manufacturing Though has been given short shrift
in recent years with the rise of the service and information economies, it still occupies
an undeniably large piece of the American psyche and a very real place in the heart of American
business. If you like the idea of working on something tangible, the manufacturing sector offers ample
opportunity to challenge yourself. While the traditional behemoths of American industrylike General
Motors, General Electric, and Fordhold their own, a whole new breed of manufacturers, in the guise
of specialty medical and electronics equipment manufacturers, now rank among the fastest growing and
most profitable sectors of the economy.
Careers in Manufacturing
Careers/Job Search
Careers in Manufacturing
Turn to this WetFeet Insider Guide to explore
Which manufacturing sectors are showing growth and longevity in the United States.
Innovations driving new kinds of manufacturing and changing the industry.
How to decide which area of manufacturing is right for you.
Profiles of 30 top manufacturing companies.
Manufacturing-specific job roles and day-on-the-job profiles.
The kind of lifestyle, hours, workplace culture, compensation, and perks you can expect.
Industry lingo, from chaku-chaku to six sigma to takt time.
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Careers in
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Careers in Manufacturing
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Table of Contents
The Manufacturing Industry at a Glance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
The Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Industry Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Bottom Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Industry Breakdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Industry Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Picking and Choosing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Industry Rankings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Industry Glossary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
The Companies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
On the Job . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
The Roles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Real People Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
The Workplace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Lifestyle and Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Workplace Diversity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Vacation, Benefits, and Perks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Career Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Insider Scoop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Getting Hired. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
The Recruiting Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Interviewing Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Getting Grilled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Grilling Your Interviewer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
For Your Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
At a Glance
The Manufacturing Industry
at a Glance
Major Pluses of Careers in Manufacturing
You get to build tangible products that are used by real people.
You can problem solve to your hearts delight.
You develop a skill set that is eminently transferable across industry sectors.
You have great latitude in where you can work within an organization; you
get to have many careers within a single organization.
Manufacturing firms are spread throughout the country, so you, to an extent,
pick where you are going to live.
A large number of manufacturing firms are involved in defense. Within this
group you get the sense of pride that a patriotic endeavor entails.
The medical-device manufacturing sector is both growing and ethically
satisfying.
Manufacturing companies hire candidates with a wide range of degrees, but
still recruit candidates with engineering backgrounds most heavily.
Major Minuses of Careers in Manufacturing
Many of the areas within manufacturing are mature, so the chance of leapfrogging up the ranks is slim.
With the exception of some technology and medical manufacturing
companies, many companies are located in the Rust Belt.
Its a long road to the topthere arent many thirty-something CEOs
running manufacturing companies.
The educational barriers to entry are highmany positions require technical
degrees, and many nontechnical positions, such as marketing, are filled by
former engineers.
1
At a Glance
The industry, as a whole, is shrinking. Its no secret that companies have been
moving factories overseas for many years.
Recruiting Overview
The manufacturing industry has a structured interview process for
engineering, business, and science undergraduates.
Manufacturing companies have a respectable presence on campus for MBA
recruiting.
Manufacturing companies accept lateral transfers readily from within the
industry, but it is difficult to make a midcareer transfer without industry
experience.
MBA opportunities span a wide range of disciplines, including finance, IT,
operations, marketing, and HR.
The greatest number of opportunities for undergraduates is in engineering
functions; finance majors will find the best prospects in treasury and
corporate finance functions; generalist degree holders have fewer options.
Manufacturing companies recruit graduate-level engineers throughout their
functional areas and PhD holders for research and development groups.
Engineering and business students typically go into rotational programs upon
landing positions at manufacturing companies.
2
The Industry
The Industry
Industry Overview
The Bottom Line
Industry Breakdown
Industry Trends
Picking and Choosing
Industry Rankings
Industry Glossary
3
The Industry
Industry Overview
History attributes to Henry Ford the autocratic utterance that people could have
any color of Model T they wanted just as long as it was black. Marketers point
to this incident as an example of Fords color blindness to consumer tastes
one mans imposition of his taste on the marketthe ultimate no-no in the age
of customer-focused organizations. What that group of marketers doesnt realize
is that with no competition from the Japanese in the early part of the century and
little from domestic competitors, black was the logical choice for a man obsessed
with efficiency. Not only was it less expensive to manufacture cars of one color
versus a rainbow of possibilities, cars painted black dried faster than those painted
other colors. So, with cars spending less time getting painted, Ford could put more
cars through the assembly line in any given period of time. More cars using the
same resources meant lower per-car costs and therefore greater profits.
If Henry Fords canny excites you, if your brain is cranking away at the solution
to dozens of problems, you might be well suited to a career in manufacturing.
But the manufacturing cosmos entails far more than optimizing assembly lines.
At a basic level, manufacturing is the process of making things from materials
and delivering a physical product. This allows for significant latitude in what you
can call manufacturingwhich is a good thing once you have been in the industry
for a while and want to move laterally. However, for our purposes, we tighten the
scope of manufacturing to include companies whose products require a degree
of technical or engineering skill to either develop or produce. Also, in this Insider
Guide, we look more closely at firms that produce discrete productswidgets
versus firms that have continuous productionvats of acid, for example. The
constellations in manufacturing include, for example, Skunk Works projects a la
4
Lockheed to develop state of the art military aircraft, projects at automakers to
develop cutting-edge composite materials to lighten todays ever-larger SUVs, or
projects in medical technology firms to develop precision machinery to replace
or augment human parts, all in addition to the challenging problems involved in
The Industry
making production more efficient and quality driven.
People in manufacturing are forever dreaming up better mousetraps for whatever
rodential problems are plaguing humankind and then executing those dreams on
production lines throughout the world. Whether you want to develop these
products, bring them into production, or market them, the manufacturing sector
offers youas a PhD, MBA, or undergraduate, technologist or businessperson
ample opportunity to challenge yourself and to do good for humankind.
While manufacturing has gotten short shrift in recent years with the rise of the
service economy and the information economy, it still occupies an undeniably
large piece of the American psyche and a very real place in the heart of American
business. Three of the 2003 top ten Fortune 500 companies belong to the
manufacturing sector: General Motors, General Electric, and Ford. And while
the behemoths of American industry hold their own, a whole new breed of
manufacturers, in the guise of specialty medical and electronics equipment
manufacturers, rank among the fastest growing and most profitable sectors of
the economy. The medical products industry, for instance, ranked as the third
fastest growing industry in 2003, according to Fortune, growing at an impressive
15.5 percent clip; the industry has even better profit growth, clocking in at
21 percent annual growth over the past 5 years.
In this Insider Guide, weve highlighted 30 of the top manufacturing firms based
in or with significant operations in the United States. But the list is much larger:
Within each segmentmotor vehicle and motor vehicle parts, aerospace and
defense, electronics and scientific equipment, medical equipment, industrial and
5
farm equipment, consumer durable goods, chemicals, and good old-fashioned
conglomeratesare handfuls of Fortune 500 companies, making the final tally
a large one.
The Industry
Within the firms are a gaggle of opportunities in technical and nontechnical
disciplines. But dont expect to get rich quick or move to a corner office within
your first decade at a firm; unlike some software startups or those internet startups
which are receding farther and farther back in memory, ascension at a manufacturing
company is a rung-by-rung climb. You arent going to get rich quick in this
industry and there are a lot of qualified people who are going to be ahead of
you, says one insider. Moreover, though many companies hire all majors, some
are definitely engineering-driven, with marketing and other functions taking
their cues from the people in engineering.
6
The Bottom Line
The Industry
To paraphrase Orwell, some manufacturing sectors are more equal than others.
Mature industry segments have been exported overseas for many years. Overall,
the manufacturing industry is not growing in the United States. Within the industry,
many sectors, such as aerospace and defense and the automobile industry are
undergoing continued consolidation. In the last 3 years of recession, companies
have undergone significant headcount reductions. In spite of increased defense
spending and interest in homeland security, Raytheon and Boeing, two of the
countrys largest defense contractors, each shed 12 percent of their workforce
in 2002. Xerox decreased headcount by 15 percent in 2002, Rubbermaid and
Emerson by 10 percent each.
