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amp
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I agree with everything you wrote there a lot of people that were sitting on there ass and they were not doing anything Why PC failed part III wrote: Middle management was decent but the really good ones didn’t stay long. There were a few bullies and idiots, Bill Tomasi comes to mind, but most were competent. Again, like with the engineers to good production managers left. Photocircuits had ALLOT of long term employees that came up through the ranks as managers, and they were very good at what they did, but they were only good at doing things the way they had always been done. Since for Photocircuits to survive that had to change the way they did business, they were doomed. The real failure of Photcircuits was upper management. Strategic planning was often times ill conceived and poorly executed.
Trying to keep the Glen Cove facility open at the expense of the Atlanta facility was ill-advised. Glen Cove was not laid out for efficiency and the cost of labor and turn-over there precipitated a dramatic drop in quality. The only thing the Georgia facility did not have is the multi-layer capability. This could have been easily rectified. The GA facility had gone through ISO-9000 certification in preparation to get the Intel Board line, it was much more efficient and better run.
Anyway, it was a good company when I worked for them. The bottom line, is that they died because they were incapable of adjusting to outside market influences and competition, and make changes to improve efficiency.
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amp
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sue maybe you should read this like jay said,they were only intrested in production to hit the numbers production comes later,meeting the customer needs is more important than hitting the ###'s Jay wrote: PC failed because there was no sense of direction. It began with ownership, then followed by a management team where most did not have a clue of how to run a bussinees. The company management only ran in one mode, PRODUCTION, all they cared was to hit the production number for the shift/day/week, this was true for all departments. I worked 17 years for PC, I worked in GC as well as PTC and I owe my actual carrer now to what I learned at PC. It is sad that this company was let go down to the ground. To the people that says John Endee is not at fault, you are either naive or stupid. This guy was the MAJOR owner, as a businees man he had the obligation to surround himself with top talent, he knew he did not have that at PC and yet he did nothing to save a sinking ship. The time the Top owners John Endee and Steve Wohlgemuth spent teeing off on the weekends should have been spent on thinking why this company did not have an Industrial Engineering department, one that could have done the leg work for a good LEAN manufacturing enviroment.
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amp
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since you know so much sue,where were you when all of this was going on that's to show upper management did nothing,they kept there mouth closed,and maybe got payed to do that amp wrote: the superintendents positions should have been removed most of them did nothing
"I agree with you"
but who is to blame for that,he was the owner,as a owner he should know whats going on
but none of his upper management spoke up,how was he to know who actully worked and who did not
"again I agree" why should they,they were so busy filling there own pockets
and again he was the owner,he should know whats going on in his company
john endee DID NOT have a say in the treatment of the employees
how could he have not know what was going on
how could he have no say in how his employees were treated
it seems like he was not the owner of the company
"AS THE OWNER OF THE COMPANY HE SHOULD KNOW WHAT GOING ON"
HE IS IN BUSINESS TO MAKE MONEY,NOT TO LOOSE MONEY
<quoted text>
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Jay
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AMP.......The question is...Where and what is John Endee, Steve Wohlgemuth and Keith Robins doing now..........That's rigth they all got paid when they were forced out(John & Steve). The sum, well we all know it was quiete sustantial. As far as Mr. Robins goes, well if you live in Peachtree City Georgia, you'll know what he has been up to lately!.........Another thing AMP, lets not gang up on Sue now, she was working at quality department busy with all those internal audits, I dont think she really had a clue of what was going on in there. By the way the quality department in PC was like all other departments, ran by numbers, no real interest on the customer!
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JC HICKSVILLE
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I have kept in touch with some former coworkes who stuck it out till the end.There all doing as good if not much better then they were at Photocircuits. That was not hard to do because few of us got little if any raises for about 5 years. Not to mention most of our benifts taken away and 2 temporary pay cuts of 10%. I do miss some of my former coworkers who were loyal and hard working good people. I have moved on but PC will always be with me in memory.Let's hear the post Photocircuits success stories.
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John - Glen Cove
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A long time co-worker sent me this link and I have just finished reading all your posts. There is a lot of pain in most of you which I also am enduring. A lot of years and when at the end one sees it's worth slipping away, that helpless feeling is devastating.
