Project engineer - Anonymous employee Lanco Employee Review

Lanco has a strong team atmosphere. From the designers to the assembly floor, everyone is always willing to help. Since most projects are one-offs, there is always something new involved which keeps the work interesting.

It is a boom/bust cycle. The concepting group gets slammed, followed by a lot of orders which hammers the design engineers, which then slams the assembly floor. These pockets of industry purchasing are just part of the job and requires flexibility - sometimes meaning that you work completely outside of your department for a while.

There are many good and talented people working here. Many of whom, are friendly, outgoing and willing to be helpful. Each person works well to the extent that their resources allow. The work they do is often difficult but they maintain their professionalism throughout. If they are nurtured properly each and every employee has the potential to become a stellar asset.

No on-site Human Resources Department. which makes it difficult to express concerns within the company. in an effective and confidential manner. The majority of communications from the remote HR department is to reinforce company position on issues such as summer dress code and the use of outside technology during business hours. As of this writing, there has not been any form of initiative to nurture or retain the current pool of talent in a meaningful and universally productive way beyond a token "employee of the month: gesture. Employee evaluations which are (according to the company handbook) intended to be performed annually have not been performed since 2008. This leads many of the newer employees to question when, or if such reviews happen, only to have these questions evaded, or ignored outright. Because of these, pay and position advancement is seen as a rare occurrence. Much of the design and layout work (as well as other things) is out-sourced outside of the company, this can more often then not create inconsistencies between an initial virtual mock up of a product (out-sourced) versus the final, (in house) produced result. More often than not, these inconsistencies can result in costing more to re-do an order, which in turn should question the validity in out-sourcing the design work to begin with. Much of the software and hardware used to perform job tasks is grossly out-dated. Couple this with the upper-management's unwillingness to purchase the right software and hardware necessary to perform these tasks until if, and only if there is no other option is highly stressful. This unwillingness to invest in the upgrading of the company infer-structure will eventually have a substantial and cumulative negative effect. Upon giving a customary "two-weeks notice" departing employees are almost immediately dismissed. This promotes a general feeling of dread and ill-will among the surviving (a tern not used loosely) employees moral drops further, which in-turn spurs a need among them to seek employment else wear or find some other exit from the company. In a place where lean has become "the goal" one can only expect this atmosphere as the outcome... The delusional goal than becomes to cut costs faster than sales decline. In spite of the above, the upper-management wishes to maintain the "status quo" which makes advancement within the company partially impossible, as its most cost effective for them to hire from outside than promote from within due to the current economic climate. The result is an atmosphere were it is generally felt that employees can feel like a replaceable part, rather than a valuable asset. It is recommended to potential employees reading this that their stay within the company should be seen as a transition between one job to another, and ideally should not exceed two years of employment with this company or risk career stasis.