Bright spots abound, though, and they tend to be exceptionally bright. Areas such
as medical manufacturing and specialty electronics manufacturing have been growing
steadily. Medtronic increased its headcount by 7 percent, Danaher by 17 percent.
Moreover, they stand to show even more growth with coming advances in
nanotechnologies. While the industry as a whole couldnt be said to be booming,
the outlook is much more sanguine than for many other industries. Similarly, as
the economy recovers, the industry will likely trend up along with it. For job seekers,
especially recent college graduates, the outlook appears decent. Unlike many
financial services firms that have closed down recruiting efforts altogether,
manufacturing companies still appear to be hiring, albeit at a tempered pace.
7
The Industry
Industry Breakdown
Manufacturing is a broad term. Virtually any process that turns a raw material
into a finished good through use of a machine can be considered manufacturing.
If you look around at the objects strewn about the room in which youre sitting
right now, youll see that quite a few things are manufactured. However, we can
break down the types of manufacturing based on what companies produce, or
by industry; how they produce them, discrete or flow; and the level of engineering
effort required to manufacture them. Our breakdown considers industry primarily,
and then other characteristics within. The universe of manufacturings galaxies
include aerospace and defense, automobile and transportation, chemicals and
metals, consumer goods, electronics and high tech, industrial and farm equipment,
and medical and biotech. Generally, sectors that involve technology and are less
matureespecially biotech and medical manufacturingare high growth
opportunities, whereas ones that have reached maturitychemical and metals,
for instanceare waning and have seen much of their growth exported overseas.
Somewhere in between the two are various consumer and specialty manufacturers
that have forged niches in the marketplace, such as Bose in the consumer electronics
realm, or have a U.S. base for executive leadership, such as Ford and GM in the
automotive realm, that have varied and interesting opportunities for new graduates.
Aerospace and Defense
Aerospace and defense manufacturers develop aircraft and spacecraft for the
commercial sector, and military aircraft, spacecraft, missiles, tanks, and other
products for the United States and other militaries. Nearly half of the
aerospace and defense industrys revenue comes from the latter half of the
8
equation. Within the United States, there is only one major aircraft manufacturer
Boeing. Its only domestic rival, McDonnell Douglass, was swallowed up by the
maker of 747s in 1997. However, buying McDonnell Douglass didnt take out
the competitionEuropes Airbus Industries has been steadily gaining market
The Industry
share in recent years. In fact, it pulled ahead of Boeing in terms of aircraft delivered
in the first part of 2003. Other companies manufacture aircraft partsGE
manufactures engines and Raytheon makes radar systemsbut nearly half of all
aerospace dollars come from the defense market (Hoovers). Lockheed Martin
derived more than 65 percent of its revenue from defense contracts with the
U.S. government in 2002. Additionally, aerospace firms have large contracts with
NASA. Lockheed and Boeing have agreements with NASA that equal 3 to 4 percent
of their annual revenuethis includes the Space Shuttle, Satellite, Rocket, and
other programs.
If youre looking at aerospace firms, youll definitely need to consider the possibility
of working on defense projects. Typically, aerospace projects have a high technical
complexity factor and low outputthe processes arent overly standardized and
require a significant amount of engineering effort to produce products. For
engineers, this means that juicy problem-solving activities abound not just in
product development, but also in production. Moreover, NASA and the defense
department have more far-sighted designs than the next quarters profits, which
means that their projects are often for cutting-edge technologies. The effect for
people working in the industry is that you get to work on things that are decades
ahead of what the general public will ever see. As an insider puts it, defense is
R&D for the rest of the economy.
9
Automobile and Components
The automobile industry has been breaking new ground for more than 100 years,
first in Europe with the invention of the automobile by Daimler and Benz, then
The Industry
through the introduction of mass production by Ford in Michigan, and finally
through the introduction of lean production techniques in Japan by companies
like Toyota. But the industry is more or less maturethe Big Three have dominated
the U.S. market for many years. However, theres a twist: The Big Three contains
a hybrid German-American company, DaimlerChrysler; but note that the primary
address of the company is in Stuttgart, Germany. It gets juicier: In August 2003,
Toyota nudged out DaimlerChrysler as the number three automaker in the United
States in terms of units sold. Moreover, U.S. companies own many premium foreign
brands: General Motors owns Saab, while Ford owns Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo,
and Aston Martin.
What all of this means is that automobile manufacturing is one of the most global
of the manufacturing sectors. For job seekers, it means potential international
assignments. Another good thing about automobile manufacturing is that its end
user is a consumer and that consumer is highly influenced by marketing messages
and design. Marketers and designers look out; automobile manufacturing is a hot
spot for you. In recent years, SUVs have dominated the U.S. automobile market.
Industry oracles speculate that China will be the next great revenue boon for
automobile giants. Worldwide, the largest automobile manufacturers at the end
of 2002, in descending order of sales, were General Motors, Ford, DaimlerChrysler,
Toyota, and Volkswagen.
10
Chemicals and Metals
Chemical and metal manufacturers tend to be process manufacturers; their
production is characterized by long, continuous runs. Picture sheets of steel rolling
The Industry
continuously out of a furnace. Chemicals and metals provide the building blocks
for a myriad of other products. Large manufacturers like Alcoa not only produce
aluminum for your Coke can, but also for 747s. Most of the worlds largest metal
producers now reside overseas. None of the top five steel producers in the world
are based in the United States. In the chemical world, many of the products are
petroleum-based. For this reason, DuPont purchased (and subsequently spun off)
the oil company Conoco. As with the metals industries, chemicals in the United
States are somewhat stagnant but additionally subjected to the vagaries of the oil
market. Less susceptible to prices of oil and commodity are specialty chemical
manufacturerscompanies like Eastman Chemical whose end product requires
more engineering and production effort than commodity chemicals.
For new graduates, most opportunities are in engineering. Because these companies
sell primarily to other manufacturers, marketing opportunities are generally filled
by people with technical or engineering backgrounds.
Consumer Goods
Consumer goods manufacturers make everything from apparel to windows and
wall coverings, and everything in between. Many companies in this field have design
and marketing operations in the United States and manufacturing facilities overseas.
Companies in this segment include Newell Rubbermaid, owner of Rubbermaid,
Graco, and Calphalon brands. Many companies in the sector, like Whirlpool,
manufacture products under both their own brands and on a contract basis for
other brands; Whirlpool manufactures products under the Sears brand in addition
to the Whirlpool brand.
11
Because the engineering of consumer goods tends to be well established, the
focus is on operations, management, marketing, and design.
The Industry
Electronics
Electronics manufacturers (excluding high technology/computer hardware) divide
themselves into two camps, consumer electronics manufacturers and industrial
manufacturers. The consumer camp is dominated by foreign firms, such as Sony
and Matsushita (Panasonic). This sector is, not surprisingly, closely tied to consumer
spending and the overall health of the economy. And while everyone has a television
and a CD player, the industry thrives on technology changes that create new
markets. So, in recent years, DVD, flat screen, and home theater technologies have
buoyed the industry. Domestic companies have found gold in niche markets. Bose,
for instance, has developed a reputation for building very high quality compact
speakers. In the industrial arena, electronics manufacturers tend to build controls
and the products that are controlled by, well, those controls. Emerson, for instance,
builds controls for things like appliances, valves, electronic devices, and heating
and cooling equipment. Johnson Controls specializes in devices for the automobile
industry and controls for buildings and climate-control systems.
As you might have guessed, firms in the industrial space tend to be engineering
focused, as their end customers are other businesses (which is not to say that
they arent good marketers). Consumer electronics manufacturers have better
opportunities for those of the nontechnical ilk.
Industrial and Farm Equipment
John Deere plowed the way for the industrial equipment industry with the invention
of the steel plow that broke through the tough but fertile sod of the Great Plains.
Today, industrial manufacturers make equipment for agriculture as well as equipment
12
for construction and mining and diesel engines for large trucks and generators.
The undisputed leader in this category is Caterpillar, with more than $20 billion
in revenue in 2002. John Deere follows with nearly $14 billion in revenue in
2002. Japans Komatsu, by comparison, had just over $9 billion in revenue in
The Industry
2002. Since most new construction and mining projects are overseas, the larger
companies within the industry have developed significant overseas operations.
