Musical chairs inspectors and 2 QA managers in 1 year
As a Quality Inspector supporting the aerospace, aero structure, defense, medical, plastic injection molding industry to name but a few, my first reaction to the present day posing micro manager approach was in sheer disgust and contempt.
Lately, I have encountered an ageing board of CEO and administration who woo the woman staff and virtually ignore the male counterparts.
•
• Sadly, the budget support of the quality department falls far below the priority level which
• compromises the accuracy and adherence to any given company's quality clauses.
• Instead they spend company dollars on 1st and 2nd party body count who defragments the immediate
• order of command, thus becoming broken, frayed leaving temptation to frustration through a reckless chain of
• over staffed microscopic specialists, who juggle the department’s budget, veto your suggestion
• because it compromises their self-indulgent over expenditure while over analyzing and critique your job duties and
• workmanship procedures and vow there is a better way while claiming that we do not need to purchase better equipment.
•
• But before the door opens and closes there is that (standard operational bull****) trail of paperwork that can leave you in dismay.
• Then it is "Congratulations and welcome new fish". We will see if we can find a place for you to sit and get you up and surfing
• in the company sea. Weeks later.
•
• More companies would rather pay your initiation by demanding you sit a
C&D zodiac is an impressive setup combining the efforts of hundreds of people working together to create their product.
A typical day started with me arriving at about 645 so that I could printout the paper work and review it and up date the boards before the morning meeting. At 7 the rest of my team would arrive and log on their computers. At 705 we would have the morning meeting in which I would present the work flow, parts numbers, and other key points since the previous day. Then our manager would say a few encouraging remarks and then we would go and prep for the days inspections. Pepping would include pulling out our tools, checking emails for non-conformance reports, lab test results, commodity buyer responses, stockroom requests, and general updates. Next we would go to the line and in order of first in, first out we would select a package of parts, open them and begin inspection. First we would check the part number, name, quantity, revision, and clauses against its paperwork. Next was the visual inspection for any obvious signs of cosmetic damage. Then we would printout the technical drawing from our files and match them to our parts. Using calipers, height gauges, and diameter gauges we were able to measure parts to a .03 tolerance level. After that came a final review of the paperwork. If every thing was correct then we would accept the parts, and printout tags to track the parts throughout the facility. If parts didn't conform then they would be removed and placed into quarantine until they were dealt with. this involve isolating the parts, sending reports to the buyers and manufa
Amazing pay and best benefits I have ever seen...but no job security
Working at Safran Aerospace Composites was an amazing opportunity for me. The pay was really good and the benefits were better than anything I have ever even heard about...quite possibly one of the best benefits packages in the entire country. The work was interesting to me and I really enjoyed it.
The opportunities for advancement were abundant and they promoted from within whenever possible. In the first 14 months I received 3mo, 6mo, 12mo and annual reviews and each time received the maximum salary increase at each stage.
My direct management was exceptional and fair and a great source of information whenever I had a question or concern. Opportunities to learn and get certified in new operations was unlimited and consistently encouraged and effectively coached by my direct management. There was a strong team atmosphere and we all worked together to consistently meet and exceed our production goals.
The biggest issue working here was the job security due to market forces out of the company's control. Granted, nobody could have predicted the once in a lifetime issues our biggest customer, Boeing, would have with their new planes, resulting in an unprecedented nearly 2 year grounding of their aircraft in combination with the once in a lifetime pandemic shutdown. The Boeing issues eventually led to several rounds of layoffs and elimination of the 3rd shift right as we were ramping up production and then the pandemic hit. The pandemic only exacerbated this by forcing a com
ProsReally good pay, amazing benefits, great team coworkers and managers, unlimited advancement, direct managers were very knowledgeable and great coaches, satisfying work with bleeding edge next generation technology
ConsJob security strongly tied to the fate of one aircraft from one client company, not enough diversification to support production.
