This company needs to understand how their reputation has been getting worse, especially since the Couch's cashed out. Hypertherm builds a decent plasma cutter, but upper management doesn't care about the associates any longer. Over the many years I was there I saw a lot of people quit or get fired that had not been there long. It's all about sales and profit now. You are not valued unless you are an engineer it seems. They have a zero lay off policy but they fire people without too much concern. Also, they have the good old boy network in many different departments so not many people are held accountable.
Having a 100% associate owned company is great when you can use that as a loop hole to pay zero federal taxes. But, when you have a board of directors that are making decisions about acquisitions and the future of the business does 100% associate ownership really mean anything to an associate? It doesn't make you anymore important or anymore valuable. You might be able to have a cleaner work station with your suggestions...This place is very political and the higher you move up the worse it is. It takes a committee to make any decisions. When things goes wrong the fingers start pointing all over, there is a horrible lack of accountability.
The bottom line is that this company has a very difficult culture to work in and who you know or suck up to you will get you much further than knowing your stuff and getting the job done. I wouldn't recommend this company to anyone unless you were desperate for benefits or starting out your career. Everything moves so slow and if you do not drink the cool aid you will be left out of the clicks.