As with many other manufacturing sectors, industrial and farm equipment
manufacturers look for undergraduates with engineering degrees. However, because
much of the focus of these companies is on production and manufacturing rather
than product development, they look primarily for mechanical and industrial
engineers. In the graduate realm, industrial and farm equipment manufacturers
have relatively strong track records in hiring MBAs, especially in account
management and business development positions.
Medical Manufacturing
Medical manufacturing has become one of the hottest areas in manufacturing.
Furthermore, its one of the only areas in which companies have posted doubledigit growth through the recent recession. Chalk this up to leaps in technology
and to industry development. Companies like Medtronic and Boston Scientific
produce not only implants like Vice President Dick Cheneys defibrillator but also
a host of surgical and related medical supplies. The industry has the unique
distinction of combining manufacturing technology with medicine. For those
who go into the field, there is a large degree of satisfaction from the knowledge
that youre doing something very good for mankind. The R& D process for medical
manufacturing is more akin to that of pharmaceuticals than to industrial
manufacturing. Product development includes huge development costs and a
lengthy and costly FDA approval process. So, as with pharmaceuticals, a companys
fortunes ride heavily on the will of the FDA. The largest companies in the
13
industry include Johnson & Johnson, GE Medical Systems, Baxter, Tyco Healthcare,
Medtronic, and Boston Scientific.
Medical manufacturers tend to hire for a wide range of functions, including
The Industry
both engineering and business positions. Many of the business opportunities
are in business development and marketing. The firms in the industry also tend
to have well-defined product manager roles. Finally, because the of the sectors
relatively rapid growth, not only are there likely to be more positions available
than in other sectors, but the pace of advancement also tends to be more brisk
than in other sectors.
Industry Trends
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is a hybrid of chemistry, physics, and engineering that manipulates
molecules to achieve industrial goals. Nanotechnology describes any type of
engineering that takes place at a scale smaller than 1,000 nanometers (a nanometer
is 1 billionth of a meter). The uses for nanotechnology include applications in
biology, instrumentation, computer hardware, and advanced materials. Much of
nanotechnology research has jumped beyond primary research to practical arenas
that are venture capitalist funded. For manufacturers, this means dealing with
things that get, as one insider puts it, smaller and smaller and smaller. Some
devices and applications include carbon tubes, the opportunistic use of a state of
carbon in which it forms a tube; nano-machines wherein devices currently in
14
development use miniature cantilevers as sensors; self-assembly, in which the
tendency for atomic particles to self-assemble or form an orderly pattern is taken
advantage of; as well as other uses in photonics and electronics. Large manufacturers,
especially aerospace and defense contractors are already dealing with the implications
The Industry
of nanotechnology.
Six Sigma/Quality
Sigma refers to the Greek symbol for standard deviation. Six sigma means
controlling a process to six standard deviationswhich translates into 3.4 defects
per million. In other words, a maniacal focus on quality. Bill Smith, a reliability
engineer at Motorola in the early 1980s, developed six sigma. During routine
testing, Smith saw that products were failing at a much higher rate than predicted.
He hypothesized that increased system complexity might be the cause of the
failure. His solution was to build controls into the system so the process could
be measured and acted upon before a final product was produced. He convinced
Motorola management to adopt the program and the rest is history. Six sigma is
still proliferating throughout manufacturing organizations. It is somewhat strange
that an industry obsessed with precision would take so long to adopt the
methodology. According to General Electric (GE), six sigma is a disciplined
methodology of defining, measuring, analyzing, improving, and controlling the
quality in every one of the companys products, processes, and transactions
with the ultimate goal of virtually eliminating all defects.
Lean Manufacturing
Lean manufacturing was developed by Toyota and its Toyota Production System
more than a decade ago. Traditional manufacturing methodologies stress high
utilization of machinery with slim regard for cycle time or manufacturing waste.
Lean manufacturing, on the other hand, stresses reduced cycle times and waste.
15
Cycle time refers to the amount of time that it takes to complete a set of operations.
So in lean manufacturing, the goal is not to push more goods through a process
say, the painting area of an automobile assembly linebut rather to make a
better process. Similarly, lean manufacturing attacks root causes by identifying
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seven wastes: overproduction, transportation, motion, waiting, processing,
inventory, and defects.
Engineering Outsourcing
Whereas manufacturing has long been outsourced to original equipment
manufacturers (OEMs), outsourcing has taken the next logical step up the value
chain and begun to take over design and engineering functions. These firms are
referred to in the industry as outside engineering companies. Companies like
Flextronics, a contract manufacturer, already have added design and engineering
capabilities to their offering to the electronics industry. Within the automotive
industry, companies like MSX have already off-loaded some of the design effort
from major companies. MSX, a company with more than 7,000 employees,
engineered Fords entry into the European mini-car market, the Ka. MSXs
engineering outsourcing revenue has exceeded $500 million, and its growing.
Industry pundits estimate that the engineering outsourcing market is growing at
a 10 to 15 percent clip. Its not just startups that are jumping into the engineering
outsourcing fray. European automobile manufacturers Porsche and Lotus, always
known for their design prowess, have hung out signs for outsourcing services. The
value of these outsourcing companies comes in their ability to design cheaply and
quicklyin the automotive industrys case, this applies to niche marketsthose
that sell 150,000 to 200,000 units a year of a particular model. Other scenarios
include firms seeking to build products that are at least partially out of their range
of expertise. In addition to the automobile industry, the aircraft and medical device
sectors are becoming large consumers of outside engineering services.
16
Increased Defense Spending
Industry insiders say that the government has committed to defense spending
increases for the next 6 to 10 years. While this might not bode well for the
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federal budget, it does have advantages for people looking at careers in aerospace
and defense. For those going into aerospace, this is good news. Defense spending
increased by $166 billion from 2000 to 2003, to more than $350 billion in 2003.
Picking and Choosing
Unsure of how to decide what kind of manufacturing company might be a good
fit for you? Start by considering a few basic questions.
What Do They Make?
What a company builds, quite obviously, will tell you a lot about the company
youre going to work for. Since people go into manufacturing at least partly because
they are excited by the prospect of creating a tangible product, it makes sense that
you should know, be comfortable with, and even excited by what your firm makes.
Specialty manufacturers tend to hire people with an interest in their products
a stereophile might work at Bose, a biker at Harley-Davidson, and so on.
What the company makes also has a bearing on what kind of culture the company
embraces. Partially, companies embrace the culture that their product suggests.
Therefore, a mountain bike manufacturer might have a playful, outdoorsy culture.
17
Medical product manufacturers demand a high degree of ethics from their
workersafter all, their products are life and death matters. Technically complex
and forward-looking companies (i.e., ones whose technology is new) tend to
foster looser cultures with a heavier focus on creativity than more established
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companies. In the medical products field, for instance, companies impress an
air of creativity on their workers. Companies with established products, where
the technology and innovation play a role in the production process versus the
product design, tend to have more rigid cultures, ones that foster efficiency and
cost savings. Were not browbeaten, but you do sense that the management is
more concerned with following the rules than doing the right thing, says one
automobile industry insider.
How Big Is the Company?
The size of companies in the manufacturing industry varies dramatically, from
behemoths perennially among the very largest companies in the country (and
world) to startups with handfuls of employees and everything in between. This
variance in size corresponds to an equally large range of opportunities, career
paths, and workplace environments that are open to you.
The three largest companies in the industryGeneral Motors, Ford, and General
Electrichave revenues over $125 billion each (larger than the gross domestic
products of some small countries); GM has more than 340,000 employees. These
firms offer structured management training programs and the ability to move
through a number of diverse operations (though less diverse in the automobile
industry). GE is known as one of the top management training grounds anywhere.
These companies are especially interesting for finance majors, as their treasury
operations deal with staggering figures. The downside of these large organizations
is that their organizational structures can be cumbersome and career progression
slow relative to industries like consulting and investment banking.