Before COVID hit the company hard at the beginning of 2020, I enjoyed my time at Safran starting as a Bonding Operator during the first major expansion of hiring within the company - in 2017. Overtime was optional, but abundant, but that later became the exact opposite in 2018 as they grew to be fully staffed. Overtime had to be pre-approved. I was lucky enough to have a lead who oversaw the Bonding Room and was someone you could get along with, and someone who led by example. Work was fairly fast paced, but more quality centric. Temperature and Humidity controlled -Very comfortable climate to be working in. Standing work for 8 hours. Dealing with sharps, ratchet straps, IPA, and adhesives. No real heavy lifting, but work that requires very fine motor skills. Environment was helpful, educational and encouraging. The supervisor was someone who barely spent time in the room, which can be good and bad. Either way, because of this, you never knew where this particular person stood. With your pay rate being determined by this person, that can, at times, be seen as unfair. With the growth of the company, different positions opened up and allowed for career opportunities. I later was hired onto the NDT Department in 2019, and after showing the required base skills and understanding, was sent out for a week for training, all expenses paid. The NDT department is a different environment, with much more computer work integrated into the process. X-rays being conducted and analyzed, in
ProsClean, Air Conditioned, Opportunity for Advancement, Softball Team, 5K Club
ConsUneven leadership/supervisor quality, Occasional disagreements between supervisors, Unnecessary rivalries between supervisors of different shifts/departments
1.0
Quality Assurance Inspector | Santa Maria, CA | Oct 11, 2015
A big Garage Shop with poor Quality management.
I was told, by another employee, that you need to know nothing about what you're doing to advance here. Just show up and work like an ant. At a morning meeting we were told that if you worked from the usual start of 6AM until 12AM(18 hours) you didn't have to come in at 6AM the next day, you could come in at 8AM. Well that's really big of you.
I was a contractor in Quality with a lot of experience at top companies and this place has a lot to learn about producing a quality product. Their rank and file employees have little to no experience and the people that are supposedly training them only know what they were told while working there. It's the blind leading the blind.
When rejecting hardware, the common excuse is "We've always done it that way."
Before I went to work there, my recruiter told me that they were trying to change the culture. If they're trying to make it bad they've succeeded and if they're trying to make it good then they've failed miserably. They need to start with more Quality gates to get their lousy quality under control. Where's the Quality reporting? It's non-existent. How can you make meaningful Quality charts without defect reporting so you can fix the problems?
Production needs more supervision and training because so many assemblers have no idea what's contained in the specs that they're supposed to be building this stuff to.Middle Managers have admitted to me that they don't have the proper facilities to produce to the specs.
The Q
ProsAdvancement without knowing anything about good manufacturing practices.
ConsToo many to mention but you could just read the review for some but not all.
Liaison Electrical Design Engineering:
Excellent coordination and communication with engineering groups to: - Support project managers to develop project workplans. - Solve engineering problems with quality, manufacturing, installation and certification engineers. - Support design engineering changes proposals to ensure approval.
Wire Harness Installation Design Engineering:
- Excellent experience with wire harness installation, wire harness assembly and formboard design in the aerospace Industry. - Remarkable experience and technical knowledge with CAD/CAM software as CATIA V5.-Experience with electrical parts selection for wire harness based in material types and zone / section environmental compatibility. - Ability to perform design review meetings with engineering groups to ensure compliance and resolve all wiring routing issues. - Ability to perform functional requirements and mock-up Integration analysis of wire harness installation designs to ensure compliance with FAA requirements. - Knowledge and ability to select design wire installation primary support attachments, wire harness provisions and brackets based on the wire physical properties like gauge, weight, material and section of the aircraft.
Mechanical Design Engineering:
- Experience with design and development of mechanical parts, components and assemblies with sheet metal workbench. - Experience with materials and process selection for new mechanical parts and components. - Knowledge of aircraft modi
ProsFree coffee
ConsFar parking lot
1.0
Customer Service Representative | College Park, GA | Sep 26, 2011
Worst. Company. Ever.
Zodiac Services Americas is the worst company I have ever worked for. Longstanding issues exist at every level and management seems incapable of identifying either problems or solutions. The company suffers from an atmosphere of class and favoritism, and employees are discouraged from questioning management. The company management style is based on intimidation, and employees are continually criticized for performance despite a lack of clear instruction.
