Overall Company Review - Plant Manager St Paul Foundry Employee Review

We work in a highly demanding and competitive industry. It’s because of that, though, that I can't think of another career that would fill me with as much accomplishment and pride as the foundry industry. We are challenged by difficult and new issues every day in our business. It’s not for everyone. The work is demanding and expects you to bring your very best critical thinking skills. We use an expertly developed QMS to our advantage, have a team of highly skilled and dedicated people, and most importantly, we care about what we do. Everything we make betters society and our civilization. And not only that, we pour liquid metal! Tell me a better pro than that!

The workload can be difficult for many. I've seen a number of new people get frustrated and leave. The nature of the industry requires a fair degree of self-training and personal homework. Staff will point you in the right direction and provide all of the resources necessary to help you succeed. However, everyone is too busy to be your personal teacher. No one is going to hold your hand. If you don't like to research and read then you will fail. If you don't have a scientific approach to your problem solving you should probably steer clear. The lack of good, young people in the manufacturing workforce is concerning. Finding replacement help quickly is difficult. As well, this business is very cyclical. Booms and busts are very real. The majority of foundries that existed 30 years ago are now out of business.

The company is run in an ethical manner and all business is influenced strongly by the company's core values. Employees are respected and offered many opportunities to learn, grow, and advance. The managers even create customize growth plans for employees so the pathways to advancement are clearly stated. The pay and benefits are great. Benefits include retirement with company match, health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, disability, paid vacation, paid holidays, paid birthday holiday, and tuition reimbursement. Yearly bonuses are paid to employees. The owner and his family like to do cookouts for employees and throw an awesome Christmas luncheon every year where all employees get gifts. The people here are generally nice to work with and have positive attitudes.

Can be short-staffed at times when production demand changes rapidly. At those super busy times, the training phases have to be shortened, which means sometimes you can only learn one small part of the process and then work that part of the process until time is freed up for training into other production steps. The culture in the workplace is sometimes harmed by a small number of coworkers with negative attitudes.