quality assurance inspector

project supervisor

quality assurance analyst

team leader

shift leader

Stratosphere Quality

To summarize what is below: if you can handle any bad working condition, work beyond expected hours regularly, and handle being without benefits for three months, then you'll find coworkers and in-person management on the same page, willing to work together to get jobs done as smoothly and with as positive an atmosphere as possible.

My experience with the job was largely dependent on the jobs accepted by the company. SQ appears from the lowest level to take any job they can and plan out their execution later. Some locations had long-standing arrangements, with regular project leads or at least consistent work duties. Some jobs had nothing to do with quality inspection at all (i.e. distributing masks at shift start) or put me in the position closer to a project lead. Some jobs required heavier lifting or labor. The jobs that frustrated me the most, however, involved a constant shifting of job priority that made me anxious to be assigned.

Unless you have some kind of arrangement with management, you will be assigned to whatever is available, rotated out so that you're not likely to be in the same location for longer than a week. Since it's unpredictable, you'll have difficulty making schedules or appointments, though you are usually informed at least a day in advance what site you'll be going to. If there's nothing available, you'll be waiting at the home office (read: partitioned-off corner of a somewhat active factory). You usually have something to do in short order (as a positive consequence of the company's penchant for accepting every job possible), but sometimes you'll be waiting for hours. Some jobs prompt management to drive workers to the site in vans; especially on newer jobs, you can expect to stay on site for longer than scheduled, with only a monetary bonus if the delay is bad enough. If you can put up with all this and do the jobs well, you've got a secure position and a fair chance of taking a higher position when supervisors leave and restructure.

Turnover was high; the benefits only started after 3 months of work, which I was barely unable to manage. That should justify the low comp/benefit rating well enough.

Workers at this level form multiple camps: the employees directly hired by SQ, and the employees covered by a number of third party employment companies. Some of these companies have different standards that bring conflict to the office, and some employees are not here of their free will. Regardless, there is enough commiseration between everyone on the lowest level, and between QIs, leads, and the branch management, that we were largely able to struggle through the worse jobs together. There was a good degree of petty office politics in play, but once you're on site and at work, everyone there tries to make the best of the job and keep each other's spirits up, which helped me stay on the job as long as I did.

Most of my experience with management was okay. Project leads tend to value consistent good work and willingness to take on extra responsibilities to help the work go by faster; making mistakes was expected and usually prompted by cycling responsibilities. My first day I overslept and was an hour late, which was put on record without question, but when I chose (and was allowed) to work an extra hour to compensate, no one in management held the mistake against me the whole rest of my time there. Branch management was often there in person or readily available on the phone to answer pressing questions, provide direction, or at least put a plan into motion to provide a solution. My problems were more with the staff that had their own office, such as HR and scheduling. They tended to be ruder, make more impactful mistakes, and have little connection with the ground floor unless there was a problem.

From inspector up to site manager this job is relatively routine making it kind of easy once you're in a flow. It does come with some challenges depending on site location, but overall very straight Forward. The company is usually contacted by another company to do quality parts sorting. I was located inside an OEM, someone who received parts from many suppliers. We would be tasked to sort parts for the OEM on behalf of the supplier. A sort would start, the supplier contacted, an operations standard made for the sort, the sort setup on the floor, and finally sort completion once the supplier resolved the quality issue with the OEM. We would sort parts already shipped to the OEM by the supplier so the OEM could maintain production. Some of the sorts were standard rejections, others we reworked parts to make them useable. The process in place allows no room for ideas. It's clear cut, one way only ensuring a standard between employees. I went from a temporary inspector up to a team leader, then to a supervisor in one year. I was employed roughly 2.25 years.

I definitely learned to act quickly, assess and analyze thoroughly. It was also pounded into me how much following the process to a T, 100% of the time was of the most importance.  Also, customer contact and how to be face to face with the customer.

