production technician

field service technician

technician

material handler

maintenance technician

Praxair

I always enjoy learning new processes and procedures. While there was some cross-learning with the compressed gas industry...specifically the fire shop chemicals...this was a higher learning about chemicals. Much of it was fascinating to me. I really enjoyed the cross-section of employees, as each of us brought our own experiences to the workplace. 

It is important to note that Praxair Specialty Ceramics, or Praxair Surface Technologies (the title changed three times while I was there) was a small, privately owned company when it was purchased by Praxair, some 15 years ago. The founder was kept on as the Production manager, as was the five-man staff of chemists and engineers. As orders came in, the workforce grew to top out in the mid 30s. 

I believe in the chain of command, and reported any problems, or issues, to the lead man. He in turn would address them as he saw fit. Others didn't feel that way, and went into the head manager's office and complained about other employees. Such complaining was never addressed by the manager, until he got frustrated, and some people's motivation suffered. The leadership is incredibly smart and knowledgeable in the fields of chemistry and engineering, and the bulk of my interaction with them was to ask questions about the process, the characteristics of chemical reaction, and so on. They didn't do so well in managing people, and there were a lot of hard feelings. It didn't help that the lead man did not want to be the lead man, and was reluctant to 'get involved'. 

Much of the work was monotonous, so a good thought life while paying attention was a plus. Often in such work environments, if there is a challenge, it can be the monotony. I was able to teach others that the monotony can be a danger, as surely as getting burned by the ovens or crushed by machinery. 

A persistent error in the production process performed by long-term employees resulted in the suspension of the major account that was responsible for the addition of new employees. This resulted in layoffs, of which I was one. That process has now been moved to another state, so the reduction of the workforce is finalized.

I appreciate the opportunity I was given, and met some wonderful people, including the plant manager. I learned much about an industry of which I had very little knowledge. For that I am grateful.

While Praxair is a solid company, and very reputable in this industry, they have shifted their mentality in a very short amount of time from "good employees provide good work with good results for the customers" to the idea that "we can lead the industry by being in the middle of the pack so long as profits stay high". The company amazingly makes record profits routinely, and they do so with one of the surprisingly safest records in the industry, considering the amount of employee turnover they have. Yet with all that cash rolling in, employees have difficulties in procuring basic items like printer paper and chairs. Management from the top down emphasizes the most useless things in an attempt to catch up with all the other corporate jargon and junk that other companies provide. Middle level management is terrified of losing their jobs, scared to make any kind of meaningful decision, and most are only focused on how to get promoted, not on how to make Praxair the best company it can be. That being said, I appreciate the opportunity to work there, as this is a great company with good benefits and pay for people with the right skills. Unfortunately, this company finds people with the right skills, and then either uses them mercilessly until they quit or forces them to leave because they find these people to not be "team players". The hardest part of your job here is not the day to day grind, which is actually quite easy for most competent employees; it is the constant search every day for the "company line" just so you know where to put your toes before they get chopped off as the company removes support for its employees. It seems in just my time here, Praxair has gotten very bloated and top heavy, and that it is only a matter of time before stock prices just can't support the payroll of VPs and executive fellows. Too bad it will probably come on the heels of a bad accident that they are overdue for, and it will show just how poor of a quality of training and care they provide for their employees in an attempt to please share holders, most of whom are also executives.

A typical day for a driver is "giddy up and go". You will usually be dispatched on trips that will have you pedal to the asphalt because you will have to run hard to finish them...otherwise, you are not being productive. DOT rules have no place, the customer comes first, "we can't run them out of product". If you are not driving fatigued then you are not a driver, as drivers are expected (or coerced) to work their 70 hours...and then some. Some managers will go as far as using intimidation and coercive tactics to get drivers to do what they want, like I mentioned above, regardless of DOT rules. Little support if you work overnight and have an issue, as usually it takes several phone calls and long wait times to get to someone who can solve it (hopefully) remotely.

Little respect for drivers.

No life, just work.

Benefits are excellent and so is the compensation for drivers, probably one of the best in the industry.

