible, middle and upper managers model a somewhat sleazy element.   Lots of attempts to have a good workplace culture, but really, it doesn't work when the leadership is so entitled.  Workers have to be at your machine by the minute or you lose points, professional staff can be anywhere they want.   A literal wall separates people by working class vs professional class.   Very exploitive.  I heard one director say "if they are temps, if we can break them we can get new ones." This company does not give a rip about retaining talent.   

It is a good starter company learn about production, manufacturing, and machining. Benefits are on the better side of average with a 5% match on 401k. On the down side there's alot of nepotism and unless your a favorite its hard to be acknowledged or rewarded for your work. The supervisors are 50/50 on good and bad so just hope you get lucky, and it's not to different with HR. Its to much of a blame game and no one wants to take ownership of there mistakes. Outside of the that the people are really good. 

Start looking how to organized area of work, I've learned how to trained co-workers on how to break machines apart and how to put them together, I teach a class of conflict for the whole company. co-workers where wonderful and funny, the hardest part of the job was when machines broke down, and they had to get fixed. I had a lot of pressure to met the company's goal. the most enjoyable part of my job was to teach people and know that they where doing a great job due to my teaching skills, and ideas on how to do their job much more faster and better and in a safe manner.

Fast paced, non stop.

I learned lean manufacturing, lean tools & manufacturing controls.

The management at Leatherman tries to keep everyone up to speed with the direction of the business. They work in a team fashion of leadership excellence.

My co workers at Leatherman tool are dedicated to achieving the company goals.

Quality problems that require product lines to stop, determining the best contingency for the assembly and machining staff can be subjective.

The best parts are many but what comes to mind is sharing the successes with the team when goals are high and we achieved them with high morale.

Not a great place to work unless you like being a kiss a**, who has to always smile and constantly running to the boss to tattle on others around you.  You'll most likely start as temp,  only to still be one after a year or more.  You work hard only to not get any monthly bonuses,  entry to company meetings or anything else that real "Leatherman" employees get.  Rules change constantly, so be prepared to get yelled at by a PIC after another PIC tells you how to do something. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Tool and die maker 10 salaries reported	$42.45 per hour
Shipper 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour
Machine operator 3 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour
Manufacturing engineer 1 salary reported	$38.00 per hour
Packager 1 salary reported	$17.00 per hour

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