Pros
I want to say that day-to-day environment and culture are heavily dependent on the site you work at. For Lonza Houston, specifically, the benefits I have experienced are the following: 1. Generous training program. You are given 3 months of training to acclimate to your role. Now, the effectiveness of the training could be better, but it provides a huge benefit in giving you time to learn and absorb first. This is especially beneficial if you are coming from outside the industry. 2. Compared to other companies in the industry, Lonza's pay for entry-level technicians is reasonably competitive. You are also expected to work a minimum of 40 hours each week when hourly, so your paycheck will never be less than anticipated due to under-scheduling, etc. 3. Great people. I would say most people enjoy their coworkers, and there is a team mentality of being willing to help others out. 4. Solid benefits package. Healthcare, dental, vision, etc., and immediately vested 6% 401k match. 5. 12 days PTO plus additional company holidays, including "flex" holidays, which are essentially just extra PTO days, 24 hours of sick time, and a volunteer day. As long as you give advanced notice, you should get the time off. Last-minute sick days are also honored. 6. *Assuming your week goes as scheduled* you do not have 5 day work week. Some teams work 12-hour shifts, others work 10-hour shifts. This means you should have a minimum of 3 days off every week. However, you will have to work a Saturday or Sunday depending on your shift.
Cons
These are some drawbacks to the technician role: 1. Overtime is pretty frequent, especially if you are a second-shift employee. While this is great come payday, it can obviously be rough when you are at the end of a 10 or 12-hour shift and you end up staying an extra 2+ hours due to production delays. 2. In connection with the above point, while generally there is an attitude of teamwork, it doesn't always extend beyond your shift and project. It is common for day shift and night shift not to prep for one another, which exacerbates production delays. This usually disproportionately impacts night-shift, since there is no 3rd shift to relieve them on a delayed processing day. I think this has the capacity to change, however, if supervisors prioritized prep work for shift transitions. 3. The work is pretty physical. There is a lot of standing, moving, and cleaning. You may not anticipate how tired you are by the end of a 10 or 12-hour shift. In some specific roles, you may sit for hours at a time. In others, you are moving almost constantly until you hit a patch of downtime. Know that the role you do can rotate daily. 4. The room for advancement seems limited. Yes, you can advance to technician II, III, etc. However, once you reach a certain level of seniority, you are expected to pull 6-day work weeks and be a jack of all trades. Personally, I feel the 3-4 day workweek is one of the biggest benefits of the job, and I cannot imagine being promoted just to lose that benefit. My impression is that most technicians eventually make lateral moves into QC or QA or simply leave the company and go elsewhere.