Textron Marine and Land Systems
Pros
Southeast Louisiana is one of the greatest places in the world. The people, culture, food, and music make this a truly wonderful place to live and raise a family.
Cons
Textron is no longer a competitive business. Upper management is aloof, clueless, and never on site. Middle management is swamped in business processes and self-imposed red tape. They sit in meetings all day trying to figure out why nothing is getting done. The LDP program has populated lower management with a bunch of children. They may be the leaders of 'tomorrow', but their lack of experience makes them completely useless 'today' and none of them seem to stick around until tomorrow. The push for increasing women in engineering and management is a noble cause, but Textron has taken it so far as to create an egregious double-standard. As a result, ambitious and talented men are leaving the company. There are precious few old-timers remaining who actually know what to do and remember how to get things done. Most of them have lost faith in the company and are just sitting there waiting for retirement. Their well-earned wisdom and advice is routinely ignored. This was once a very good company that people could be proud to work for. Sadly, that is no longer the case. I cannot envision that Textron will continue to get large government contracts when their product designs are outdated and they now have a decade long track record of delivering late and over budget. A more competitive company like Huntington Ingalls should buy Textron and clean house. Otherwise, I envision layoff after layoff until the old shipyard is empty.
