You can do better, keep looking
Pros
Some great people work at Appvion, especially those that are directly involved with making the product and maintaining the equipment. The company is lucky to have people who take such pride in their work.
Cons
Dizzying number of layers of management. Amazing how full the parking lot is from 9AM until 4PM on weekdays compared to nights and weekends. Seems like a new vice-president position is added every couple of months to "turn things around", but just winds up being another huge salary for the business to absorb. Manufacturing has put a lot of effort into being "lean", but those lessons don't seem to apply to corporate. Career development system claims to be results-based, but even after exceeding difficult objectives year after year you cannot get a promotion unless you are in the old-boys club. Most of the young talent that was working here has realized this and has already left the company. Not a lot of technical know-how among the management ranks, they would prefer to "delegate responsibility" than get their hands dirty. Can't remember a time when any of the current managers came in on a night or weekend to help out, but pay plenty of lip service to "caring about the team". The largest investment in the equipment over the past 5 years was a result from an ultimatum from the company's largest customer. Management seems to have made up their mind to ride the equipment for as long as they can without making an effort to upgrade it to remain competitive. Not a good sign for the long-term health of the Appleton facility. 401k matching funds are all in company stock - you don't have any choice in where those funds are distributed. Company stock has been falling since before 2008, and lost >30% last year. Can't really consider the 401k matching a "benefit". Those of us who are close to retiring get to watch our nest egg dwindle, while the CEO pulls in million dollar bonuses and has the nerve to comment about how he is looking to retire now that he is approaching 59 years old. Those of us who bought into company stock can only dream of retiring at 59. Wages aren't particularly competitive, and while the promise of getting a bonus is dangled in front of you every year - don't count on it. Not too uncommon to have a "leading" rating on your annual review only to hear that the company isn't doing well enough to give out bonuses this year (same story since 2008).
