Elegant product, terrible execution - Engineer In Tech Ops Cepheid Employee Review

2.0
Jun 18, 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

All the mundane things the sheeple go to work for are taken care of. Pay and benefits are just fine, 401(k) contributions are matched, ESPP available if you've got a few thousand bucks in the mattress (I don't). Cohort is generally nice, if in a very middle-American-office vein.

Cons

Consumable operations - the folks producing the GeneXpert cartridge, the company's high-volume product - is a rudderless ship. No MES or other functioning data system exists to comprehensively track failures, which doesn't lend itself to troubleshooting the myriad serious problems plaguing the operation. The whole manufacturing workflow is a held-over afterthought from the early days (10-15 years ago) and has not, to date, been revisited. The raw materials and finished product are rolled around the building in plastic trays, Ziploc bags, Tupperware tubs and the like, fine for expensive parts but utterly inappropriate for a factory attempting to produce units in the hundreds of millions per quarter. Recurring equipment failures and poorly-conceived mechanisms are common and no program (CIP?) is in place to improve or eliminate them. The overall impression is that management is so enamored of their game-changing "help the world" nature of the product - which it doubtless is - that the niceties of a controlled production process are lost on them.

Explore other reviews about Cepheid

5.0
May 27, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great company Culture. Supportive environment

Cons

Temporarily impacted by Post-Covid sale drops.

4.0
Jul 9, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Lovely people all trying to do the right thing.

Cons

No real collaboration at the senior level. Vision is not clear, and not always aligned. Inconsistent decision making.

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