Nearly criminal senior management incompetence and rampant nepotism - Sales SMC Corporation Employee Review

2.0
Jan 14, 2011
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Outstanding parent company in Japan and very good product (although competitors are catching up). Freedom to work, or in many cases, not.

Cons

REDICULOUSLY overmatched senior management in US. Think Dilbert x "The Office" x the Bush Administation x 10. It would be funny if it weren't the livelihood of so many people. Really, the factory manager is the only member of the senior staff who is competent. All others are promoted based on willingness to shut up and do as they're told or nepotism. All educated, dissenting voices have been driven out. Their lack of integrity paired with lack of experience or training and unbridled power is a brutal combination. A qualified HR Director lasted only 8 months before being driven out. If you live in a high cost area, you will earn Indiana wages. Bonuses are a mystery. If you make your numbers (which might randomly change at any time and which they can not accurately track due to archaic IT systems) you might get one. It depends on whether the US operation is profitable. Those figures are not shared with you. You have to take their word for it. You watch your chances diminish as management flails to control costs while hemorrhaging cash for the massive Indianapolis facility, the bloated unproductive sales force, countless operational inefficiencies, inability to manage the rising Yen, lavish ego driven functions like the Brickyard 400, and on, and on, and on........ The question of whether I approve of the President in Japan, Mr. Maruyama, is irrelevant. The founder, Mr. Takada, refuses to relinquish control of the company. He is a genius and one of the great post war Japanese industrialists, but he is in his mid 80s and needs to step aside as his decisions are becoming less and less rational.

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5.0
Mar 3, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Fun Fridays where you got to wear jeans

Cons

I didn’t own any jeans

2.0
Jul 7, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good middle managers and friendly coworkers. SMC brand itself sells. You can be home by 5 or 6pm which was a big plus since I have little kids. It has potential to be a great company and great culture but not anytime soon…

Cons

Compensation (base salary too low and weak bonus structure)

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