Some co-workers are amazing human beings, knowledgeable and helpful and will go above and beyond as part of a team to get the job done, as is the case in purge jobs and when a plant is down. Some are just there for a paycheck, but that happens everywhere. The same goes for some managers, who are pro-driver and really do care and will try to help you with anything.

As is standard in transportation, here is no exception driving is a dead end job, chances of advancement are slim to none.

The most enjoyable part of the job is visiting those customers where you actually talk to people, as you get to see them often and get to build a professional rapport with them.

The hardest part of the job is trying to stay sane with all the pressure the company puts on drivers every day.

I’ve worked at Praxair, now Linde for some years, praxair has some wonderful staff, and dedicated employees. When I was first hired there were so many opportunity’s  for learning & training. 
I felt proud to tell people where I work.

over the past couple of years I have seen a major decline in training opportunities. Essentially there aren’t any. 

Praxair Runs on a very minimum staffing level which at times is overwhelming, having team members retire or out on leave with no prospect of replacement confounds an already challenging work environment.
Management at local levels is under tremendous pressure to achieve the highest level of productivity out of the already overworked and very limited team members.

I had seen praxair being the place a person could work at until retirement, although now I don’t think that is the case,.

on several occasions 
I have observed Praxair force 20+ year employees into retirement, with little acknowledgment to the employees for their continued and professional commitment to the company.

Work/life Balance can be a major issue, especially if you have obligations outside of work. Often Praxair does not consider the effects that this has on its staff, already under additional pressures of homeschooling their children in a pandemic.

Local managers work hard to keep moral positive, but senior management would benefit from communicating more with onsite staff.
Pay is Ok, but not necessarily commensurate with the responsibilities placed on Staff, very small incremental raises which can be hard to swallow when you are doing so much.

They micro manage every aspect of your day to day. If your not a yes man/woman don’t apply. They have lofty expectations and change them weekly. Circumstances change per employee as far as job duties, expectations and moving up or around with company. In customer service roles you will do your job, sales reps jobs, and hire ups jobs and get no extra compensation or % of sales..it’s just expected so prepare to do a lot for nothing. If you enjoy being spoke to like a child you will survive just fine. If you actually pride yourself and don’t appreciate constantly being spoke down to or if you don’t handle condescending tones favorably you won’t survive. If you enjoy being a female in a good ole boys club you’ll do wonderful, if you have respect for yourself..you won’t last long. Customer service is all in all a call center. You will have decent customers and some really good co workers but overall you will have horrible customers and a lot of sales reps who lay all their work on you and take all the credit, again no sharing when it comes to commissions..even though you did all the work. The benefits are sub-par could be better considering the nature of the business and the amount of money they make per year..but who doesn’t enjoy life long doctor bills for minor occurrences!! You will be listened in upon by management who do very little besides criticize your every word and manner. Again, if being talked to as if your a toddler works for you, your in!! All in all, it’s managed by many people who play favorites, and don’t care about your work they care about their bottom line and making sure your performance secures their bonuses and commissions.  

I have been coordinating efforts throughout a western region, and I have been traveling 75% of the time. My typical day at work surrounds a manufacturing environment and I have had a chance to meet many of the operators, and management though out my region. I care about them and the safety of the environment that surrounds them. I report my findings and progress of the projects to management, while conveying the importance to operations and maintenance to complete tasks. It is a very lean environment and I have found that there are very few people doing a lot of things. The work ethic has been pleasurable with the people I have encountered from top to bottom.

My associates vary from very skilled to newly starting. Each person has their role and functions well in it. I have tried to learn a little something about them and lead them softly through example and persuasion. I have also found leadership to mentor me through my time with Praxair, as it has been a learning lesson.

The experience I have had with Praxair has been an enjoyable, and learning experience. I have developed myself considerably. The most enjoyable part of my job has been the task oriented goal setting. I have not required oversight in completing my tasks. I have a schedule with travel included and have a home office as well. This has been very encouraging for me, and I have found myself putting in more effort and developing myself more than I have expected. It has really been a freedom to do my job.