Within the customer service department, customers are treated horribly, mostly due to uneven workload among employees with varying proficiencies. The customer service manager rarely leaves her office and seems completely unaware of the obstacles facing customer service representatives. The customer service supervisor seems reluctant to get involved, and projects are routinely delegated to employees without the skills or experience to complete them effectively.
Employees are overworked, underpaid and treated poorly. In return they are asked to hold their complaints, raise their morale and memorize the company mission statement. Sadly there is no support from human resources, whose director is the loudest person I have ever heard in a professional setting. She often uses speakerphone despite the proximity of people actually working, and it is not uncommon to hear conversations that include personal information.
Lastly, consider that earlier this year the company completed a transition of ERP systems, and that despite delays
Extremely-poor management and inconsiderate coworkers.
Expect little to no formal training, and then be held accountable for not performing a task "right". You are expected to follow a "rule book" for all procedures, but the rule book is full of contradictions and incorrect procedures. Management is extremely sloppy - nobody knows exactly what is going on at any given time. The managers play "Favorites". One person will get in trouble for doing something, while the other won't, for the same thing. They fail to provide the staff with the tools they need / request. They will overstaff you and provide you with too few tools. You will CONSTANTLY be fighting over tools. That is likely the reason the company can't achieve a 100% on-time rate. But they refuse to supply. You will be lectured DAILY about your mistakes (made because you were never taught properly by anyone). You will be wrong no matter what you do. You will be lectured by a different person each day who will disagree with the person who lectured you the previous day.
Most of the staff is very rude. Expect a lot of gossip. Even from managers. I had coworkers report to me the things managers have said about me behind my back. Expect it to be very hard to concentrate on a task because people are loud and inconsiderate for the entire shift. You may come to work with a motivation to work hard, but it will quickly be stolen away from you. It is impossible to clock-in and get to your station before encountering some form of drama. People will use extremely toxic chemicals and bl
ProsInteresting name
ConsDisorganized, rude staff, lack of tools and supplies.
Safran Labinal's business is creating aviation electronics for various manufacturers. There are two different shifts (7 a.m. - 4 p.m. and 4 p.m. - 1 a.m.) with a one hour lunch break to give all the employees an ample chance to eat either in the in-house cafeteria or get take-out for the numerous near-by fast-food options.
A typical day begins with the intercom bell signalling that employees should be at their respectives workstaions and logged into their project. After about two hours of work, the 10 minute break bell rings to give employees a chance to smoke, snack, or go to their cars to make personal calls. For security reasons, cell phones must be left in employee lockers during working hours. Two more hours of work, then lunch, work, break, work, then log off your project and clock out.
The work is challenging and varied enough to be interesting. Strict quality control and a time limit made me want to do things right the first time. The challenge for me was keeping within the time budget I recieved with the projects.
The supervisors were fair and understanding when I went through a prolonged illness that eventually required surgery.
The major downside to working at Safran is the poor air quality. I am not prone to sinus infections but in the 2 years I worked there, I contracted 4 serious sinus infections that resulted in bronchitis and requried me to be out of work for an average of four days each. In addition, to save money the air conditioner is tu
ProsInteresting work, Great Supervisors
ConsPoor air quality
4.0
Quality Assurance Inspector | Santa Maria, CA | Apr 13, 2016
Ran By Clueless consultants
I loved this place because of the people, I hated this place because of the people. Everyone is super nice, what i mean about the above everyone not one the production floor, is detached, really really really detached, they may meet about a issue talk about an issue and make decisions, but when your not involved in every way bad decisions are made and that is what plagues this place. There is an US vs. Them feeling where someone with title may try and step one you to get there way and the response is usually bad output. Also when its time for them to let you go )they routinely over-staff and basically put you job at risk every 3-6 months) they have security and all this embarrassing unnecessary stuff involved and gone you are!
Now those are some of the fairly common negatives, the great thing about this place is chance, you may if you work very hard build good relationships, land a very amazing role.. I started out just in prep- and needed someone to impress.. i did so and landed job after job moving up very quickly. now i was highly overqualified but i had a need (to work) and the company needed someone who could, It was a perfect match. I ended up in quality my boss was great, super people in that department, I was lucky, but not all..actually very few areas were like that, i was lucky!