18
Small manufacturing companies combine the excitement of a startup with the
satisfaction offered by building things you can touch. Especially interesting are
companies in the ever-growing medical technology and specialty electronics
industries. These companies tend to have limited programs for new graduates
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and often seek midcareer professionals to fill their ranks. Also, many, like Bose,
were founded by entrepreneurial professors and researchers and have a campuslike culture.
Where Are They Located?
Manufacturing companies are sprinkled across the country and industry sectors have
their own epicenters, so picking an industry sector can draw you into a particular
region of the country. The headquarters of automotive giants are huddled around
Detroit; aerospace manufacturers hang their hats in the Southwest; medical and
specialty electronics manufacturers find themselves near the brain trust of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, and other college towns; and traditional manufactures
are strewn throughout the Northeastaka the Rustbelt. If you are in a line job,
however, you could end up placed in a facility anywhere in the country, and possibly
throughout the world. Many firms separate R&D facilities from operations facilities,
as the two have vastly different cultural requirements. If youre lucky enough to
work in a corporate think tank, youll likely be set up in different digs than those
of your operational counterparts.
And what digs they are. Boston Scientific has R&D facilities in San Diego; many
manufacturers, hoping to soak up the Silicon Valley mystique, have R&D facilities
in the San Francisco Bay Area. The most well known of these is Xeroxs PARC
(Palo Alto Research Center), which, when asked to come up with the office of
the future 30 years ago, dreamed up the mouse, Ethernet, the graphical user
interface, and laser printing.
19
How Do You Feel about the Military?
As mentioned before, aerospace and defense companies derive nearly half their
revenues from military contracts. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop
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Grumman are among the largest defense contractors in the country, and each
derives a large portion of its sales from the military market segment. All of
which means that if you go into an aerospace firm theres a good chance that
youll end up doing at least some work on military projects. For many people,
this instills them with a sense of pride and patriotism. If you have qualms about
building weapons, however, beware of this aspect of aerospace manufacturing.
Industry Rankings
The following rankings are intended to give you some idea about the size and
scope of work of companies within the manufacturing industry. Not every company
is included on the listrather, it is a sampling of the leading companies.
We developed the following ranking of top manufacturing firms by looking at
Fortune 500 firms that were involved in some aspect of manufacturing. We
then selected the top firms within each subsector based on revenue, growth,
and industry reputation. To this list we added firms that both had exciting and
growing operations coupled with a reputation for hiring top talent. We then
ranked the chosen firms according to revenue of the last full fiscal year.
20
30 Top Manufacturing Companies with Major U.S. Operations
Rank
Company
Subsector
2002 Revenue ($M)
General Motors
Motor vehicles & parts
186,763
2
Ford Motor Company
Motor vehicles & parts
163,630
3
DaimlerChrysler
Motor vehicles & parts
157,107
4
General Electric
Diversified
130,685
5
Toyota
Motor vehicles & parts
107,443
6
Boeing
Aerospace & defense
54,069
7
BMW
Motor vehicles & parts
44,316
8
United Technologies
Aerospace & defense
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1
27,980
Dow Chemical
Chemicals
27,609
10
9
Delphi Corp.
Motor vehicles & parts
27,427
11
Lockheed Martin
Aerospace & defense
26,578
12
DuPont
Chemicals
24,006
13
Honeywell
Aerospace & defense
22,274
14
Caterpillar
Industrial & farm equipment
20,152
15
Northrop Grumman
Aerospace & defense
17,206
16
Raytheon
Aerospace & defense
16,760
17
3M Company
Diversified
16,332
18
Xerox Corp.
Electronics & scientific equipment
15,849
19
Emerson Electric
Electronics & scientific equipment
13,958
20
Whirlpool Corp.
Consumer durable goods
11,016
21
Ingersoll-Rand
Industrial & farm equipment
8,951
22
Newell Rubbermaid
Consumer durable goods
7,454
23
Medtronic
Medical equipment
6,411
24
Cummins, Inc.
Industrial & farm equipment
5,853
25
NCR Corp.
Electronics & scientific equipment
5,585
26
Eastman Chemical
Chemicals
5,320
27
Danaher Corp.
Electronics & scientific equipment
4,577
28
Black & Decker Corp.
Industrial & farm equipment
4,394
29
Boston Scientific Corp.
Medical equipment
2,919
30
Bose Corp.
Electronics & scientific equipment
1,600
Sources: WetFeet analysis, Hoovers, Fortune.
21
10 Largest Defense Contractors
Rank
Company
2002 Federal
Defense Contract ($M)
Lockheed Martin
17,000
2
Boeing
16,600
3
Northrop Grumman
8,700
4
Raytheon
7,000
5
General Dynamics Corp.
7,000
6
United Technologies
3,600
7
Science Applications Int.
2,100
8
TRW Inc.
2,000
9
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1
Health Net, Inc.
1,700
L3 Communications
1,700
10
Source: Department of Defense.
22
Top Farm Equipment Manufacturers
Rank
Company
2002 Revenue ($M)
Caterpillar
20,152
2
Deere & Co.
13,947
3
Illinois Tool Works
9,812
4
American Standard
7,795
5
Parker Hannifin
6,149
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1
Source: Fortune.
Top Chemical Manufacturers
Rank
Company
2002 Revenue ($M)
1
Dow Chemical
27,609
2
DuPont
24,522
3
PPG Industries
8,067
4
Ashland
7,792
5
Rohm & Haas
5,727
Source: Fortune.
23
The Industry
Industry Glossary
1:10:100 principle. The business case for quality management. Its premise is
that a defect that is caught at its source has a cost, but the cost of fixing the
defect once it has left a work area is tenfold that original cost, and 100-fold
once it has reached an external customer and must be repaired.
5 S. An approach to elimination of waste based on five principles: sort,
straighten, sweep, standardize, and self-discipline. They make less sense than
they do in Japanese as they strain to capture the meaning of the Japanese
originals in words beginning with S.
7-step process. A problem solving process developed at Teradyne containing,
of all things, 7 steps:
1. Select a theme.
2. Collect and analyze data based on that theme.
3. Identify the root cause.
4. Plan and implement a solution.
5. Confirm results.
6. Standardize the solution.
7. Reflect on and critique the process.
A&R. Automation and robotics.
24
Activity-based costing (ABC). A managerial accounting technique that, unlike
traditional managerial accounting, breaks down the costs of a product by the
set of activities used to produce that product. For instance, rather than lumping
all effort to produce a product into labor, ABC calculates the cost of each of
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the significant activities required to produce a product from the customer order
to delivery.
Alignment. The process of matching supplier capability with market or user
needs.
Andon board. Based on the Japanese word for lamp. A visual device, such as a
colored light, in a production area displaying current status of the production
system and alerting team members to emerging problems. For instance, a green
light would mean OK; yellow, a problem emerging; red, a major problem. Part
of the Andon concept is that any worker on the assembly line can change the
status of the assembly line if she detects a problem.
Balanced plant. A plant that balances it capacity and resources directly against
market demand.
Benchmarking. The process of measuring performance and results and comparing
them to those of similar organizations.
Bottleneck. The process in a production line that limits production. For instance,
the painting process in an automobile assembly plant might only have a throughput
of two cars an hour, where all the other processes have throughputs of more
than four cars an hour. The painting process, therefore, would be the bottleneck.
A production lines maximum throughput is equal to its bottleneck.
Breakthrough. A dramatic improvement in a work process.
Brownfield. An existing plant or facility, based on greenfield. It connotes not only
the sense of not-new but also industrial contamination.
25
Chaku-chaku. A method of production in which an operator moves from
station to station to follow a piece of work through the production process.
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Constraint. Any factor that limits production capability.
Covariance. The phenomenon wherein one variable affects other variables within
the same group.
Cycle time. Time required to complete a set of operations.
External setup. A die that can be set up without stopping a machine.
Flow production. The process of production in small quantities and sequential
steps, rather than in large batches.
Greenfield. A new plant or facility, as opposed to brownfield.
Human factors. The discipline of studying human responses to products and
environments and assimilating that knowledge into product and environmental
design.
Internal setup. A machine or die setup that can only be accomplished with a
machine stopped.