Management depends on well....as always, who is leading. I was lucky that our workplace culture was relatively easy going, my peers were generally enjoyable folks, which made working there easier. They felt like friends. The same people though, sometimes are very stuck in their ways making communication difficult and there's some favoritism amongst those who have worked for the OEM and also those who have been there longest. I would say it's not the worst I have dealt with, but definitely a lot of room for improvement. 7/10

Workplace culture is ok. Expect micromanagement, but generally uplifting and overall supporting people. You got your slackers but for the most part no one has to work too hard. 9/10

The hardest part of the job is juggling a lot of sorts. Maintaining them, ensuring they are running right and on time and that your inspector is a good fit. I was running a rather large factory and it can be fairly exhausting bouncing sort to sort. You learn to move quick.

The most enjoyable part of the job was being a part of a large manufacturing process and the crew of people I got to work it with. Overall it was an experience I won't forget for the better.

The biggest downfall of the job is that your hours depend on the # of sorts. They give you the opportunity to move around, but most of the time it can be rather far. They will cover travel expenses and hotel stays if you are travelling. What happens though, is if they do not have enough sorts to pay you from, you will not work a lot or you will be let go.

Third party companies are fine, but this one was the worst.
I was told that I would be hired to work in Fort Wayne, and that maybe once in a while I could be sent out of Allen County. I was sent to Berne, Indiana (a 40 minute drive from my house, 45 minute drive from my 4year old's daycare) on my first day.
Throughout that whole first day I was told horror stories about what the other workers go through every day. I thought maybe they were exaggerating, but the thick fog from the lack of ventilation, lack of safety equipment, and realizing that my supervisors had no idea that I would be there that day or that shift in the factory I was sent to, and told about a week before, made me worry.

I got a call at first break, and had a personal appointment before work ended that day, and on my way back from break my supervisor comes to tell me that there isn't enough work for all of the new people to stay, and we were being sent home, I then brought up my phone call and we laughed at the irony.
On my way home (after my other appointment, hours after I left work) I get a call from the woman who placed me there (after she had promised to keep me in Fort Wayne) and complained at me for 15 minutes about rumors she heard of other people, and that I left early without telling anyone, and several other things that didn't have anything to do with me, or blatant lies. So I told her to realize who she was talking to, and that she was being so rude, and I also explained that I was lied to, and mistreated by her, and then I continued to tell her how horrible the factory was that I was in.
After that day, I was "On Call" for a month. They would text me anywhere between 8pm and 11pm (a few times not at all, and no reply to my messages or calls), whether or not I was working.
They had me "On Call" for 2 weeks straight before they finally texted me at 10pm one night saying I needed to stay up, and drive almost an hour away from home to be at work by 2am. I have a 4yearold by the way, How was I supposed to get a hold of any kind of babysitter in time? I was told that it was my problem, and they were just a scheduler, and wasn't in a position to care about it.

Don't work for Stratosphere Quality in Indiana, unless you are extremely desperate for money. If you're that bad off for money, I suggest driving for Uber or Lyft or getting your CDL instead. Stratosphere isn't worth it.

Serious lack of hours and very low wages compared to similar companies. (google it)

Hostile at times, because Honda associates really don't want us in their way. ( I honestly can't blame them since were doing the jobs they don't want to do anyway)

Some very unsafe work environments and conditions at times.

We never really check  all the parts on our inspections except during audits which are mostly just sign and walk away or no audit at all.

You will be asked to do a sort only for a supervisor  or upper management to claim the work.  (very corrupt)
This is and has been a common practice for years at Marysville.

Will find a way to fire you if you get hurt or injured in order to avoid paying for medical expenses - watched way to many coworkers go through this first hand. 

No employee support once or ever.

No union - so forget about labor laws - they don't exist.

Favoritism - Will lie about lack of sorts and jobs to keep for their favorites on sorts.
Rather pay temps and brown-nosers instead of hired employees

Can't earn a livable wage.

No set location or schedule - some of the most rudest people to deal with ever. 
Expect you to be on call at a moments notice. (heartless and will dish out points even on days off)
Sent home with only 15 mins pay at times
Medical is and absolute joke - It doesn't even meet state minimal requirements.
I was literally told by my Doctor to throw it in the garbage.


