fabricator/welder

welder

tool and die maker

laborer

brazer

Vollrath Company

This is a company with a lot of potential for growth and prosperity, if only the management was competent. It seems like every decision they make is self-defeating. Deadlines are never met due to chronic understaffing. Loyal and top-performing employees are rewarded  with a cut in their real wages after inflation. The company hemorrhages workers due to low pay. When the corporate bosses recently flew in on the company jet to tell us we will be expected to work harder for less pay, they explained their employee retention strategy is to pray for a recession with mass unemployment.

Also, this is a dead end job. They take advantage of workers who show initiative and self-direction by leaving supervisor positions vacant for months, relying upon the workers take on supervisory duties without supervisor pay, then hire outside the company without providing these employees even the opportunity to apply for a promotion. The management don’t care about the workers. To them, you are a number of labor hours tabulated in a spreadsheet.

The corporate bosses are unwilling to do the investments (in their employees and equipment) to produce a quality product safely and efficiently. Promises of lift tables and other safety equipment never come to fruition. Even inventories of basic supplies needed to finish projects are not well maintained.

What a disappointment, because it could be a really great place to work. It’s a very clean, well-lit shop. In general it’s a laidback atmosphere, the coworkers are great and the work is steady. I don’t think the management will reach their profit goals if they continue down the path they are setting for the company. You don’t need a Masters of Business Administration to understand the fundamentals which seem to allude the big brains in the corporate office: you need to spend money to make money.

This would be a discussion about two companies one would be Vollrath and another company they own in Keil. My duties have me involved with both operations.
First Vollrath is a very good workplace. They support their employees at work and at home. Everyone I worked with was always positive and upbeat and worked as team. The company has a generous time off policy and when they say work life balance they mean it.
Twice a year they have family events including a Christmas party where the kids get really nice gifts.
The other company and it is difficult to understand that  Vollrath owns them both because everything is polar opposite than Vollrath. When you walk in the door you can feel the different climate. It is very clickish and either you 
are in the click or you are not. If you are in then life is very good but if you are watch your back. Not that people will say anything in front of you because they are way too busy talking about you behind your back. Harassment is a way of life at Keil and it starts at the top. I could hear the general manager walk around and refer to 
.his employees as stupid. Of course he has his favorites and of course all of them fall right inline if he starts being negative. Plus, they will even add some things just to make them look good to him. 
It was so bad that Vollrath started employee relations training to improve the environment. When I called into one department to speak with someone they said he was "drinking the kool-aide". I saw good employee's that really tried hard get thrown under the bus because in the managers opinion they were "stupid".
Unfortunately the biggest loser is the  customer  and Vollrath because it is more important to harass their employee than take care of the customer.
Eventually these people stop trying and do just enough to get by until they find something better. The lack of production and new employee training cost Vollrath thousands of dollars a year.
In closing if you get a chance to work for Vollrath I would take it. If you have to work at Keil get ready for harassment unless you get into the click.

Overall, Vollrath is a good company that supports the communities they are in. The CEO is approachable and down to earth. There is a big culture initiative taking place, which in theory is good. However, by continuing to hire managers and others from huge companies with cultures that do not mesh with what we’re trying to implement, efforts to change/maintain Vollrath’s culture are futile. It is true what “they” say: people don’t leave companies; they leave their manager. Listen to what employees say about their managers and take actual steps toward improvement, whether that’s leadership training or simply parting ways with ineffective leaders. If team members feel supported and valued, you will get 110% out of them and your success will grow. When managers are unavailable/unresponsive and don’t take the time to learn anything about their employees and their capabilities because they’re either too busy or simply don’t care, you foster poor working relationships and people will leave.

vollath was a great company years back...Now that there is a new plant management things have changed a lot they use to be able to keep employees now they cant keep anyone. The pay sucks for the work load that they expect you to do...seems to be no communication at all between management and employees...the  management seems to be clueless to what is going on when asked a question about the product or just a general question your work and eye to detail goes unnoticed.  Company's health care benefits are just horrible( mine as well go without). there is no such thing as sick days they don't offer that...there attendance policy is very hard to understand and is very direct with no lead way at all...you have to wait a whole ten years before you can get a two week vacation.
this place is in very bad shape in order to keep employees around who make the company a lot of business and money. I suggest making your employees feel appreciated, better communication more  vacation time off(No more waiting five to ten years for a decent vacation) and better attendance policy that is understanding and fair to all.

The company has undergone a culture initaitive in the last few years, but unfortunately as employees feared it seems to have been a flavor of the month and not kept up. Those spearheading the initiative were some major violators of core values. Management is hit or miss; some are great and others are very poor, it really depends on the department you work in. There are some advancement opportunites, again it depends where you work. Training/developing employees is not a company priority. Overall the employees are the best part of working at Vollrath, great people. Pay and benefits are ok, sub-par. While they encourage work life balance, many employees are putting in many hours in the evenings and weekends to keep up with workloads. Very poor buildings/infrastructure, they have not kept up with this at any of their locations. The technology is very antequated and not updated regularly, though the IT staff are very helpful, they have very limited resources.

You have to be very careful of your personal viewpoints and who you express them to.  There is a concern that when you take on a project to improve yourself, or your department, make sure management is behind you and is in agreement with your personal tasks or goals and objectives.  The work place culture sits on different levels and depends on the department you work for.  Some departments are people oriented while others are dependent on the areas management view points.  The hardest part of the area I was involved in was to get management to understand what is required for the warranty process.  It is not only documenting the invoices or claims, it also involves policing and adding skilled service agents and locating weaknesses in the product.  

I first come to work and check out what our plans are as to what were running open up back orders to see what needs to be done for the day make any changes to schedule that needs to be done then check to see that all employees are punched in and are working. check out the floor answer any question employees may have and guide them to their next job as needed. Go to meeting in the morning to go over last days work and see if we need to correct any situation that needs addressing and talk as a group as to what each are working on. continue through out the day communicating to employees what needs to get done. in the afternoon I see were we are at and set up 2nd sift to follow 1st shift. talk with my manager to see if he needs any thing completed and my thought on what and why we are going to run what we are.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Intro to company was non existent. Management was incompetent. I have 20 years of experience in welding/fabrication but any explanation of how they wanted things done was minimal to none. Shop supervisor and production manager couldn't be bothered with questions and when you were able to ask they would tell you figure it out. The director was arrogant and demanding above what should be expected. Overall experience I would say was the worst I've ever been through for employment 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The company in general was stressful. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Not good, turnover rate at probably 90% very few people with more than a year

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Constantly berated, with not enough help because people are treated so poorly they quit

This is for Newport only. I have no experience at the other locations.

After a year the over all assessment is this is great for experience with custom stainless sheet metal tig,  but beyond that don't plan on long term commitment. Starting wages are competitive; however with 3% raises are standard with a few exceptions. Turn over is extremely high due to poor upper management skills. There is literally no employee retention plan on the radar and was confirmed by the VP of operations when asked. At this point they are essentially training employees for other companies.

Unless some drastic changes are made it is unlikely this location will be around after their 7 year lease is up.

For wire assembler, the job is strongly based on common sense practices. I was paired with an excellent trainer for as long as it took me to get a fair understanding of wiring. The company is great about giving you autonomy for your work, but you can always find help if you have questions. The work environment is laid back, and as long as you are working you are left be to do your work. Work production has achievable expectations and since it is hourly pay you can work out your own pace.

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