assembler

team coordinator

project manager

paint prep

senior quality engineer

Oshkosh Defense

Oshkosh Corporation is a fantastic company. They are innovative and they design and manufacture some of the most capable vehicles for the most important industries. Everyone from the janitors to the CEO are dedicated to producing the best equipment, and that mission comes first.

The biggest problem is in the Supervisory and Management level of the organization. It is a truly dog eat dog culture. All of the great integrity that is devoted to the product quickly goes the way of the dinosaur when it comes to personal advancement.

Oshkosh Corporation hires primarily fresh college graduates, and places them in positions of Team Leads. They are expected to work 50+ hour weeks, and learn how to deal with an overpowered UAW Union. Many are not prepared for this reality and burn out after a few months.

Those who do survive, learn that in order to move up in the ranks, you must facilitate the demise of your peers. And, you have to do this with a smile and a pat on the back of your target. 

The ones who are able to shed any semblance of a conscience, will ultimately be able to throw their buddies under the bus, and wave the driver back to ensure that the job is done before allowing the driver to finish their route. 

Once you have proven that you are capable of the actions described above, you may be welcomed into the inner circle of the "Good Ol' Boys" where you continue to hone your skills of diverting your responsibilities to your subordinates, and using them as the patsies for your failure to meet goals.

To be fair, this does not apply to the whole of the Management Team at Oshkosh. There are a fantastic few who are able to maintain the purity of their souls, but this comes at the price of stagnating in a position which is likely under utilizing your skills and abilities. Until the next layoff.

Ultimately, the experience at Oshkosh Corporation looks terrific on a resume, and they do a great job of developing the entry level professional in true manufacturing excellence. This is a great place to cut your teeth, and learn about the real world. 

Just don't plan on being a lifer.

● Work-life balance
Really enjoyed the kind of work I was doing, but the PTO system is terrible. You get 4 days every 6 months for vacation, sick days, and Dr appointments. I was given no leeway for my regularly and frequently scheduled doctors appointments, even though I told them up front that I had a preexisting medical condition, and that I needed to go to the doctor regularly.

● Pay & benefits
Cost of living is 3% less than where the original plant is located, but the pay is ~30% less. For the tight specifications of the work, severely underpaid for "quality" government work. Also, sick days and vacation days are the same.

● Job security and advancement
Fairly easy to advance if you were willing to put yourself out there, higher-level positions were posted regularly and everyone was encouraged to apply

● Management
Upper management was actually really good, they were always very helpful and approachable, and truly had an "open door policy". Lower management on the other hand, half were really great people who had your best interests in mind, and the other half didn't even bother to get to know the employees that were under them, and made no effort to investigate problems that were brought to their attention that effecting the efficiency of the job. I was stuck under one of those.

● Culture
Even though some of the lower management and supervisors were terrible, for the most part your coworkers are really easy to get along with and are really great people in general. Very rarely had any conflicts myself, and when I did they were quickly resolved.

● Overall
Should pay a lot more for the quality of work they expect the workers to put out, and with some of the supervisors, unless you know them personally or kiss up to them, you will pretty much be set up for failure

Regional Director, Latin America (2011 – 2012)
Responsible for establishing a new business unit presence in Latin America, building partnerships, and driving business development and sales across the region with full P&L oversight
	Developed valuable strategic partnerships with dealers, representatives, distributors, sales organizations and aftermarket service providers in Mexico, Columbia, Brazil, Peru and Argentina
	Generated $38.5 million in sales with the Mexican Army.  Identified additional opportunity to modernize their aging wheeled vehicle fleet with a potential value of $400 million through 2017
	Obtained opportunities to provide protected vehicles for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, for the Brazilian federal government and state and city police forces
	Worked with the Colombian government and the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command to obtain a sole source FMS case valued at $20.5 million for protected vehicles 

Program Director, SandCat Product Line (2007 – 2012)
Responsible for leading an integrated product team in market research, engineering, product development, product launch, manufacturing, marketing, business development, and sales
	Led a joint venture that developed and launched a new lightweight protected vehicle, the smallest ever built by the company, which opened a new market segment and exceeded sales goals
	Surpassed sales objectives by securing orders to multiple customers with a combined value of $44 million

I loved my job as the head of production. The day to day challenges is what I loved the most. To work alongside management, mechanics, and to deal directly with the customer and with vendors was challenging as well, and also very rewarding at times. Although there were struggles with the management staff (always changing)over the years, all in all I enjoyed my job with Oshkosh very much. 

The hardest part of the job is knowing that I had a small time frame to complete multiple tasks, and at the same time please management, mechanics, material handlers, corporate, vendors, and more importantly the customer. But, thi was always a tough challenge I enjoyed and was very good at.

I have to say the most enjoyable part of my job was consistently meeting contractual deadlines to appease the customer and corporate. 