Management  has been is horrible for years needs a complete overhaul.

Very corrupt company

Watch many good employee go due to horrible mismanagement and corruption.

Been with this company for a few years now as a full time employee with part time hours at best.

Everyone who works hear hates it. We spend a lot of time talking about how horrible Stratosphere is with Honda Associates daily. 

Very high turnover can't keep good employees at any level.


Give us more hours and better pay and respect.

You get what you give. If you don't care about us we don't we don't care about the parts. ( A Supervisor or Upper management will claim the data anyway.), So why bother to really check them ( did I mention very corrupt company), 

Everyone is always looking for a better job than Stratosphere. I mean EVERYONE!!!!!, 

Product Action failed and so will Stratosphere. It's only a matter of time., 

Most of you workers use you to get an application in with Honda, MEI or MMC.

I have showed them that I am committed to working only to receive supervisors and team leaders to be rude to the employees.  They don't care about the well being of their employees.  They wont even let you have the day off if you have an excuse saying you have a doctors appointment. 
I have quite the variety of personalities when it comes to my coworkers.  A lot of them will go out of there way to help out in any way that they can.  There are some though that are in cliques with the team leaders and supervisors where they like to stir up the drama.  
Every day when I arrive to work I am given a folder with a process inside of it.  There are OP Standards on how the job along with the tools required to do the job, the safety gear (such as gloves, Safety goggles, etc.) required.  and the Location where I need to be to do my process safely.  I head to my location and do the process as stated on the OP Standard and fill out paperwork according.  I have a sort sheet that needs to be completed along with a time sheet. There is always several different jobs throughout the plants.
I loved my job at first.  But they lied from the beginning to me.  They lied about my pay rate and the pay increases.  They want you to be dedicated to them but they don't care about you.  
The supervisors want you to do a perfect job but they all have their own standards to what the perfect job is.  There is a horrible lack of communications between the Team Leaders and the Supervisors. Some supervisors like to allow their power to take over their heads.  They nitpick at every little thing that is done.

Once you are hired on they will give you the option to be Full Time or Part Time. Dont make the same mistake I did and choose Full Time. Choose Part Time as there is no real benefit for choosing Full Time.

-Full Timers and Part Timers get the same pay and receive the same raises.

-Full Timers are expected to show up 5 days a week and if they miss enough days they are penalized while part timers can also work 5 days if they so wish but can miss any amount of days they want and wont get penalized. They can also make up their own hours with the scheduler. I have seen part timers who have constantly been on the schedule for WEEKS or even MONTHS and never show up a single day. Then out of the blue they just.... Come back with no repercussions.

-Full Timers don't really get any benefits. You know, the thing that makes working full time beneficial? No health insurance or dental or vision was set up for me during my onboarding and after my 90 days were up still no one has come up to me or called or emailed me to set up full time benefits. If I get hurt on the job am I expected to not be covered? So again, why not just work part time?

When there is a lack of work Full Timers are the first to be asked or forced to be sent home while temps and Part Timers get to stay. Why? Because full timers work more days then part timers and it saves this company money to send full timers home first. So during the slow months you will pretty much have the same amount of hours as a part timer. So again, why work Full Time?

This company says they offer Full Time positions but the reality is this company is a temp service through and through. Only way to get constant 40 hour work weeks is if you are a Team Lead or a Supervisor.

I will never work for this company again, nor will I ever recommend this company to ANYONE. They hire horrible management to try to uphold "teams" at their assignment but their workers end up staying one day then leaving, I can tell you the reason for that is because the management chooses favorites and instead of acting like a 50 year old adult like you are they sit around and talk about the people they don't like. The other team members who are 25 and above also need to re-evaluate their life because they sat there and made rude comments about me working and then when I proceeded to out shine their work and complete more than them I even helped them finish, and they still continued to be mean. Message to any higher up management of stratosphere: re-evaluate your staff because this is the reason you can not keep people past a day or two. If the staff you hired didn't sit there and cry at work and complain at work then more would be accomplished, the work place would be more tolerable and fun. Just a personal opinion, find some new people. If I didn't need the money I would have left after the first day. After a week of working, I was let go due to lack of work needed to be done, which I found pretty ironic since the manager of my team was crying a few days before and a day before was mad someone called off, in her words exactly "this is why I need a full team". But when she had someone committed and working she gave that up to instead act like a fifteen year old with her prissy little buddies. This management needs some serious growing up, this place was a joke. Do not work for them, its not worth the headache for $10 an hour.