Unfortunately those bad decisions by those detached people, cased the company great loss and the employees (not management) were the first to suffer, due to the purposeful over-staffin
ConsBad Management, Extreme Turnover, No Work/Life Balance (only work)
4.0
Recruitment, Communications Leader | Querétaro, Qro. | Dec 18, 2014
Excelente lugar de trabajo, desarrollo continuo, ambiente incluyente.
Messier Services Americas me marcò de manera profunda no solamente en el tema profesional sino tambièn en el personal, debido a que gracias a ella pude sacar adelante a mis tres hijos. tuve la fortuna de verla nacer y de aportar no solo en lo que me tocaba hacer sino en muchos otros aspectos lo que me permitiò aprender incluso mucho del aspecto tècnico operativo, esta situaciòn me permitiò llevar a cabo mejores contrataciones cuando se me fue dada la oportunidad. Recibì capacitaciòn de gran nivel y tratè siempre de corresponder con honestidad por ese valioso aprendizaje recibido.
El ambiente en mi empresa era càlido, a pesar del nivel de estrès que la aeronàutica maneja se nos permitìa reir mucho, esto es algo que considero muy importante ya que la risa refleja que la gente està contenta en un lugar.
Lo màs dificil de mi trabajo era encontrar especialistas tècnicos en lo que la empresa realizaba, casi siempre se definìa tomar al mejor posible y se le seguìa capacitando internamente.
Me gustaba mucho en ambiente incluyente ya que la empresa no lleva a cabo practicas discriminatorias de ningùn tipo y mis valores van totalmente de la mano: se respetaba lo que decìa un papel, como lo que decìa la experiencia de una persona: ambos son muy valiosos y respetables (por supuesto habìa que cubrir requerimientos por procedimiento en posiciones tècnicas).
Yo tuve la fortuna de trabajar con el Director de la empresa como jefe directo y aunque su temperamento es fuerte, siempre compren
ProsSeguro de Gastos Mèdicos Mayores de excelente nivel, fondo de ahorro, aguinaldo, Capacitaciòn contìnua, vacaciones superiores a las de la ley, excelente nivel de comedor y transporte.
Consdebido a la juventud de la empresa, los sueldos y prestaciones aun estàn en proceso de ser màs competitivos, la empresa queda lejos de la ciudad (en viernes a una hora y media de mi casa)
Questions And Answers about Safran
What is the interview process like at Safran?
Asked Aug 3, 2016
Interview was fine
Answered Feb 1, 2019
Mild nlce people
Answered Nov 25, 2018
How do you feel about going to work each day at Safran?
Asked Nov 2, 2016
You know how on planes they have a vomit bag for you just in case? They should have one for you before you enter a Safran office space.
Answered Aug 24, 2019
Considering my direct supervisor yells at us every day and wears a hat that glorifies the WW2 Kamikaze attacks on US Ships, I'd say its a negative for me.
Answered Apr 1, 2019
What is the work environment and culture like at Safran?
Asked Aug 3, 2016
The culture is work harder and longer for no chance of raise for you ever growing responsibilities and maybe you'll get a good job but usually told it's your fault when things fail due to lack of workers required for the amount of work needed.
Answered Feb 17, 2020
You'll be laughing everyday because the work environment and culture is A JOKE.
Answered Aug 24, 2019
How long does it take to get hired from start to finish at Safran? What are the steps along the way?
Asked Jul 27, 2016
Hard to say when I’ve seen Temps for 1-2 years. Temps are getting played.
Answered Dec 17, 2018
One week of training. Six weeks of work under supervision. six months to complete different required training.
Answered Jan 4, 2018
How would you describe the pace of work at Safran?
Asked Feb 3, 2017
Changes all the time. The goal post is shifted constantly and no one knows really what is going on.
Answered Apr 1, 2019
Fast and furious pace. standards were forever changing along with job roles.
My review would be unfair at this time.I would therefore decline t continue with this entry.
