Pros
The pay is not terrible
Cons
Reasons I don't recommend Orizon Aerostructures either as a client or a workplace. As a client, you're pretty much guaranteed to have your designs stolen. I've complained dozens of times about proper disposal of blueprint drawings and they just constantly end up in the regular trash instead of the supplied confidential disposal; this includes (but is not limited) to F-35 and 737 parts. On multiple occasions I have failed a part in inspection just to have someone else pencil whip it as good and throw it back into production. Maintenance scheduling on the machines is "don't fix it until it stops production." Because of this, preventive maintenance is pretty much ignored and the machines have so much slop that parts often have to be under-cut and fixed in post processing. They literally kept a guy on for years who was widely notorious among the other workers for sabotaging production of aircraft parts. You'll hear "world class" and "state of the art" repeated like some sort of cult mantra, but I assure you, they're decades behind any place that could be considered cutting edge. They're about 20 years behind technology I've seen at Boeing and well over 30 years behind Lockheed. They'll try and show off a lot of cool new gadgets but they don't actually use any of it. Not one machine is more accurate than the average automotive facility in Germany, and even if they were, the programmers sure don't know how to account for factors that crop up when you start to reach the tolerances they're claiming. . As an employee, the first (and biggest) red flag is that they have a permanent sign in front of the building saying they're hiring. Don't trust them with anything, at all. They request experienced machinists and then after the interview try to put you in a lower position. Then, when you tell them that that's not what you interviewed for, you're told they'll get it fixed to get you to sign the contract. But they won't fix it. After a year they'll backtrack and say they had decided, at the interview, you were better skilled at a lesser position and changed it without telling you, even though you'd been working that very position for the entire year. They call it a bait-and-switch (literally their words) but my attorney calls it fraud. PTO is an absolute joke. If you get sick, it comes out of your PTO, which would be fine if it were acumulated in abundance. But, you only get 100 hours a year. If you're working 12 hour shifts they take the full 12 instead of allowing you to use 8 hours for the day. That's a little over 8 days a year off while the carpet walkers get 12.5 days a year. Include a couple days a year for being sick and that's a single day off every other month. Short of any federal or state mandate to accommodate specific situations, there is no option to just take off and not get paid. Whether you like it or not they're taking that PTO, sometimes even if you were at work (happened twice to me). They seem to do that to prevent you from taking an entire weekend off and/or to cancel your pre-approved PTO right before a holiday so they can penalize your paycheck. They also like to mess up your computerized time cards. No idea how they rationalize it. They'll blame the computer for things computers can't do unless instructed to. For example, clocking you out halfway through your shift so they can take 6 hours out of your PTO (and subsequently lose your overtime and shift differential). It took them over 3 months to fix it and not until I refused to come to work (which they also took out of my PTO but at least I actually wasn't there). They also tried to sneak away an hour from an entire shift "because the computer made a mistake over daylight savings" which I can explain, in detail, why that is an outright lie. They never did explain how that happened (the reason is most often embezzlement). The floor supervisors are spineless cowards and corporate yes-men. It's one thing to avoid confrontation but they go out of their way to not address anything wrong. Their first tactic is to tell you you're the only one having that problem even when an entire shift is complaining about in the same meeting. When they know something is really wrong they just start cancelling meetings hoping everyone forgets. They won't tell you you're doing anything wrong during your review but if there's something you could be doing better or differently they certainly will hold it against you without you knowing it. If you're doing well and it's time to discuss a raise? Well, they'll just dodge your annual review. Better luck next year. When things reach a breaking point they pass you off onto HR, who is a real piece of work. I know the true job of HR is to protect the company from liability but, holy ----, this dude is the most dishonest snake you will probably ever meet. He will stab you in the back while shaking your hand. If he promises you something, anything, make sure to get it in writing. And, when he asks you for evidence of problems you're raising do not give it to him. Keep that close to your chest to protect yourself, he's only going to use it against you to protect the company. In fairness, this place is not bad for a paycheck. But it is horrible for a career (unless you're admin). There is a fair amount of nepotism, as well. If you're on the floor, and you're good at what you do, expect to stay there forever. They're all about milking that cow until it's dead and dry. Some people have been in entry level positions for over 7 years. They'll give you more responsibility, sure, but no promotion and certainly no extra compensation. If you cross train, expect to do both jobs at the same time. To them, the good employee is whoever will do the most for less. If you work really hard you will most definitely be rewarded with extra work. Just be forewarned, they will not fire you but they will make your work life a living ---- until you quit. The most insulting part was the staff meetings. This company has not shown a profit in years (personally, I suspect it to be a tax dodge because they're aerospace and will always get enough money to operate). But, they shove their lack of earnings off on the floor workers every meeting. Every single meeting, even though we're not profit sharing, they tell us about how we didn't meet expectations. Sure, half the machines are down for maintenance because maintenance requests are ignored and they don't listen to the machinists about the cutters being over-driven, and they constantly make business decisions guaranteed to lose money but it's always our fault on the floor for not volunteering 5 or 6 12 hour days every week. Even when we do break all expectations and make quota there's always some other reason they didn't turn a profit. I've got this place on multiple counts of fraud, wage theft, and safety violations. But, there's no real point in suing them. I'm just a machinist. I'd spend more money in court than I'll ever get back. So, here I am, flaming them on social media because I'm pretty confident this will do more than the local justice system will. I also want to make sure this bridge is good and truly burned because I would sooner go back to Afghanistan than ever work for these jokers again. Oh bonus story! During the interview I asked them why so many people quit after a short time and their answer was, "nobody wants to work." Let me assure you, first off, that is the dumbest response I have ever heard. Of course no one wants to work, at least, not for someone else. The question, if you're not avoiding it, is "why does nobody want to work *for you* at the wages you're providing?" Seriously, they were offering double rate for overtime and people still didn't want it. Addendum: Since Glassdoor asked me to review and verify my claims, let me assure you that I kept a journal of everything going on and can back up everything I alleged. HR wanted my journal but I refused to give it to them for their own damage control, I kept it to protect myself, not them. But, while I'm here let me tell you what the new worst thing about having worked at Orizon is. I've discovered they have a bit of notoriety among the other local shops in the aerospace industry, a black mark, if you will. I had to assure employers I interviewed with that, no, I did not learn to machine at Orizon. I think I would have been better off omitting them from my resume and just saying I was unemployed for a year.