Over the years, I learned many skills with computers, spreadsheets, etc. I learned how to deal with customers, vendors, employees, management, corporate, and other departments all at the same time but having to approach them all differently as not every individual is he same. I learned how to take on change and embrace it. I learned each and every day will be different, and that new challenges and issues will always arise, and to always to my best to resolve them.

Management, leadership, work culture and communication are not good here. Morale often drags when leaders push and pull the employees so much. One day they want quantity, the next day they want quality. Nothing is ever good enough and there are too many leaders not communicating with eachother effectively. 

To sum it up, the right hand barely knows what the left hand is doing. We were either lied to by upper management constantly or rumors were spread. It’s really hard to trust or believe anything you hear when working here.

The best time I had working here was when I was out on a special confidential project in a special project focused facility. I felt very trusted and was given a lot of responsibility. My pay and benefits did not increases but I felt a great amount of pride, purpose, and respect during this short few months.

However shortly after this I was put back on the assembly line and forced to change shifts with zero say, I tried getting union stewards to help me but no avail. Thousands of employees were displaced from their shifts and positions, the only ones who had say were the old timers who had 25+ years of tenure, and even they were temporarily displaced.

This new change made me miserable and I worked with other miserable workers, I had employees threaten to fight me, swear at me, be aggressive and petty for the most ridiculous reasons.

I quit shortly after this along with many others.

In a typical day at work I answer customer phone calls and emails regarding quotes, orders, returns, invoicing, etc. I manage the flow of parts from the moment they are ordered to the time they are delivered to the end customer. I work with suppliers to ensure on time delivery resulting in high customer satisfaction. I enjoy being around the people that I work with and have learned a great deal from each and every one of them. I have increased my written and verbal communication skills through phone calls, networking, and leading team meetings and projects. The most difficult part of the job is expediting problem parts. Parts that are being held up in quality inspection or are taking the supplier longer than expected to deliver are often difficult to improve. Working with team members, suppliers, and other internal employees and using clear and concise communication is the best way to improve delivery of these types of parts. The most enjoyable part of the job is the customer that Oshkosh Defense serves. It is very rewarding knowing I am serving the war fighter every day.

Days were different every day, typically started at 5:30am-2:30pm
most days provided the US military product support and performed military ingratiation of communication and weapons systems to the MATV which is an variant of an MRAP. Travel to military bases on the east coast to teach Marines and Army personnel OPNET AND FLIMNET classes, which was one of my personal favorite things about this job, I enjoy teaching. Learned many technical skills and how important it is that the safety of troops lie with me. I was the SPAWAR site manager, my upper management was great providing me with what ever support I requested, my co workers basically I was their leader and we enjoyed the SPAWAR assignment the full duration of the contract. Most enjoyable was the traveling to bases to teach classes to the US Marines and the US Army personnel that one day will use the knowledge gained from my teachings.

• There really is no such thing as a typical work day at this job.
• I learned to work with a variety of people in a very intense environment.
• This is an intense environment that is ever evolving and management does there best to manage it.
• The people that commit to this job have to be flexible, have a high stress tolerance, and be a little bit crazy (in a good way).
• The hardest part of this job is the inconsistency in the work schedule. One day you might work 8 hours and the next day 12 hours. One week you might work 40 hours and the next week you might work 90 because you are working on a project that is ever changing.
• To be honest, I liked everything about this job. It suit to me well. I liked the crazy hours, I liked the people I worked with, and I liked the variety of work it provides.

During my tenure at Oshkosh Defense, I learned a great deal about the fulfillment of government contracts and the manufacture and delivery of the toughest military vehicles on Earth. My co-workers were the finest it has been my pleasure to be associated with, both in terms of knowledge and personality. The company, however, has established an antagonistic relationship with the labor union that represents its hourly workforce, leading to very tense working conditions. The hardest part of this job was dealing with the internal politics and red tape that thrive in large corporations. By far, the best part of working there was the opportunity to network with and befriend people of the same philosophical and ethical ideals as myself.

A typical work day would consist of providing technical assistance to our customer or service provider network either by phone call or e-mail and writing work instructions for retrofit or warranty campaigns. I have learned a lot LEAN culture: the seven LEAN principles, the plan, do, check, act process and A3 development. Majority of the management are open to suggestions and are taking this company in the right direction. My co-workers are self-motivate, creative thinkers and are great to work with. The hardest part of my job is trying to communicate to other departments with in Oshkosh. Everyone is so focused at their task at hand they do not think about how it affects the company as a whole. The most enjoyable part of my job is providing superior technical support to the war fighter when they need it most.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Assembler 8 salaries reported	$27.01 per hour
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Project manager 4 salaries reported	$93,388 per year
Paint prep 6 salaries reported	$18.90 per hour
Senior quality engineer 3 salaries reported	$91,333 per year

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