maintenance technician

technician

machine operator

packaging technician

shift leader

Placon Corporation

Placon is by no stretch of the imagination short of hard working, talented, quality employees that do everything in their power to keep the company going and going well. Where Placon fails, and fails spectacularly, is in management.

To start absolutely everyone who works off of the factory floor has very little to zero appreciation or understanding of what it is like to work on the floor. This manifests itself as anything from unreasonable expectations of what the overworked machines are capable of, to unrealistic timetables of what an operator can be expected to accomplish at the same time, to extra machines being put onto the floor and generating an unsafe work space for workers and forklift traffic due to the decreased safe areas around machines, to name just a few cases.

Machines are poorly maintained and often made to run well beyond their reasonable expectations. The clean room machine in particular was notorious for this. Most of the tools ran in that machine were Frankenstein hodgepodges that did not conform to the manufacture's original intent and by extension caused undue wear and tear on the machine eventually leading to frequent occurrences of on the fly adjustments needing to be made constantly to the machine to keep it running and producing proper parts. Causing a chain reaction that put undue stress on the operators working the machine and causing orders to go out in specification and on time in spite of the machine, rather than because of it.

This would lead to conflict between the operators and the managers. The later of which would always press to have things running out quicker and quicker while the operators would often time spend half of the day just ensuring the machine would produce parts properly. This was exacerbated during the week when senior management and engineers would often wish to stop your work to come and check as to why the machine was not producing proper parts yet, interrupting the troubleshooting process and delaying production even further. This interruption however would never occur on the weekend as no one from senior management or the engineering staff would ever come in on the weekend, even in the event of a critical level problem with the tooling that required the direct attention of high level staff. This event occurred on one of my jobs over the weekend, and after I finally got the tool designer on the phone to help troubleshoot the problem he told me "I don't want to leave the pool, just run it over the weekend and see if you can't fix it" after two other operators, myself, and the on hand tool staff had tried for the better part of 6 hours to correct the problem and had not succeeded.

If I sat and thought about it, and really had the gumption to write a full dissertation on the woes of Placon I could be here all day and write nothing short of an essay of the pitfalls of the place. I however won't. I will however say that even after leaving the company Placon continues to not treat me well as I have needed background checks to work at my newer jobs. Jobs that have inquired to Placon to confirm in a yes or no format that I have indeed worked there in the past. Requests of which have been ignored by the company for weeks on end, regardless of the amount of follow up I give the company which has cost me time and a not insignificant portion of money.

I will say one positive thing about Placon however, and that is they have no shortage of wonderful people that do a great job every single day I worked with them. Placon does not deserve the quality employees that they currently have, and I hope every single one of them grow to find better jobs in time.

Working at Placon presents a mixed bag of experiences. On one hand, the day-to-day work is characterized by fairness and honesty, with ample opportunities to acquire new skills. However, the environment demands self-starters, as there's minimal hand-holding and little tolerance for failure. Lacking structured training programs, employees often navigate tasks independently.

Unfortunately, the company lacks a cohesive culture, with management seemingly disconnected from the workforce's needs and aspirations. Instances of favoritism and a tendency to ignore valid feedback create an atmosphere of distrust. Rather than addressing concerns constructively, management often resorts to silencing dissent, which undermines morale.

Despite the challenges, dedicated employees strive for the company's success, often without due recognition. However, systemic issues persist, with rules and policies selectively benefiting higher-ups while disregarding the concerns of others. Overall, the prevailing sentiment is one of frustration, leading to reservations about recommending Placon as a workplace in its current state.

This place operates with consistently low energy, poor organization, and unrealistic expectations that create a frustrating environment for everyone involved. Planning is almost always reactive instead of proactive, leading to confusion, last-minute changes, and preventable problems that could have been avoided with basic communication and preparation. Tasks are often assigned without clear direction, priorities constantly shift, and responsibilities fall on the same people repeatedly. Despite the lack of structure and support, expectations continue to grow higher, with leadership or management demanding more productivity, faster results, and greater flexibility without providing the necessary tools, staffing, or time to succeed. Morale suffers because effort rarely feels recognized, while pressure continues to increase. The atmosphere becomes draining rather than motivating, making it difficult for people to stay engaged or perform at their best. Over time, the cycle of poor planning and constant demands creates burnout, resentment, and a workplace culture that feels exhausting instead of productive or collaborative.

