artist

machine operator

spray technician

machine technician

customer service representative

PlayPower

Management is absolutely terrible. Lazy managers create draconian blanket policies instead of dealing with problems on a case by case basis. 

Almost all Production Management are either related or are long time work buddies which creates a culture with NO accountability. Friends and Favorites of management in every department are able to pick and choose the work they want to do and push the rest on those that are not in that clique . There is no accountability due to lazy management and neoptism. This place very much runs on scapegoating and passing the buck. Very poorly running equipment creates daily issues in work flow processes.  Machines breakdown constantly due to incompetent employees that are convinced they can fix things they are not qualified to work on. Multiple departments crippled for weeks and months at a time due to total machine failure due to lack of maintenance. Again there is no accountability. Things routinely break and malfunction but no one attempts to find a solution. The maintenance department is just there to socialize.

It really is a shame. There was a very short lived, big push by the
Lean Coach to improve and standardize job funtion, SOP's and training. Favorites and friends didnt want to be told what to do. Management would not follow through with making sure it was carried out. Again NO accountability.

Clean sweep of management is needed

I always try to base my satisfaction on a company by meeting the people around me getting a feel for the culture or lack there of. 

It's atleast 40% of why I like to work, I enjoy the people, I enjoy conversation, or  just personality. Maybe some admonishments here and there that make a guy feel more appreciated. 

I didn't enjoy coming to work everyday like I thought I would. I had like maybe 3 people in my dept of 20+ that I could talk to. 

And if I'm being completely honest the women there are being treated unfairly. Half the shop doesn't wear PPE (sleeves) and can listen to music while they work but no tanks aloud. While the other half of the shop gets no music, wears all PPE and tanktops. But the women are excluded from the tanktops. 

Ridiculous rules especially for the summer time, that are not even being enforced, not one person is anyone gaining anything by wearing them except a heat stroke. Oh and they go home without a couple scratches. 

Just for reference the shop is maybe 250 yards long give or take. So it's not another plant it's the same building where you can get away with things in some places and not in others. Just hope you don't get stuck in the wrong one. 


And lastly the point system is aimed mostly at new hires. You get sick with anything and go to the hospital it don't make a difference. You still get docked points and WROTE up which will hault any progress forward with the company for promotions. 

Though the products are interesting and many of the staff are nice to work with, it doesn't balance out all the negatives - and there are many. From crazy workloads with totally unrealistic deadlines to dealing with the "good ole boy" club, the days tend to be long and frustrating. Difficult to move projects along. Not much work-life balance. And good luck ever getting a raise or promotion- even if your work and contributions are above expectations. The offices are nice though everyone works in a cube, common area includes a ping pong table- but it can only be used when the CEO isn't in the office- which is rarely.  The unspoken rule is to stay at your desk, don't take more than a few minutes for lunch (most eat at their desk and keep working) and don't spend too much time talking with anyone unless you are in a meeting - which brings up another negative. Meetings about meetings to follow up on meetings for other meetings. Lots of unnecessary meeting eating up time you could be working - which only adds to the long hours and stress.

This place may pay more than the other factories in the area but that’s only when they do pay you or pay you correctly. They like to get your checks to you a week late or not at all. They really enjoy taking the bonus away when you get overtime just for fun. Or not pay you the overtime hours at all. The management is laughable with all of them having a bad case of ‘I peaked in high school’ syndrome. Hr will threaten to fire you for attitude when you go to them with concerns or pay issues. They even like to give promotions and never issue the raise with it and withhold yearly raises as well. They change the working hour times and days on an every other month basis and if that doesn’t work for you they just don’t care. Doesn’t matter if you have kids or other responsibilities. I seriously do not know how this place continues to make record profits when they can’t even manage their employees properly. Don’t work here. They will just ruin your well being. 

Somewhat stressful work place.  I have learned a lot about organization working in the warehouse.  I am responsible for unloading trucks, labeling product and keeping the product as organized as possible on warehouse shelves to minimize time taken to pull it later for delivery to departments needing it for production.  I work with many people throughout the day.  I try to take the time to make sure everyone is aware when I deliver their parts so they are not needlessly waiting for parts that are already in their area.  The hardest part of the day is trying to get a break.  Other departments stagger their breaks, but that doesn't leave receiving much chance for regular breaks.  I really enjoy being able to help people find what they need to continue production by keeping the warehouse organized.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Coworkers, opportunities to gain experience, occasional perks like free lunches or snow cones.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Trying to figure out to satisfy a boss who has taken a personal disliking to me and refuses to provide measurable goals for acceptable performance, and instead complains about performance failures that are mostly subjective but sometimes demonstrably false.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
High turn around in all departments, among direct and indirect labor.  Fire happy managers at all levels.  No one is safe.  It's a bloodbath.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
You do good work and if you're lucky, you go unnoticed.  If you're not, you'll get harassed by your manager.

I was asked to use my personal email account to solicit information from competitors; had to use my personal cell phone to log into company applications; IT staff lies / back dates responses to request; they manufacture / sell lighting that gathers data from children's activities - data mining without disclosure; the building is dark; HVAC does not work correctly; in trying to schedule meetings with managers to gather needed information they totally disregard the meeting requests; there is a serious lack of cooperation between departments .... I do not know how this company stays in business. Moral is extremely low. Not a good work/life balance. Top management seems highly unethical and very disconnected with employees.

PlayPower is in my opinion a typical factory environment with each shift blaming the others for errors. The turnover during my 18 months employed there was about 80% including management. There were safety issues that were brought up and ignored. There were maintenance issues that were back burnered for the entirety of my employment there. When I left the production schedule was 34 weeks behind and an the EEOC had been contacted for employees not being paid the overtime they worked. I do not recommend employment there.

The key deficiencies in the Playpower organization are:
Poor management – too opinionated and lack or real-world plant level manufacturing experience
Lack of planning – the plant ran in an expedite mode.  “Production” meetings were to determine what could be shipped that day.
Protracted long work hours (up to 68 hours per shift) cause a loss of high skill level positions. Because of the reputation of Playpower qualified replacement could not be hired fast enough to compensate for the attrition.
The “forecast” which the current budget was based upon was low by as much as 90% - the operations was over capacity for most work cell.

Typical business hours, all onsite: 8-5 Mon-Fri. The Dallas office is near the DFW Airport with production and corporate employees working  in the same building. They have fun activities like FIFA soccer competition, corn hole competition, pumpkin decorating contests, etc. It would be nice if management and leadership joined but it is usually just the regular employees that come to the events even though everyone is invited. The Production managers grill carne asada for the employees once in a while. Occasionally, they have an ice cream truck or food truck. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Artist 3 salaries reported	$23.75 per hour
Machine operator 4 salaries reported	$19.51 per hour
Spray technician 2 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour
Machine technician 1 salary reported	$25.50 per hour
Customer service representative 4 salaries reported	$21.13 per hour

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