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A123 Systems

Acquired by Wanxiang

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A123 Systems Reviews

2.7

39% would recommend to a friend

(222 total reviews)

Peter W. Cirino

24% approve of CEO

29% positive business outlook

A123 Systems has an employee rating of 2.7 out of 5 stars, based on 222 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an average working experience there. The A123 Systems employee rating is 22% below average for employers within the Manufacturing industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

222 reviews
3.0
14 Aug 2017

Good company for experience. (good and bad)

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Salary is higher in market. Lot to learn about how business can go wrong if you stay focus on saving only, not focusing on improvement

Cons

Business is driven by Chinese investor who will eventually desert the company once they learn all the technology. Too many secret to employees, but it easily leaks. That makes the management look very "not-smart" and unreliable. Outcome of business is shared to only the top management. You can get fired anytime, not because of your poor performance but because of the poor business result which might be somebody else's fault.

1.0
5 Jan 2015
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay, good benefits. Smart and supportive crew, juicy technology.

Cons

BS management. Yielded to Wall street pressure and ramped up the mass production prematurely which led to the bankruptcy. Yet the failed management let go many engineers and got a promotion for themselves thanks to the endless wit of the new clueless Chinese owner.

1.0
7 Dec 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

At first it was fun to work there and they had allot of momentum and funding. The company had some great technology and in the beginning it was exciting to work there. Our government gave A123 hundreds of millions of dollars to build a plant and develop the technology in order to provide lower cost batteries at a reasonable cost. At the time, we did not mind working 60 to 70 hours a week because we really thought we were going to make a difference. Then the company went public and the Wall street pressure started to build.

Cons

Unfortunately Executive management thought they were a software company and could solve there quality problems with a software patch sent over the internet. That strategy led them to a $60 million recall and eventually bankruptcy. The executive team gave themselves raises and hefty bonuses with golden parachutes before they announced their quality problems and they proceeded to go through bankruptcy. The company got sold to the Chinese and in their infinite wisdom they kept majority of the executives that drove them into bankruptcy. With that said expect to be driven hard with little reward or recognition. The good old boys club thrives at this company and if your not in the inner circle you wont.

Viewing 1 - 3 of 222 Reviews

Glassdoor has 239 A123 Systems reviews submitted anonymously by A123 Systems employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if A123 Systems is right for you.