Inventory. Inventory includes all raw material, work in process, and finished
goods that have not yet been sold to a customer.
Just in time (JIT). A production methodology whereby inventory is kept at a
minimum by producing only what current demand requires. The three principles
of JIT are takt time, flow production, and pull systems. Dell Computers made-to-order
model of doing business is an example of JIT. JIT production not only frees
up capital that would be otherwise tied in inventory, it is also critical in
industries where inventory obsolesces quicklysuch as in the computer industry.
26
Kai aku. Change for the worsenever a good thing.
Kaizen. Continuous improvement through incremental improvements.
Kanban. Japanese for card, a resupply order attached to a product, triggering
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production further up the supply chain.
Lead time. The time it takes to produce a single product, from customer order,
through manufacturing, to shipment.
Lean manufacturing. The approach developed by Toyota of shortening the time
of production of a product from customer order to delivery through the elimination
of waste and incidental work.
Mass customization. The practice of developing customized products on
standardized components. For instance, a clothing manufacturer might develop
a line of clothing with multiple jacket styles (customization) but with uniform,
both in color and size, zippers and buttonsthereby allowing the producer to
minimize inventory while maximizing product variety. Mass customization works
on the principle of carefully selecting what components of a product will be
nonstandard.
Nanometer. One billionth of a meter.
Nanotechnology. The area of research that concerns itself with the development
and use of devices and components that have a size of 1 to 100 nanometers. The
size of these devices is so smallon the atomic or molecular levelthat it brings
quantum effects into play.
Pareto chart. A problem-solving tool in the form of a vertical bar graph showing
the bars in descending order of significance from left to right. A Pareto chart
focuses improvement activity on a few major causes rather than on the many
insubstantial causes. This framework is called the Pareto principle. The meme has
27
spread with viral efficiency throughout business and organizations as the 80/20
rule, in which 80 percent of the problems are accounted for by 20 percent of
causes.
The Industry
Poka-yoke. A mistake-proofing device or procedure to prevent a defect during
order-taking or manufacture.
Process. A series of definable, repeatable, and measurable steps used to complete
an action.
Pull system. As-needed production based on signals (kanban) from downstream
processes that tell the upstream processes when to operate.
Push system. A system in which production occurs and pushes product down
the supply chain regardless of product demand and downstream factors. Push
systems tend to be inventory rich and risk overproduction.
Run chart. A data plot of a process over time used to detect trends and errors
in production.
Sensi. (Lean Production) An outside master who is brought in to assist in
production.
Shusa. (Lean Production) The team leader responsible for designing a new product
and putting it into production.
Six sigma. The mantra of almost every American manufacturer; a methodology
for increasing control of production processes and thereby increasing customer
satisfaction. Sigma refers to the Greek symbol for standard deviation. Six sigma
means controlling a process to six standard deviationswhich translates into 3.4
defects per million. In other words, a maniacal focus on quality.
28
Suboptimization. The process by which productivity gains produced by
optimization in one activity are offset by productivity losses in another.
Supply chain management. The process of optimizing the events in the life of
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a product from manufacturer to retail.
Takt time. The desired time between output of units of production, synchronized
with customer demand. This principle is key to lean production.
Total quality management (TQM). A philosophy of process improvement based
on five tenets: customer focus, continuous improvement, measurement, total
involvement, and systematic support.
Utilization. The percentage of a resources capacity that is used.
Visual controls. The use of visual tools such as color coding, labels, symbols,
Andon boards, and the like to serve as guides in the production process.
Waste. In lean production, the things that make production fat. Specifically, there
are seven wastes in lean production. The Japanese term for waste is Muda.
1. Overproduction
2. Transportation
3. Motion
4. Waiting
5. Processing
6. Inventory
7. Defects
29
Whiplash effect. The disconnect between supply and demand in manufacturing
that produces hyperbolic swings, or whiplash, in inventory. The effect works
because of the lags between retailer, wholesaler, distributor, and producer. Each
agent works independently, meeting his own needs and padding inventory as
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needed, which produces wild fluctuations in inventory.
30
The Companies
The following are profiles of 30 top manufacturing companies, listed
alphabetically. If net incomes contain a negative value, no percentage change is
given. Rather, a marker of P is given if a company has moved from a loss to
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a profit and an L is given if a company moves from a profit to a loss, or
continues to post losses for both periods listed here.
31
3M Company
3M Center
St. Paul, MN 55144
Phone: [phone]
www.3m.com
For Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company (3M), the chain of innovation
began with its invention of the worlds first waterproof sandpaper in 1920. Building
on its experience of making grit stick to make sandpaper, the company developed a
wide range of adhesive products, including Scotch Cellophane Tape, Post-It Notes,
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and asphalt roofing shingles. Today, 3M sells its 50,000-plus products in seven
operating segments: industrial (advanced adhesives, tapes, and abrasives); health
care; transportation; graphics and display (reflective materials and optical films);
safety, security, and protection; consumer and office (tape); and electro and
communications (insulating products). More than half of 3Ms sales come from
overseas markets; the companys operations are based in 63 countries, and its
products are sold in more than 200 countries. To combat slumping sales in the
late 1990s, 3M cut its workforce and sold several health care businesses and its
Eastern Heights Bank. It continued to cut jobs through 2002about 2,500
jobs.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
16,332
16,079
1.6
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
1,974
1,430
38.0
68,774
71,669
4.0
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
32
Recent Milestones
2002 Company officially changes its name from Minnesota Mining and
Manufacturing to 3M.
2002 Acquisition spree includes Solvay Fluoropolymers, Emtech Emulsion
Technologies, Polymer Engineering Corp, and Cornings lens business.
2002 Merges with AiT, a secure ID firm.
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33
The Black and Decker Corporation
701 E. Joppa Road
Towson, MD 21286
Phone: [phone]
www.bdk.com
With inventions like the portable screwdriver and hand-held electric drill in the
early part of this century, Duncan Black and Alonzo Decker equipped Americans
for a new industrial era. Since then, Black & Decker has grown into a leading
manufacturer of power tools, electric lawn and garden equipment, and commercial
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and residential building products.
In the past few years, the company shed several peripheral businessesincluding
its small-appliance divisionand streamlined its global operations to concentrate
on its strengths, such as its DeWALT power tools brand. Other main brands
include its namesake Black & Decker, Enhart, Kwikset, and Price Pfister.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
4,394
4,333
1.4
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
229.7
108
112.7
22,300
22,700
1.8
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2003 Bids for acquisition of Mascos Baldwin Hardware and Weiser Lock
businesses.
2003 Sells European security hardware business.
34
Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW)
Petuelring 130
D-80788 Munich, Germany
Phone: [phone]
www.bmw.com
U.S. Headquarters:
BMW of North America, LLC
300 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677
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Phone: [phone]
The motors that BMWs middle initial stands for started off not as the automobile
and motorcycle motors for which the firm is now famous, but for the motors
that spun the propellers on aircraft. The blue and white fields of the firms logo,
a stylized version of a propeller spinning, attest to this. Nowadays, the companys
reach extends far beyond the BMW name. It owns not only the BMW brand,
but also Rolls Royce and MINI. Though BMW has had the rights to the Rolls
Royce name since 1998, it only began producing the cars itself in 2003; before
then, Volkswagen produced the famed luxury sedans. BMW began producing
automobiles in the United States in 1995 with the opening of its Spartanburg,
South Carolina, plant. The plant, into which BMW pumped $800 million, spits
out Z3, M, and X5 models. Overall company car production was more than
1,050,000 units in 2002, including both the BMW and MINI brands. More than
half of those sales were from the BMW 3 Series models. The company increased
unit production by more than 15 percent in 2002, which it parlayed into a 30
percent rise in revenue and comparable rise in income; not bad for a company
that started the postWorld War II years making three-wheeled vehicles.
35
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
44,315
34,070
30.1
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
2,117
1,653
28.1
101,395
97,275
4.2
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2003 Begins production of Rolls Royce cars in Goodwood, England.
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2002 Takes control of Rolls Royce.
2001 Launches MINI brand in the United Kingdom.
2000 Sells Land Rover SUV unit to Ford and Rover car unit to the Phoenix
Group.