To be honest, I miss working at Placon, and would consider going back someday if "some other circumstances" would change so I would be able to return.  Placon was the best place I have ever worked - my coworkers were like family, the pay was good (profit sharing was awesome) and I was respected for my unique talents that I had to offer.  Placon has a good culture, and their systems are well defined.  There is no question about who is responsible for what within the organization, and people do not have to "wear multiple hats" as you see in other places.  Training programs are excellent.  Downsides?  There are a few.  There has been a lot of management turnover in the past couple of years with a lot of people retiring and resigning.  The time off accrual could be better as new employees are not on the same accrual system which has been downgraded many times over the years, so new hires will never accrue as much time as veteran employees.  You must negotiate prior to walking in the door.

A typical day at Placon, is to punch in and go to your assigned machine, were you pick and inspect  plastic parts off a line. Then  pack parts according to customer specification. When machine is down you run your tubs and other tubs to re-grind. Sweep area your working at,and around the warehouse or help out at other machines until machine is back up. I learned a little bit about the machines, and what the manufactured parts were for. Management would talk to you in a condescending way. The workplace culture was awful, Operators were disrespectful, there was lack of help and training. if you couldn't keep up with you line. Bad communication, from operators to temps. There's always new faces, they have a high turn over rate. The hardest part was having to keep up with parts that are coming off a fast line. The breaks were the most enjoyable part of the job.

A typical day at the job I start out by getting in on time and setting up and prepping the area to get ready for the job that we need to get done.
I believe I have learned how to get rid of mail marks out of molds and using a beat blaster correctly.
I think the hardest part is when things go wrong in the mill machine and we have to throw out parts and nothing has been communicated of when things need to go out on time.
I enjoy working on the molds getting out every detail that needs to come out from the mold so then when it goes into a press it looks really nice.

I worked here for about 3 months as a temp and I must say it’s one of the most unprofessional places I’ve worked for. Management is never on the same page and contradict each other like crazy. They have temper tantrums and outbursts probably about 1 to 3 times a week. For a place that is willing to train “entry level” employees they sure have bad training and pull out their hair practically when you ask the simplest of questions. There is a high turnover rate there from what I learned talking to other employees and it is very clear that it starts with management. Needless to say I would suggest not working here if you want to be treated with respect and want good training, THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR THAT.

Placon is a good place if you're looking for a solid compensation packaging however it is NOT the place to be if you're a top level sales rep who "hits it out of the park..."  The company has unfortunately gained the reputation as a non-sales-friendly employer with the dismissal of its top sales people when they have once-in-a-lifetime successes despite the value that these successes bring to the company's top-line and bottom-lines.  They simply do not like to pay their sales people when the sales people blow through their targeted sales goals.  It's the kind of company that has meetings to discuss having more meetings to discuss having more meetings and constant duplicating of reports/meetings.

If you are realllllly down on your luck maybe take a job from here. I was a warehouse associate and the only redeeming part of this job was having other employees to complain about. Any team lead will throw you under the bus first chance they get to save their butts. 

Can’t stress this enough will spend thousands of dollars on safety programs but will not hire their temps or give raises to the people who have been there for years. Lastly watch out for maintenance!!! 

Placon is a great company to work for. Stable work environment and respects the teammates family life balance. Promotes teammates to move up with training on the production floor. Benefit package is better than most in the industry. Includes profit sharing, 401K match, healthcare is not high priced. Promotes teammates to advance with extra training. I have been with Placon for 1 year and am very pleased with the working conditions and support given. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 15 salaries reported	$32.30 per hour
Technician 1 salary reported	$31.50 per hour
Machine operator 7 salaries reported	$22.70 per hour
Packaging technician 3 salaries reported	$18.70 per hour
Shift leader 5 salaries reported	$66,700 per year

Working at Placon Corporation: Company Overview and Reviews

Placon Corporation

Placon Corporation Ratings

Popular jobs at Placon Corporation

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected