Orick Industries ,tool and die, The American Dream @ Orick Tool and Die Elida Ohio

THE BEGINNING

I first started working at Orick Industries (when I started working it was Orick Tool & Die) several years ago. When I went through the interview process, I had several people interview me. I think it was 3-4 times I was interviewed by 3-4 different people. Upon the last interview I asked the interviewer what they thought about me and whether or not they would move forward with hiring me. The interviewer responded with “I think you’re a piece of sh*t.” I was taken aback by the comment. I had never been addressed so unprofessionally by an interviewer before. I had a few milliseconds to respond to his atrocious comment; “I already know that,” I said, rolling my eyes and chuckling about it. The interviewer laughed at what I said. Looking back I wish I would have responded with “F*CK YOU!” I had a family to support and my current job had cut hours and shifts due to the recession.

MY FIRST EXPERIENCE

When I started working I started off in the robotic welding department. I recall digging through the bins that were brought in about once a week to replenish the gloves and sleves that were used in every department. They were usually filled with holes and you can tell they have been used many times before. This was my first hint that Orick Industries (formally Orick Tool & Die) were cheap AS F! Not only did they skimp out on the protective gear but the ‘rags’ (if you call them that) they used were old articles of clothing that had been cut up. I AM DEAD SERIOUS! The articles of clothing were probably purchased from some Goodwill store. How well do you suppose those articles of clothing soaked up the oil and other chemicals? They don’t. They didn’t want to spend money on basic essentials. When the crappy makeshift rags were depleted, you had to wait until they dropped another $20.00 at the thrift store so they could make some more.

There were several times when potential business came in. We were warned ahead of time that such-and-such company was going to be there and tour the factory. When this happened we were instructed to run as many machines as we had people to run them. This was an illusion used to trick potential business into thinking we were chugging right along! I remember taking parts off of one machine and throwing them into the scrap basket to be destroyed because they were no good. This would never occur to the potential business walking through the factory though. I always felt s**+**y when people would watch me run something that I knew wasn’t going to ever be used just so OT&D could gain new business. I felt it was deceptive, and it was. I have never been asked to operate a machine for the sake of producing junk just so that it looked like we were busy.

MY SECOND EXPERIENCE

After a while of working at OT&D (now Orick Industries) I was moved from the robotic welding department to the press department. There was a supervisor in the robotic welding department that I was told didn’t like me and wanted to get me fired. He claimed that my rate wasn’t good enough compared to another gentleman that he held up as an example. Only this man had run more parts that were in need of repair. When I transferred to the press department I ran multiple presses and eventually the most important one. They wanted me to refill the lubricant. Filter and recycle the excess runoff lubricant. Check the parts for quality. Tag the parts. Mop up any messes. Keep the press running nonstop. This is a press that can produce thousands of parts daily! This sounds simplistic as you read this paragraph doesn’t it? Imagine having to run around in a circle multiple times a day just to keep up. At the same time you’re running around you keep having to do multiple things with limited or near no support because your work crew is stretched so thin. If that press stops for any reason, you get yelled at. I had to call for support many times for somebody to relieve me just so I could take a sh*t! If somebody who was supposed to relieve me didn’t show up when I had to go badly, I said “F IT!” I shut that “F ER!” down and went anyways. Keep in mind that this is a factory where they had a high turnover rate. I once trained a new employee on how to use a press and they left for lunch and never came back. I also offered my cell phone to a ‘potential’ employee so he could another job offer at another place of employment so he wouldn’t have to put up with the bullsh*t that I had put up with. Possibly making a living wage!

When I read that ‘Mike’ had to apply fungicide cream because of bacteria that grows in the lubricant from being recycled many times over I wasn’t surprised. This never affected me as badly as other employees but I did notice my skin itching every so often when I operated the main press. I do recall a few people that couldn’t run the press (THE MOST IMPORTANT PRESS AT OT&D!) simply because of infections cause by bacteria. It did exist. I saw the infections on the forearms of the unfortunate few whose skin couldn’t tolerate it. It was awful and still they used the same process for recycling lubricant. I think this is why they kept me on that press though. I wasn’t affected as badly as others.

THE LAST STRAW

After I spent a while running presses and putting up with the stupidity of Greg Orick and his other family members I decided to look for an out. The family dominated every corner of that place. I could tell that the old man, Paul Orick loved his kids and wanted to help them by giving them jobs. Even so his kids are an embarrassment to that place. His grandson was supposed to be a maintenance guy but was too FU**ING! Immature to handle it. His one son was ‘allegedly’ into drugs and that’s why he couldn’t drive a delivery truck. His daughter who worked there didn’t know why her computer wasn’t working. PSSSSST! It wasn’t turned on! This came from the IT guy they had that was caught a few times playing video poker instead of working. My last straw finally came when I found myself waking up nearly crying that I had to come to work in such a place and would rather put my head in a press than spend another minute in that hellhole! I started looking for telltale signs that the OT&D were cutting corners so I could alert OSHA and at the most shut them down. At the least get them fined for their blatant neglect. There was another time where we used a tap drill to attempt to re-work the threads of parts that didn’t pass the nut thread gage test. When we sent the parts out OT&D’s quality department denied using a tap to rework the threads on the nut. They lied. The company we were supplying knew we were full of sh*t. They couldn’t prove it. I believe it was an anti-vibration bracket.

Please keep in mind I had been talked down to multiple times by the plant manager for grievances that led up to a personal revolt of this company. I am not happy about the lengths to which I had to go but at the time I felt they were necessary to tech Greg Orick and the company he inherited a lesson. Greg had asked that press operators learn how to clean the presses. We were instructed to clean the presses using concentrated soap and warm water. This was done by a using a basket that was attached with a chain to a forklift. The problem was that the basket didn’t have a bar, gate, or a chain over the entry/exit way. I saw an opportunity and I decided to report on it. Now keep in mind this was intentional. Not my reporting on their stupidity or neglect for safety. I am talking about their intentional neglect for their operators safety over the safety of other employees in that dump. The maintenance workers who needed to use a lift had a OSHA approved lift that protected them from all angles by railing. If they did fall, NOT TO WORRY! They had safety harnesses! Thank goodness they had them! We didn’t though! The operators are just a bunch of incompetent people. Easily expendable! At least that’s the way it felt! I contacted OSHA and turned them in because I felt that they care more about the people who worked in the ivory tower than they did the people who worked in the dank mines. Needless to say they weren’t happy. TOO FUC*ING BAD! I managed to make them admit to their purposeful neglect and I f*cked them in the process. It’s not that I wanted to do it. It’s that I felt like I had no choice.

WHAT NOW?

Since leaving Orick Industries (previously Orick Tool & Die) I had hoped that the dump I emerged from would have collapsed. Sadly this hasn’t happened. Since leaving I have learned that not only has Paul, the old man passed away which by the way was the only Orick that many of the employees respected. I learned that Greg Orick of Orick Industries has been involved in a motor vehicle accident where he drove down I75 going the wrong way and almost ended up killing somebody! What a loser! What a pathetic example of leadership! I truly hope that in another 10 years this company will finally be gone forever. They have been an embarrassment for a long time since the old man stepped down and they will continue to be so long as Greg Orick is still allowed to drunkly stumble around to promote it.

SHOULD I APPLY?

I sure as hell wouldn’t! My experiences were awful to say the least. The only positive side to this dump was that I got so depressed that I would have worked for Ronald McDonald for a job just so I could escape. I lucked out and found a better employer ; ). In conclusion I would warn you based ib my experiences of this place. It’s controlled by incompetent people with confidence!

 In addition I agree to the previous report! I just quit the weld shop supervisor role after only 30 days of honesty embarrassed to be a part of that hole in the wall company! A few of my robotic operators showed me nasty burn marks on their hands from handling the welded parts! All they offer is cotton gloves!!? I mean really? Anyway I jumped onto trying to order different type just to be instantly harassed by Tom Arthur the purchasing guy (he gets kick backs if he spends less money) never in my life did I think my experience and expertise would lead me to such a nightmare! Not a care in the world for employees safety! I see Osha was called in back in 2000 but they obviously have not learned any lessons! This place needs shut the f@#$ down!

 Osha needs to look into this place! I also just took a job at Toyota in Indiana as weld engineer and my 1st order of business is to convince them why Orick no longer deserves the work! They just promoted a POS that came from a temp agency with only food handling experience to weld supervisor! No knowledge of porosity or other quality defects! True embarrassment to the industry! Greg Orick and Mike the cuz can go eat a Dickinson f@#$ing scum bags!