36
The Boeing Company
100 N. Riverside Plaza
Chicago, IL 60606
Phone: [phone]
www.boeing.com
Boeing is a widebody in the aerospace industry, commanding stature as a leader
in both commercial aircraft and defense systems. Nevertheless, the skies have not
been terribly friendly to mighty Boeing in recent years. It remains second to
Lockheed Martin on the list of the nations largest defense contractors, and it
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recently lost out to Lockheed Martin on the Defense Department Joint Strike
Fighter contract. In the civilian realm, it has had to contend with Airbus Industries
nipping at its heels; in fact, Airbus overtook Boeing in aircraft deliveries in the
first two quarters of 2003, 149 to 145. Airbus also surpassed Boeing in aircraft
orders in the same period. Moreover, Airbuss gigantic A380, twin-deck, 550passenger aircraft currently scheduled to go into service in 2006 has stolen some
of Boeings thunder as the developer of premier aircraft. For its part, Boeing
has bet that the future of commercial aviation will not go to larger jets, but rather
to fuel-efficient, long-range craft, a la its 7E7. Boeing estimates that the craft will
hold 200 to 250 passengers and have a range of 6,500 to 8,000 nautical miles.
Within the commercial jet market, Boeing is capitalizing on the trend toward
regional jets with its 717 offering. Still, the recessionary economy and continued
threats of terrorism have proved to be a substantial headwind to the jet maker.
On the flip side, some of those same factors have been a boon to its defense
systems business. The recent war in Iraq has been a virtual whos who of Boeing
products, from the F-18 Hornet to cruise missiles, to stealth B-2 bombers, to the
Apache helicopter. Less bellicose output of the defense unit includes the Space
Shuttle and various other space systems.
37
On the research end of things, Boeings answer to Lockheeds famous Skunk Works
program is called Phantom Works; a tacit acknowledgement if ever there was
one that Lockheed was doing something very right.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
54,069
58,198
7.1
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
492
2,827
82.6
166,000
188,000
11.7
Number of Employees
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Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2003 Announces work on 7E7 midsize, long-range aircraft.
2002 Boeings headcount shrinks by 20,000 from the previous year-end.
2001 Moves headquarters to Chicago from its longtime home outside of
Seattle.
38
Bose Corporation
The Mountain
Framingham, MA 01701-9168
Phone: [phone]
www.bose.com
A private company founded by MIT professor Amar Bose, Bose is arguably the
number-one manufacturer of high-quality audio equipment, with sales accounting
for 25 percent of the world market. Bose is known for making its speakers
extremely small, yet capable of producing rich sound. Since its creation, Bose
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has continually sought new areas where sound systems could be redesigned. In
1983 it offered its first stereo system designed specifically for cars. In the late 1980s
Bose designed speakers for use in Zenith televisions. In 1992 its speakers were
used in Space Shuttle flights, and in 1997 Bose partnered with IBM to improve
the sound quality in PCs. One of its most successful products continues to be its
Wave radio, a small product that produces a deceptively large sound. The company
manufactures its products in the United States and Northern Ireland and has
operations throughout the world.
Key Numbers
March 2003
March 2002
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
1,600
1,300
23.1
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
n/a
n/a
n/a
8,000
6,999
14.3
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2001 Introduces Wave PC Interactive system.
1999 Begins selling online.
39
Boston Scientific Corporation
1 Boston Scientific Place
Natick, MA 01760
Phone: [phone]
www.bostonscientific.com
Boston Scientific Corporation is the worlds largest medical device company
dedicated to minimally invasive therapies. The company specializes in cardiovascular
and endosurgery products such as catheters, coronary and ureteral stents, microguidewires, polypectomy snares, and lithotripsy devices. While still under the name
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of Medi-tech, the company introduced its first products in 1969, a line of steerable
catheters, versions of which are still used today. In 1979, John Abele and Pete
Nicholas partnered up to buy Medi-tech and transform it into a large-scale
corporation. Boston Scientific went public in 1992 and undertook an aggressive
acquisition strategy, growing from approximately $2 million in 1979 to more than
$2.9 billion in 2002.
Headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, the company operates 21 technology
facilities in France, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, and the United
States. Each of the companys six divisions specializes in a particular field of medical
technology such as cardiac electrophysiology, microvasive endoscopy, microvasive
urology, interventional cardiology and radiology, or endovascular neurosurgery.
Boston Scientific markets and sells many of its own devices, creating plenty of
employment opportunities beyond research and development including regulatory
affairs, finance, legal, IT, HR, sales, and marketing.
The cardiovascular division develops medical technologies for the prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and accounts for 70 percent
of the firms revenues. Products include stents, balloon catheters, guidewires,
ultrasound imaging systems, atherectomy and atherotomy technology, embolic
40
protection filters, and vascular sealing devices. Currently, this division is investigating
new treatment options such as gene therapy, drug-eluting stents, and stent delivery
systems, hoping to find ways to restore blood flow to heart muscles damaged by
cardiovascular disease. The companys endosurgery product line accounts for the
remaining 30 percent of revenue and produces devices within the areas of oncology,
vascular surgery, endoscopy, urology, and gynecology.
Key Numbers
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
2,919
2,673
9.2
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
373
54
P
13,900
14,400
3.5
Number of Employees
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2002
P = company has moved from a loss to a profit. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2003 The companys Maple Grove, Minnesota, plant is named a top 10
manufacturing plant by Industry Week magazine.
2002 Acquires Smart Therapeutics and Inflow Dynamics.
2001 Amasses more than 20 FDA approvals and makes six acquisitions.
41
Caterpillar, Inc.
100 NE Adams Street
Peoria, IL 61629
Phone: [phone]
www.caterpillar.com
Will it play in Peoria? The Peoria, Illinoisbased Caterpillar has been proving that
heavy manufacturing can thrive in the United States since 1925; in fact, the company
is the worlds largest earth-moving and agricultural machinery manufacturer. The
company builds equipment for construction, logging, mining, power generation,
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and agriculture, as well as engines for a large number of industrial applications. The
company has plants on every continent but Antarctica and distributors with 1,200
outlets worldwide. Its distributors are very loyal and very large, with many having
multibillion dollar operations. These distributors have allowed the company to
thrive, providing impeccable service to their customers, for whom a day of
downtime can mean multimillion dollar cost overruns. The company derives nearly
one-third of its sales from domestic operations and one-third from engine sales.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
20,152
20,450
1.5
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
798
805
0.9
68,990
72,004
4.2
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
42
Recent Milestones
2003 Forms venture with Eaton Corporation to provide electrical distribution
switching products.
2002 Buys FCC Equipment Financing Corporation.
2001 Restructures, closing plants and putting executives in early retirement.
2000 Purchases British Sabre Engines to gain a foothold in the sub-300horsepower engine category.
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43
Cummins, Inc.
500 Jackson Street
Columbus, IN 47202-3005
Phone: [phone]
www.cummins.com
Cummins is the worlds largest manufacturer of large diesel engines. Ask any
big-rig driver what he has under his hood and it will likely be a Cummins engine.
Even drivers of not-so-big rigs get around with Cumminsthe company supplies
engines for DaimlerChryslers Dodge Ram pickup. Cummins designs, manufactures,
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distributes, and services electric power generation systems, engines, and related
technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, and emissions
solutions. The company reaches its customers through some 500 company-owned
and independent distributors in 131 countries and territories.
Cummins comprises four business units:
1. Engine: engines and aftermarket products for heavy- and medium-duty
trucks, buses, RVs, and light commercial vehicles, and for equipment in the
construction, agricultural, mining, marine, rail, and government markets
2. Power Generation: electric generators, power systems, and related
accessories, components, and services
3. Filtration and Other: filters, silencers, exhaust systems, turbochargers
4. International Distribution: 17 company-owned and three joint-venture
distributors with 111 locations that provide Cummins products and related
services to end users in 50 countries and territories
44
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
5,853
5,681
3.0
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
82
102
P
23,700
24,900
4.8
Number of Employees
P = company has moved from a loss to a profit. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
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2001 Forms joint venture with Westport Innovations to build natural gas, lowemission engines.