Stratosphere Quality can be a decent place to work for the right person. It offers better job security than most factory positions because Stratosphere does not do business with only one customer, and there will always be quality issues somewhere. 
Stratosphere also looks to promote from within, and it is not difficult or unusual for associates to move from entry level positions to supervisory positions.
However, there are three major drawbacks to Stratosphere. First, the companies wages are not competitive. This is true from entry level through management. This results in most positions being filled with under-skilled employees who are in over their heads because the right people got better jobs at other companies. It also means Stratosphere is chronically understaffed, putting more strain on the existing team.
The second drawback is that to truly be successful with Stratosphere, an employee has to be willing to live life on-call 24/7. If an employee has no family or social life, this can be manageable, but even so, it can be impossible to have any sort of consistent sleep schedule.
As a result of the first two drawbacks, turnover is astronomical, which leads to the third drawback. Stratosphere Quality is not built to handle people who are interested in having a true career. It does not offer continuing education or certification for operations employees, it does not provide any sort of meaningful 401k match, and salaried positions are drastically underpaid so that promotion can be cost-prohibitive.

A typical day is drive, drive drive.. Sometimes you can work 1 hour at a facility you just spent driving 60 minutes driving to. 
Management, I do not believe really knows how to keep employees. We must sign a Noncomplete agreement to work here this often is a sign that people are wanting to leave and recruiting misleads new employees and then the agreement traps them. 
Work place culture is drama, management will often start this in their areas by befriending a supervisor just to get dirt on another supervisor and then talk trash about them, but the gossip is too good to keep to themselves so the often tell someone and so on. When I come to work I am often reminded of the Movie Anchor Man. 
The hardest part of the job is that the rules are not consistent. The rules vary depending on who you are Managers will selectively enforce rules based on how they feel about you.
The easiest part of the job is the work is actually easy and as long as everyone does what they are supposed to everything is great.
 Management has been focusing on eliminating overtime the only issue with this is that this is the only way you can make enough money to benefit working at Stratosphere Quality due to the constant traveling and wear and tear on your personal automobile. Our work weeks vary some weeks we may have 20 hours while other week we will have 70 hours. The average hours worked per week is 55 but with management wanting to cut overtime this will bring the hour average down. We may average 30 to 40 per week.

During a day at work there were many things that I liked.  I would be able to call for help if need be, there motto is the supervisors, and managers and office assistants were there to help the people in the field.  If we need supplies as in paper, tools, and any kind of equipment they would bring it to us as soon as possible. If any issues were to arise they were solved in a quick and professional manner.   We would also stay busy there were many things to be done never a dull moment. I learned there are many things that needed to be done, and how to manage my time accordingly. The management was awesome.  If a job ends, they always had a place for us to go.  My co-workers were mostly the same hard working people.  They do what they are suppose to do and ask if there was anything they could help with after they were done, everyone was a team.  I would say the hardest part of the job was people not understanding we were there to help them get there Quality status back with whatever company they were having issues with.  As a third party Quality Inspectors, we had to ride a very thin line, between companies and make them both happy and make the most out of each project. The most enjoyable part of the job, was getting to meet so many different people. You work along side of them see the issues that arise with the machines they are forced to work with and help them find a solution to help make the product better, and more abstainable product.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Quality assurance inspector 204 salaries reported	$16.79 per hour
Project supervisor 152 salaries reported	$20.69 per hour
Quality assurance analyst 4 salaries reported	$21.00 per hour
Team leader 40 salaries reported	$18.55 per hour
Shift leader 22 salaries reported	$20.00 per hour

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