maintenance technician

hvac technician

quality assurance inspector

mechanical technician

production engineer

Ultium Cells LLC

This job checked a lot of boxes during the interview process.  The interviewer will extol the benefits, emphasized that the starting pay is above average for the area and being a startup, that the potential for fast advancement is a definite possibility in a short amount of time.  They will let you know that the plant is so automated it is very easy work.  You will stay clean and and comfortable as it is climate controlled as well.  You get health care, vision, dental, a great 401K plan from day one!  Vacation and 13 paid holidays!
Yes, everything they say in the interview is true.  However, they will not mention any of the negatives.  Another curious point is you will not even get a tour of the production line until the end of the second week of training to see what you might be doing or the working conditions.    Once you get out of a way too long orientation and inclass training, expect maybe two days of hands on training, then you are mostly on your own for better or worse.  Depending on what department you are assigned to you may experience the following: 
You will need to be in head to toe PPE.  You will need to stand for your entire 12 hour shift.  No chairs on the floor.  No cell phone use either, but that should go without saying. The automated machines have frequent issues and you may need to go into them to get them going again.  You may be exposed to electrode dust.  It is very 
 pervasive in certain departments. 
 The chemicals used to manufacture the batteries can be very hazardous if not handled properly.  Some of the areas are extremely loud and even though it is climate controlled, it can get very hot in the PPE outfit.    If the health and safety issues see additional improvement, I can see this as a very good job for the future but is definitely not a job for everybody.  They need to be more honest and upfront about the downsides during the interview process and in orientation.  

What is the best part of working at the company?
The health benefits and only the health benefits

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Too much upper management. GM managers who didn’t know the process, Koreans wanted everything their way and the language barrier was the absolute worst. The multiple text groups, the awful 12 hr work days, the entitlement attitude so many of the hourly workers developed once the UAW took over, lack of training on supervisor duties, timekeeping, etc
A production supervisor in that work setting is the worst job ever, you have no say so in anything. Every day is war even though the pay scale was good, there was no peace of mind or support at the end of the day. One of the worst jobs in my 40 year career. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
HR tried to foster a positive work setting but too many other factors involved so that never worked. 
Always people fighting with each other or refusing to do their job, laziness

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
13 plus hours and then go home to do your recap that nobody reads and payroll. Constant text messages on multiple text groups. Incredibly stressful and argumentative staff

What is the best part of working at the company?
The benefits are fantastic. I work 12 hour nights, but it's really not bad at all. We work a couple days, then off a couple days. Every other weekend we have a 3 day weekend off, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Ultium is a start up company. There are days here and there that there might not be anything to do while they are working out some kinks in the system. So, some days you might be sweeping the floor. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Ultium is a joint venture between LG and GM, so there are a lot of Koreans in the plant, which is awesome. Not only are we working together to make a state of the art product, but we are learning about each other's cultures. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
A typical day for me consists of getting on the computer and seeing how many cells (batteries) are coming through our department for the night. Responding to alarms that let us know there is an issue with the machines. Learning about the errors and how to fix them. We rework trays of cells (batteries) to put them back on the line to get processed.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Majority of hourly workers are good people , still have some workers going out of the way to eat on people in hopes of getting a promotion. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Coming in everyday just to be disrespected by salary positions that don’t have the experience to be in the position they’re in but instead know people that got them there and protect their jobs.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
It is what you make of it, the day to day mood all depends on if your supervisor is having a good day or bad day…. Very stressful to say the least.

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Come into no accountability taken for the shift before ours so we do the most work for the least amount of pay while being told “this is manufacturing”. That goes hand in hand with being told on Friday that we have to work the weekend as well so some people get stuck working without a day off for months.

While good for the area, the base engineer salary has historically been non-competitive (low), despite being a joint venture between two large, profitable companies. Fortunately, that’s slowly been getting better since the hourly employees unionized. Plus, so long as you have enough work to justify it, lower level salary employees get additional overtime pay.

Lots of clashing between cultures of the two parent companies and a general lack of any strong culture (ex. safety, cleanliness, quality, etc) within the startup itself. More than anything, production numbers seem to consistently be the highest priority.

Very long history of poor communication (LG and GM employees tend to stay in their circles, among other communication issues) which can make it very hard to do your own job because sometimes they’ll just completely leave you out of the communication loop and you literally won’t have the necessary information to do anything. 

Good health insurance. No paid sick leave, only PTO and unpaid sick leave. 

It’s definitely cultured at UC2, so much so that they let just about anyone in. Quantity over Quality I guess.

As a leader, my own leadership was never present except to tell you your mistakes. There is zero guidance, or training to prepare you for the actual duties for said position. Was told the job description was created to be broad on purpose and to figure it out… that’s the kind of leadership Production Supervisors get from their management.

Run from here, only thing good are the benefits!!!

Those who are in management are disrespectful and arrogant. Production workers are treated horribly. You literally have sell your soul to be favored by your manager and supervisors. The morale of the department I’m in work has been diminished by management. Employees are paid at a proverty rate and expected to learn and master a job specific to an engineer. There’s thousands of safety issues and concerns. Employees are exposed to hazardous chemicals that aren’t even regulated in most countries. This is not what I expected from 2 major companies emerging. #bamboozeled 

Dead end job no room to move up. If you here for Maintenance they have no actually system in place for you to go up pay grades.
You get  one 50 cent raise and then 31 cents after that. 
Rotating shifts monthly nights then days!
3 days on 3 days off so weekends aren't a thing. 
You change from nights to days every 4 working weeks so the 3 days your work could be mid month and your switching.
work holidays.
Depending on your crew you are in for a bad time.  
There is a reason some are so light with high turn over.
Great benefits! 



Everything is chaos. No one knows what's going on even if you tell them and everything is always someone else's fault. Safety concerns are consistently ignored until someone gets sick or disaster strikes. The pay is garbage considering the scope of the work and the cost of living. We have no sick days, only PTO which has to be used for sickness/vacation/appointments/etc. Production is priority over everything, including doing the job right, which I'm sure will only lead to problems down the road for the consumer.

As summary states if you have safety concerns and voice them they do everything they can to make excuses to run and even make fun of you for trying to be safe and wear PPE. Some occurrences could have been prevented if safety concerns voiced months prior had been addressed and it continues to be an issue. Documentation and training needed to perform tasks are guarded and withheld by OEM personnel and leadership. Wages are well belo2 industry standards and PTO is a joke. Don't work here.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Maintenance technician 3 salaries reported	$33.26 per hour
Hvac technician 1 salary reported	$34.14 per hour
Quality assurance inspector 3 salaries reported	$19.20 per hour
Mechanical technician 1 salary reported	$36.15 per hour
Production engineer 8 salaries reported	$75,375 per year

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