2001 Signs long-term agreement with PACCAR, maker of Peterbilt and
Kenworth trucks, to supply engines.
1999 Sells its Atlas Crankshaft division.
45
DaimlerChrysler AG
Epplestrasse 225
70546 Stuttgart, Germany
Phone: [phone]
www.daimlerchrysler.com
U.S. Headquarters:
1000 Chrysler Drive
Auburn Hills, MI 48326
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Phone: [phone]
Theres no mistaking the fact that DaimlerChrysler wants to be the worlds leading
automotive, transportation, and services company. After the merger of Europes
largest industrial company and one of the Big Three American car manufacturers
in 1998, DaimlerChrysler became a truly global powerhouse. Its car, truck, train,
aerospace, and financial services businesses all hover at or near the top of their
respective industriesthe company is second in carmaker sales. The company
sold four million passenger cars and commercial vehicles in 2002.
Chairman Jrgen E. Schrempp heads up a 13-member board including the heads
of the operating and functional divisions. A supervisory board made up of ten
shareholders representatives and ten employees representatives approves major
company decisions and appoints the board. Forty-two billion euros will be invested
in 2003 to 2005 to sustain growth of manufacturing facilities in 37 countries.
Taking advantage of the worlds fastest-growing commercial vehicle market in
Asia, DaimlerChrysler acquired 43 percent of Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus
Corporation, a unit created and spun off by Mitsubishi Motors in January 2003.
DaimlerChrysler also expects to acquire a 50 percent share in a planned spin-off
business by Hyundai Motor Corporation, which will be called Daimler Hyundai
Truck Corporation.
46
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
157,107
136,256
15.3
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
4,995
590
P
365,571
372,400
1.8
Number of Employees
P = company has moved from a loss to a profit. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
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2003 Forms partnership with Volkswagen to deliver 120,000 diesel engines a
year for Chrysler brand cars in Europe.
2001 Announces elimination of 26,000 jobs in North America over 3 years.
2000 Daimler Benz veteran Dieter Zetsche replaces James Holden as head of
the Chrysler division.
47
Danaher Corporation
2099 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: [phone]
www.danaher.com
Danaher Corporation has two major business units, its Process/Environmental
Controls unit and its Tools and Components division. The controls group produces
such things as monitoring, sensing, controlling, and testing products under such
brands as Veeder-Root, Fluke, and Pacific Scientific. The tools group serves as
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an original equipment manufacturer for such entities as Sears Craftsman tools.
Though the company is public, Danahers sibling executives, Chairman Steve Rales
and Director Mitch Rales, own approximately 30 percent of the company. The
Rales brothers have built Danaher through a series of crafty acquisitions, not all
of them successful.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
4,577
3,782
21.0
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
290
297
2.5
29,000
23,000
26.1
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2002 Acquires Thomson Industries.
2002 Divests itself of API Heat Transfer.
2001 Attempts to acquire Cooper Industries, but backs out after it learns that
Cooper is involved in a number of asbestos lawsuits.
48
Delphi Corporation
5725 Delphi Drive
Troy, MI 48098
Phone: [phone]
www.delphi.com
The worlds largest auto-parts maker, Delphi spun off from its parent, General
Motors, the worlds largest automobile manufacturer, in 1999. GM remains the
companys biggest customer. The company makes just about everything electrical or mechanical that goes into cars. Its main business units include dynamics,
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propulsion, and thermal and electric, electronics, safety, and interior. The company put its lackluster businesses into a unit called Automotive Holdings Group.
Delphi is looking to move beyond its dependence on GM through development
of product lines for the aerospace, medical, and high-tech industries.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
27,427
26,088
5.1
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
343
370
P
192,000
195,000
1.5
Number of Employees
P = company has moved from a loss to a profit. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2002 Shortens its name from Delphi Automotive Systems to Delphi
Corporation, on the hope that it can diversify beyond the automotive
supply business.
2001 Buys Eaton Corporations automotive switch unit.
2001 Announces that it will shed 11,500 jobs.
49
Dow Chemical Company
2030 Dow Center
Midland, MI 48674
Phone: [phone]
www.dow.com
The largest chemical company in the United States, and one of the largest in the
world, Dow Chemical produces a broad array of plastics, chemicals, and pesticides.
However, the future of plastics started looking a little less bright at the start of
the decade when Dow posted a string of losses, the first in 10 years, in 2001 and
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2002. Founded in 1897, the company first produced chlorine bleach and later
became a developer of plastics. After a period making pharmaceuticals and other
consumer plastics, Dow sold most of its consumer and pharmaceutical subsidiaries
in order to concentrate once again on chemicals. Today, Dow supplies more than
3,500 products used for antifreeze, paint, and dry cleaning. In addition, Dow has
expanded its agricultural biotech sector, which produces fungicides, herbicides, and
insecticides, and increased its production of chemicals used in the packaging
and automotive industries. In 2001, Dow acquired Union Carbide, another
mammoth chemical company.
Dow seems to be a magnet for bad publicity. Claims that its Dow Corning joint
ventures silicone gel breast implants leaked led to a huge class-action suit against the
company in the 1990s. Now, as the owner of Union Carbide, Dow is taking heat
for its handling of the aftermath of the 1984 Bhopal poison gas disaster, which
killed 8,000 people, and in the following years, killed some 20,000 more who were
exposed to toxins. Most recently, Dow has been trying to avoid paying for a full
cleanup of the Bhopal site; also, in 2002, Dow sued Bhopal victims who protested
at its Bombay facilities for causing loss of work. Dow is also facing PR problems
resulting from the allegation that its Cargill Dow joint venture is producing
genetically modified foods without sufficiently notifying consumers of that fact.
50
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
27,609
27,805
0.7
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
338
385
L
49,959
52,689
5.2
Number of Employees
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
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2003 Announces job cuts of up to 8 percent of its workforce, or 3,000 to
4,000 employees. It cuts 1,200 employees in the first quarter.
2002 President and CEO Michael Parker is dismissed.
2001 Acquires Union Carbide.
51
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
1007 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19898
Phone: [phone]
www.dupont.com
Better known as DuPont, E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company is the second
largest chemical company in the United States and one of the few companies that
is incorporated in Delaware that actually has headquarters in the tiny Mid-Atlantic
corporate haven. The company has six major business units, down from eight prior
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to restructuring. These units include coatings, agricultural chemicals and seeds,
electronic materials, polymers and resins, and safety and security materials.
The recent economic climate in the United States hasnt treated DuPont wellthe
company announced 5,000 layoffs in 2003 and is struggling to become profitable.
In an effort to stick to its core and growing businesses, DuPont is seeking to sell
its INVISTA subsidiary, maker of Lycra and Nylon.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
24,006
24,726
2.9
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
1,103
4,339
L
Number of Employees
79,000
79,000
0
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2002 Acquires semiconductor chemical manufacturer ChemFirst.
2001 Sells its pharmaceuticals business to Bristol-Myers Squibb for $7.8 billion.
1999 Buys Herberts paints from Hoechst.
52
Eastman Chemical Company
100 N. Eastman Road
Kingsport, TN 37660
Phone: [phone]
www.eastman.com
Originally a division of Eastman Kodak, Eastman Chemical went public in
1994 when Kodak spun off the chemical division and has since grown into a
producer and marketer of specialty and container plastics, fibers, coatings,
adhesives, specialty polymers, performance chemicals and intermediates, and
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fine chemicals and custom-manufactured products. Eastman Chemical now
comprises three business segments: (1) Voridian Division, which makes
polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics and acetate fibers; (2) Eastman
Division, previously called the Chemicals Group, which focuses on specialty
chemicals and plastics; and (3) Developing Business Division, the newest
division, which manages nontraditional growth opportunities.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
5,320
5,384
1.2
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
61
179
P
15,700
15,800
0.6
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2003 Announces plans to cut about 600 jobs by mid-2004.
2002 Scraps plans to split off into two separate companies.
2000 The company restructures into two business units, chemicals and polymers,
and acquires McWhorter Technologies.