I just need to add that with all your wise reasons why PC folded IMO only one of you really hit the nail in the head. JAE's vanity to be in control thus never going Public. He subjected the Company since August 1986 LBO (Levarage Buy Out) which means using the Assets of the Company to pay for it plus the difference, to the wimps of the lending Banks for that difference. Besides the Long Term Debt the Working Cash Flow was under a Credit Revolving Agreement called in short "The Revolver" and sure enough was a Revolver pointed at our heads at every Clock's second arrow movement! There were many "Covenents" to meet on a monthly basis but the biggest driving force was bringing in Cash to pay down the Revolving Debt and holding a High Receivable (in liew of cash) as well as Inventories to Collaterize the Remaining Debt hence the name Revolver....After the initial struggles in 1991 we should have gone Public, sell Stocks and get out from under the Banks'yoke. I say 1991 because it was the first super year and one cannot sell Stocks in a Company that is doing poorly. In any event that is when JAE's Ego got in the way as floating Stocks would have meant less control of HIS Company....The rest is history and pretty much it was a continuing struggle to expand in order to survive with the Banks tugging the other way by pulling the rug from under every plan and never mind the penalties in every form possible: fees,additional audits which PC paid and the ever ready interest rate increases.
If I have learned anything with dealing with the Banks at PC, in case anyone I care about wants to start a Business and needs Capital my advise is to swallow your pride and go to your family, your friends, your ex and even the good old Mafia but absolutely stay away from Banks! He allowed the Banks to be the tail which wagged the dog!
john
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very upset
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What none of you fools understand yet is that this is all part of the globalist plan. They must destroy America to force it into the NAU: David Rockefeller (CFR founder), page 405 of his 2002 book Memoirs: "Some even believe we are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as 'internationalists' and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure - one world, if you will. If that is the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it." ISBN-13: 978-0812969733
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saw it coming
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In 2002 I tried to call PC and the phones had been shut off for lack of payment. The phone company gave me the disconnect order number. The phones were reconnected later that day but some managers denied that the phones were ever shut off. I knew immediately what would happen sooner or later. Watching those managers lie through their teeth was the hardest part.
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Anon USA
AOL
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John-Glen Cove You do know what you are talking about. The banks were holding all the cards and when JAE refused to go public because he did not want to loose control, the company's fate was sealed. Make no mistake the company was run by John and no one else could force him to do anything he did not want to do. He was the majority stock holder and he called the shots. There were others in the company who invested their own money and lost it in an effort to keep it afloat. There were those who spent sleepless nights worry about the employees and what was going to happen to them and who tried their best to make things work, to no avail. Please don't be so quick to put all management in the same catagory as the egomanic, JAE!
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Anon USA
AOL
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Judged:
1
Jay wrote: AMP.......The question is...Where and what is John Endee, Steve Wohlgemuth and Keith Robins doing now..........That's rigth they all got paid when they were forced out(John & Steve). The sum, well we all know it was quiete sustantial. As far as Mr. Robins goes, well if you live in Peachtree City Georgia, you'll know what he has been up to lately!.........Another thing AMP, lets not gang up on Sue now, she was working at quality department busy with all those internal audits, I dont think she really had a clue of what was going on in there. By the way the quality department in PC was like all other departments, ran by numbers, no real interest on the customer! Jay, where do you get your information about who was paid and what?
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Jay
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Anon, I can tell you where I got my info and how accurate it is, but then again, I'll have to kiil you :-)
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sad
AOL
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As I read through all of these posts I am very sorry for all that happened. But, everyone should look around. Are there any circuit shops still running in the US? Very few and very small. The bottom line is that no matter what happened given the world situation Photocircuits was doomed. Look at what you are buying now. Where is that big screen TV made? Where do the parts in your car come from? All manufacturing has gone to China and the US cannot compete. Is there someone in the US willing to work for about $1.50 a day? I don't think so. No matter who was running the company they could not stop the juggernaut that is China. I am not saying that there weren't problems. But, the final say is that it was bound to happen and many people were hurt. There were good times and hopefully people were able to move on. There were people in upper management that truly cared about everyone that worked at Photocircuits and did try to do right by them. But, circumstances did not allow everything to go as planned. God bless all who worked there and hopefully life has turned out OK for all.