A typical day for me at Praxair is to first check any emails that may have messages that I may need to forward or pass on to my peers in the office. After that is taken care of, I begin calling our customers who place weekly orders with us to ask them if they need any air sent to them for the current week. Typically once that is done, I start filing any papers that need filing, I answer the main telephone line, I welcome customers into the office, and I basically assist anyone who is in need of any help. From the time that I started working at Praxair, I have learned what the "business world" is really like. It taught me how to have patience (whether it be on the phone or face to face with my coworkers), and it also taught me how to balance multiple tasks on my plate at once. The management here is somewhat poor - although it is a well ran company, the management at Praxair include a few people who could very easily put their jobs in danger just by the way they communicate with our customers and the language that they use in the office. The hardest part of my job was definitely learning how the office runs - meaning what is acceptable, what is not, and how things are ran here in general in regards to deadlines, and how the day goes as a whole. The most enjoyable part of my job is getting to meet new people - I am a very outgoing person who loves to talk to new people so it is a great experience for me.

My employment at Praxair spanned almost 8 years. I worked in a couple different departments, in a couple different business units within the company. If you work in any kind of support role i.e. Logistics, Customer Service, IT etc. You will be under enormous pressure to produce and work under pressure. Management will indiscriminately increase workload and responsibilities on you. There is a ton of turnover in the logistics group. Generally, logistics is where many employees start there careers at Praxair. The company is VERY top heavy. I felt like I was in the movie " Office Space", due to having 5 different managers of different levels telling me what I need to be doing. Most of Management is incorrigible, and some are on power trips. Upper management get bonuses and profit sharing. If you're an engineer or scientist, you are treated much better than most other types of employees, They are essentially catered to. Pay is good and competitive throughout the company. Benefits are mediocre to subpar. They have a pension and 401k. In summary, it's not a terrible place to work, and it's not the best place, either. If you want to make pretty good money, and don't mind dealing with a good amount of various forms of detritus day to day, then Praxair may be for you.

Safety - Maintained good overall safety program with Zero Accidents objective, Implemented successfully tools and processes that met company ZERO ACCIDENT and local strategic objectives, including
maintaining a safe workplace, Developed and Implemented (with assistance from Corporate HSE) annual HSE plan, Followed without exception Praxair's standard operating procedures, including compliance to all recordkeeping requirements, Maintained site's compliance with FDA, DOT, OSHA, EPA and any other
regulatory agency, Led and attended monthly plant safety meetings.
•Employee Development - Provided opportunities for on-going training through LMS.
Technical Expertise: - Possessed Technical degree or equivalent experience in an applicable fill plant
operation and cylinder distribution processes, Possessed supervisor and employee management skills,
Extensive working knowledge of FDA, DOT, OSHA, EPA and other government regulations, Knowledge of "Best Practices", and Knowledge of how to apply principles of root cause analysis during Quality Incident Report closures.

Additionally, refer to Customer Service, Plant Efficiency, Accounting and Quality sections below under Airgas.

Praxair NAIG was a great place to work up until 2006. That's when Praxair decided to take away all the good benefits and re-structure your health insurance, your pay raises, your vacation time, your profit sharing... Your profit sharing went by the wayside for a one time 5% pay raise... Then it went back to the measly 1.8% annual raises. I worked swing shift and you never got a shift differential like all the other process plants received. Basically Praxair will use and abuse their good workhorses employees and run them right into the ground. Management will promise that work conditions will change but it never does. The average pay for a similar position as Process Technician usually is around 72,000 a year... Not at Praxair in NE Ohio... If you want to work in the minor leagues then Praxair is your employer, if you want to work in the major leagues then chose BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips , Marathon, Air Liquide, Williams midstream, Kinder Morgan and Linde BOC... Praxair has lost some great employees the last 3-4 years because of their horrific Management and Company philosophy. There is no incentive to work at Praxair. At least not for me.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Production technician 1 salary reported	$30.50 per hour
Field service technician 3 salaries reported	$81,000 per year
Technician 3 salaries reported	$40.01 per hour
Material handler 11 salaries reported	$20.73 per hour
Maintenance technician 1 salary reported	$23.19 per hour

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