production associate

warehouse associate

sanitation worker

production

warehouse worker

Ornua

One of the primary issues I encountered during my time here is the consistent breakdown of machinery. The machines in our facility seem to malfunction on a regular basis, disrupting our workflow and causing delays in production/packaging. Despite reporting these issues multiple times, they are never truly fixed, leading to recurring problems and frustrations among the workers.

Furthermore, the management's response to these equipment failures has been inadequate and unprofessional. Instead of addressing the root cause of the problem, they resort to temporary fixes that barely last, if at all. This lack of attention to maintenance reflects a disregard for employee efficiency and the overall quality of our products.

One of the most significant issues I have encountered during my time here is the frequent expectation for employees to work outside of their designated pay code. Despite being hired for specific roles and responsibilities, there is a disturbing trend of being asked to perform tasks that are beyond the scope of our job descriptions, often without proper compensation or recognition. This practice not only undermines the value of our work but also creates feelings of resentment and exploitation among the employees.

Overall, my experience with 'Ornua -Hilbert' has been marred by persistent machinery issues and poor management practices. I sincerely hope that these issues are addressed promptly for the betterment of both the employees and the company as a whole. Until then, I find it challenging to recommend this workplace to others seeking employment opportunities.



Typical day would be changing into our uniforms, putting on our PPE, clocking in, and getting machines and supplies all set up and ready to use. We're also given a schedule so we have an idea on what we're working with and what is needed to get finished (or nearly finished till next shift takes over). Cheese gets produced and in the other room, cheese gets packaged. All sounds simple and easy...

Unfortunately it's not that simple. As a mater of fact, it's both a nightmare and a drag. Everyday the robots, cookers, blenders, baggers, box makers and various other machineries will always either break, shut off, and malfunction. Even maintenance can't completely solve everything. There has never been a long term nor permanent fix to any of these machine problems. It's always a temporary fix and it sometimes lasts for an entire day or more commonly a couple of hours. Management and the higher ups refuse to get new parts or at least new equipment. Instead they limit our resources, make meaningless changes, limit the things we can have in a room, never takes accountability, hires like 20 HR people (don't know the exact count, but there's far too many of them). They've wasted so stuff that we've never asked for, nor needed at all. 

I won't be listing anymore problems about this place, as this review is long enough and I could even make a book out of it. When I started as a packaging associate and later a line leader. There wasn't much problems with the place and was all pretty much tame.  I can no longer recommend working at Ornua anymore, because nothing gets resolved.

The company used to be okay. Benefits were good and when employees were treated well, the company did well.

Recently there has been a huge shift. Leaders and managers who only care about numbers have been brought in and you can feel the difference. Product quality and employee safety has gone way down. Turnover in critical areas is high, but they keep hiring for the departments that contribute very little. Middle managers are berated, belittled, and blamed for circumstances beyond their control. Employee goals, objectives, or KPIs are not achievable because they aren't given the resources to achieve them. The employees that work the hardest receive no recognition, thanks, or support.

Ornua has the potential to be a great workplace, but management often ignores employee concerns. They implement temporary fixes instead of long-term solutions, leading to recurring issues like machinery breakdowns and contaminated cheese, which waste resources. Their refusal to pause operations for necessary cleaning makes matters worse.

The company is also frequently short-staffed, causing tensions in management as they struggle with employee allocation. Frequent changes in management complicate job roles, making tasks unnecessarily difficult. While there are occasional moments of camaraderie among staff, they arise from their own efforts, not management support. The overall sentiment is that the company is declining. 

Specifically, the 3rd shift supervisor is a significant problem, and the 1st shift supervisors are underperforming. If Ornua replaced these power-hungry supervisors, it could address one of the many major issues the company faces.

Mind you I worked at ornua for 11 years.

I typically would work 10-14 hrs per day without breaks due to the overburdening work load they gave me with multiple managers not there to support me or my potential growth. (This started when I became a team lead 2016)
Manual physical work when it comes to palletizing pallets or working on the line, no ERP system but expected to have perfect inventory, and very poor communication all around. 
Very easy to get promoted if you show up daily and put in some effort but you will find yourself plateaued after a certain point without goals/objectives to help you continue that growth.
The group in the warehouse was typically very fun and hardworking which made most of the days not soo bad.
Most days I left work depressed due to the work/home life balance, when asked to reduce my hours to 40 per week like I was being paid for they couldn't promise me that. They will lie, use and abuse the average person.

Management constantly lies and cuts down their employees to make themselves look better. They are quick to hire and quick to fire new employees if they find anything they dislike about them. Despite the revolving door for new hires, Human Resources doesn't look at the true reason why there's such a high turn-around. The main reason is their managers. 
Beware of their "4 day work-weeks", because they'll work you 5 days a week if you're in the warehouse. You'll have a high workload and no support to get anything finished. If you work in the office setting, be expected to take work-calls all day and be expected to work from home on your scheduled days off. You'll never catch a break. And if you are catching a break, then they're planning to get rid of you. I took a vacation and decided to not work during it, and was disciplined after returning. Like I said, no work-life balance.

The leadership team is very controlling and there is no trust or autonomy extended. There is heavy micromanaging and many management members are very condescending. They are also understaffed overall and have antiquated process flows, which results in a ton of unnecessary work. They pride themselves on a culture that is cliquish and lacking diversity, and make no real efforts to change that since it's been a common complaint for years now. There is a mandatory in-office presence post covid, but some favorites are exempt. There is also high turnover with at least 1 to 2 people quitting each month. Think twice before accepting a position here, as there arent very many pros to outweigh the cons.

Typically in a day, I processed Accounts Payable invoices, did production calculations for several customer orders, recorded all incoming/outgoing freight for raw materials coming in and finished product shipping to customers, rebates and commissions. In addition, I did deposits, updated several spreadsheets, covered front desk answering phones/greeting customers for a time each day.   I enjoyed following the manufacture process from start to finish, down to invoicing for orders shipped. I enjoyed the challenge and variety of duties I performed each day.  My co-workers were great to work with, helpful, lots of fun to work with.

I worked in production "Plant 1"
Work was so easy but seemed complicated when you get moldy cheese and have to manually scrape it withing 6-8 minutes.

        Weight ranges from 90-280lbs
Depending on the order it might be more or less!!
Each pallet you get has the same type of cheese if still on the same order you where on to start with, which each pallet could include.. 
•42lb BLOCKS of cheese. * simple*
•BAGS of cheese each weighting between 10lbs-38lbs *irritating*

Great coworkers with good communication and understanding. Managment was ok, I really can't say much.

2-20 minute breaks 
Team leader is there when you run out of cheese. 


THIS COMPANY DID NOT PAY ME FOR MY HOURS WORKED!!! Lead doesn’t care, company doesn’t care about well being or the quality of product at all. Visited HR on second day to inform them grease had been passed through product and it was being dropped on floor only to be put back on the line for mass production! Very very poor work environment! Trainer tried everything under the sun to get me to quit first day! HR TELLS YOU ANYTHING TO GET YOU HIRED! But once your in the door your just a number and they could care less! 2-20 min breaks for 10 hours of physically demanding work! 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Production associate 209 salaries reported	$18.59 per hour
Warehouse associate 50 salaries reported	$19.48 per hour
Sanitation worker 42 salaries reported	$18.48 per hour
Production 13 salaries reported	$20.02 per hour
Warehouse worker 8 salaries reported	$19.83 per hour

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