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JC HCKSVILLE
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sad wrote: As I read through all of these posts I am very sorry for all that happened. But, everyone should look around. Are there any circuit shops still running in the US? Very few and very small. The bottom line is that no matter what happened given the world situation Photocircuits was doomed. Look at what you are buying now. Where is that big screen TV made? Where do the parts in your car come from? All manufacturing has gone to China and the US cannot compete. Is there someone in the US willing to work for about $1.50 a day? I don't think so. No matter who was running the company they could not stop the juggernaut that is China. I am not saying that there weren't problems. But, the final say is that it was bound to happen and many people were hurt. There were good times and hopefully people were able to move on. There were people in upper management that truly cared about everyone that worked at Photocircuits and did try to do right by them. But, circumstances did not allow everything to go as planned. God bless all who worked there and hopefully life has turned out OK for all. Agreed very well said
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newnan
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I'd like to know where are lazy spineless superintendents are now???? Scott Formel, Mark Bunker, and people like Mike Fuggini. I remember hearing that when a decision had to be made to send the Phillipinos back home all the Supers were afraid to tell to him.
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sadder but wiser
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I know one executive who has been pounding pavement all over the country trying to find a long-term situation, without success. He was a loyal follower of JE, a liar, treacherous and indifferent to the suffering he inflicted upon others. My anger has subsided but every now and then I google him just to see what his loyalty got him.
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futurehead
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I can see there are different topics of discussion for why this place closed down, but what now? Does anyone know what will become of this place or if its even safe to rebuild? Any information on the future for potential buyers and such...?
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Former PC GA Employee
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Judged:
1
Why PC failed part I wrote: It wasn’t the Philippine manufacturing facility. Although in hindsight it was the catalyst that spread the Company to it’s demise. It was actually a calculated risk, that IMO offered the best opportunity for long term sustainment of the business. The ‘plan’ was poorly executed, but the idea was sound.
I left the company in 2001 because the writing was on the wall for any to see. Photocircuits was not really interested in improving efficiencies or processes with new equipment. They continued to operate the business like they were the only show in town. All you had to do is look at the way account managers priced jobs. They had a tool which dictated what the piece price of a job would be based exclusively on cost, plus a scrap rate which was calculated to be about 7%.
This pricing model was based on Photocircuits cost with a profit margin rather than what the market was doing. One large customer started buying their PCB’s from China. It was only then that some account managers actually bothered to try and find out what pricing models the Chinese were using. After a re-calculation, they determined that the only way they could get this customer back was to eliminate a quality check (Electric Test) and eliminate the profit margin. And this is what they did. Without electric test we were buying the cost of the customers scrap caused by our own manufacturing defects. Add to this the fact that we were already producing the boards at calculated cost and at best all these jobs were doing was helping pay the light bills. What they should have been doing was try to lower costs, and improve efficiency not eliminate profit. This was when I left. I knew at this point the company was doomed. I'm not sure where you got your information from but quality was never compromised at the expense of the customer. In some cases, pricing was lowered by eliminating 100% electrical test, but only with substantiated SPC data approved by engineering and quality. Even then, we took measures to complete an electrical test audit.
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Frank
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amp wrote: sue maybe you should read this
like jay said,they were only intrested in production
to hit the numbers
production comes later,meeting the customer needs is more important than hitting the ###'s
<quoted text> Your are 100% correct. what a mess
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Frank
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I worked for this sorry company between 2000-01 as a supervisor and their concern was only production number, not quality. ask Motorola, IBM, and others for the rejects they sent back to PC. there were many supervisors/manager whom did not care at all other than their pockets and driving the company's cars. I saw wate and waste and fraud that I had to resigne a year later.
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Honest
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And the saga continues...the day will come when these bastards shall repay - suffer you overpaid pricks - I hope to spit on you one day.
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Judge it!
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