If you are looking for a Control Specialist or Controls Engineer position, RUN! Those positions are salary and require overtime most of the time. E&I Techs make more money than these roles because they are hourly and do the same technical work. Most salary positions at GAF Dallas work overtime and even when they are home, they are being called constantly. If you are looking at accepting a Maintenance position (E&I Tech or Maintenance Mechanic/Millwright) be prepared to work crazy hours, rotating schedules, and be run by a poor, egotistical maintenance manager. Management does not care about you, or your time with your family.
The entire GAF Dallas facility is a joke. The hourly jobs are union, which creates a huge divide between hourly and salary (US versus THEM). Production operators take no ownership of anything and want everyone else to do their job. E&I Techs have to start the equipment a lot of times because the operators don't care and cry anytime the start button doesn't start the machine. They will not look at the alarms or conditions needed to run the machine or process and will not learn the process, they just call an E&I. As an E&I you will be tasked with work orders everyday on shift by yourself. So get your work orders done and jump when operations start calling (Plenty of line calls). Ownership is a huge problem at the site as really no one will take ownership of anything, so most ownership gets put on maintenance. If you touch it once, it's yours for a lifetime! Tons of projects get proposed and mostly always shot down, but if they are seen through, it will be done wrong and the cheapest way possible with no maintenance taken into account. The plant runs very lean and GAF doesn't like to spend money on this plant. It is neglected and it shows at the facility. Work schedules are totally unpredictable especially in maintenance where they are the leanest. 800-1,000 plus hours of overtime a year is normal currently and there is no plan to figure out how to give the maintenance department a more stable schedule with time with our families. Production operators are working 4 days ON and 2 days OFF, but management won't let maintenance do the same because it would “Cost too much money”. It also makes it hard to have a stable set schedule when it is so lean. Most everyone wants to leave due to poor management in maintenance. The Maintenance manager has no respect or appreciation for the E&Is or Maintenance Mechanics and they have no respect for him. This makes for a toxic work environment with low morale. His ignorance has and will cost him to lose more highly skilled tradesmen.
