Limited career - Mechanical Engineer IDEAL Electric Employee Review

IDEAL has a rich 121 year history. We went back to American ownership in 2017 after the company had been downsized by our previous owner. Since then, we have modernized the company with a robust technology stack, rightsized the company, grown at a healthy pace, and filled up the parking lot. We are the size of company where everyone contribution matters, but we have backups to cover when we are out.

If you aren't the type to roll up your sleeves and help out, this isn't the right place for you.

Most of the people were great to work with, even if it was a union environment. Great place to learn about welding, stamping, assembly, etc. in a heavy manufacturing environment. Upper management and HR treated lower management very well. Employees were also treated very well by majority of supervisors and management. This was one of the best positions I have ever had, of course having my own office did not hurt.

As stated above it was a union environment which limited what management could do. We were not even allowed to carry or move parts from one department to another. The union environment encouraged some to "goof off" more than they should have been and there was not much we could do. One big problem was attendance, and as the operations were labor intensive this was not a good situation. Another was accidents, as nearly any accident was major due to the heavy and large parts we were working with. Not really a good place for much upward mobility due to the small size of the management team. As stated above it is a "job shop;" which means no orders no job. Layoffs started in my fourth month with the company and it was not long until management was affected.