53
Emerson Electric Company
8000 W. Florissant Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63136
Phone: [phone]
www.gotoemerson.com
Founded in 1890, Emerson started out as a maker of electric motors and fans.
Today, the company has more than 60 divisions. And its not just an appliance
manufacturer. Key areas for the company, in addition to appliances, include network
power, which produces power solutions for telecom and data networks; process
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management, which provides solutions that optimize process plant productivity;
climate technologies, which makes heating and cooling systems; storage solutions,
which makes shelving for homes and businesses; tools designed for professionals
and do-it-yourselfers; motor technologies, which produces motors to power
everything from home appliances to industrial applications; and industrial
automation. Key brands include RIDGID tools, In-Sink-Erator garbage disposals,
and Emerson fans. The company has concentrated its manufacturing efforts on
Asia, Eastern Europe, and India to control costs.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
13,824
15,480
10.7
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
122
1,032
88.2
111,500
124,500
10.4
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
54
Recent Milestones
2001 Sells Chromalox electric heating and controls division.
2000 Acquires telecom division of Jordan Industries.
2000 Buys European firm Ericsson Energy Systems.
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55
Ford Motor Company
1 American Road
Dearborn, MI 48126
Phone: [phone]
www.ford.com
It took 20 years of experimentation to manufacture the Model T that would satisfy
Henry Ford. That happened in 1908; the car took speeds up to 45 mph and ran
13 to 21 miles to the gallon. In 1913, Ford began mass-producing autos, a move
that brought the price of a car down from $850 to $260. To streamline production
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in 1914, the company stopped making red, blue, green, and gray carsthey were
available in any color so long as it is black. Today, Ford is the top truck maker in
the world, with the F-series heading up its collection. Throw cars into the equation,
and it falls to second place behind General Motors.
The companys recognizable brand names include Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, Volvo,
Jaguar, and Aston Martin, and it also owns substantial percentages of Mazda and
the Hertz rental car firm. Ford Motor Credit is the top auto-financing business in
the world. Despite its size, the Ford family, descendents of Henry, keeps close
control of the company; the family owns approximately 40 percent of voting shares
in the company.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
163,420
162,412
0.6
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
980
5,453
L
350,321
354,431
1.2
Number of Employees
L = loss. Source: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
56
Recent Milestones
2002 Announces 35,000 job cuts worldwide, the majority of which are to come
from U.S. plants.
2002 Sells its Think electronics division and Kwik Fit auto maintenance division.
2001 William Clay Ford, Jr., becomes CEO after Nasser is ousted.
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57
General Electric Company
3135 Easton Turnpike
Fairfield, CT 06828
Phone: [phone]
www.ge.com
General Electric is the grandfather of all electronics companies and one of the most
recognized brand names in the world, tracing its origins back to Thomas Edison.
Subsidiary companies include GE Capital Corporation, one of the worlds largest
financial services companies and itself divided into four units (GE Commercial
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Finance, GE Consumer Finance, GE Insurance, and GE Equipment Management);
GE Appliances, known for its we bring good things to life advertising campaign;
the National Broadcasting Company, home of Friends and ER; GE Aircraft
Engines; GE Consumer Products; GE Industrial Systems; GE Medical Systems,
an $8 billion company; GE Plastics; GE Power Systems; GE Specialty Materials;
and GE Transportation Systems.
Under former CEO Jack Welch, this empire grew to be the largest company by
market capitalization in the stock markets and spawned a veritable industry in
leadership the Jack Welch Waya style that stressed letting the best managers prove
themselves and letting underperformers go before they became deadwood. This
adoration of Welchs tactics subsided in recent years as public scrutiny focused on
his GE retirement package, which included all-expense-paid use of the companys
swank Manhattan apartment and the company jetboth of which came to light
during the divorce filings of Welchs second wife, Katherine Beasley Welch. Current
CEO Jeff Immelt, the hand-picked successor to Welch, has done an admirable job
of keeping GEs ship (powered of course by GE engines) on course.
58
Key Numbers
2002
2001
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
130,685
125,679
4.0
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
14,118
13,684
3.2
315,000
310,000
1.6
Number of Employees
% Change
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
The Companies
Recent Milestones
2003 Announces plans to acquire Vivendis media holdings, which include
Universal Studios and USA Networks.
2001 Jeff Immelt, CEO of GE Medical Systems, replaces Jack Welch as CEO
of GE.
2001 Purchases Heller Financial for $5.3 billion.
2001 European antitrust regulators block GEs attempt to acquire Honeywell.
59
General Motors Corporation
300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265
Phone: [phone]
www.gm.com
General Motors (GM) has been mass-producing cars since 1901 and now distinguishes itself as the largest U.S. exporter of cars and trucks, with operations in
more than 190 countries, and the largest automobile manufacturer in the world.
GM says it was the first to offer a closed body as standard equipment (1910), to
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use an electric self-starter (1911), to offer a comprehensive service policy (1926),
to develop the built-in trunk (1933), and to offer an electric vehicle to consumers
(1996). Along with brands commonly associated with GMCadillac, Chevrolet,
GMC, and Pontiacsome of the less apple pie brands under the GM umbrella
include Saab and Saturn, not to mention stakes in Fiat, Subaru, and 2003, Suzuki.
In the company expects to reduce the number of white-collar jobs at GM
by 3 to 6 percent. The company is also returning its new product development
focus from trucks to cars. Indeed, GM recently announced plans to sell small
cars developed in a joint venture with Daewoo in North America. GM subsidiary
Hughes Electric produces digital entertainment under the DIRECTTV Brand,
information and communications services, and satellite-based private business
networks. GM also makes locomotives and heavy-duty transmissions, and General
Motors Acceptance Company (GMAC) is its financing arm.
60
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
186,763
177,26
5.4
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
1,736
601
188.9
350,000
336,500
4.1
Number of Employees
Sources Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
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2003 Announces sale of its armored vehicle defense unit to General
Dynamics for $1.1 billion.
2003 Makes deal to sell its 20 percent stake in Hughes Electronics to Rupert
Murdochs New Corp.
2002 Fiat sells its stake in GM (which it received in exchange for GMs stake
in Fiat in 1999) to an investment bank to raise cash.
2000 Announces that it will phase out the Oldsmobile brand.
61
Honeywell International, Inc.
101 Columbia Road
Morristown, NJ 07962
Phone: [phone]
www.honeywell.com
Honeywell International was created in 1999 after AlliedSignal acquired Honeywell,
Inc. The new company took Honeywells name and AlliedSignals headquarters.
Honeywell has four major business units:
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Aerospace, which makes aircraft engines and equipment
Automation and Control Solutions, the thermostat and climate control group
Specialty Materials, which makes materials used in semiconductors and electronics
Transportation and Power Systems, which includes the FRAM and Prestone
brands
Honeywells history goes as far back as 1885, when inventor Albert Butz made
the first crude version of a home thermostat. The company eventually became
the worlds largest manufacturer of climate-control systems for home, business,
and industry. In the mid-1980s, Honeywell immersed itself in the aerospace industry,
becoming the worlds leading integrator of avionics systems. AlliedSignal brought
to the party chemical expertise in the aerospace, automotive, and engineering fields.
The two companies combined product offerings run the gamut from smoke
detectors to carpet fibers to antifreeze to space navigation systems. AlliedSignal
also brings to Honeywell International its near-mystical six sigma management
method, which the company defines as a measurement of total quality to know
how effective we are in eliminating defects and variation from our processes.
62
Flagging earnings resulted in large-scale layoffs, with about 17,000 jobs cut in 2000
and 16,000 more announced in 2001. However, the countrys increased emphasis
on defense and homeland security has been a boon to Honeywell: The company
announced more than $1 billion in contract wins in 2002.
Key Numbers
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
22,274
23,652
5.8
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
220
99
L
108,000
115,000
6.1
Number of Employees
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2002
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis..
Recent Milestones
2002 David Cote, a GE alumnus, becomes CEO.
2002 Buys Invensys Sensor Systems, an automobile and airplane sensor and
control manufacturer, for $415 million.
2002 Acquires Ultreks closed-circuit TV business.
2001 Deal to be acquired by GE falls through when European regulators
dont approve the takeover.
63
Ingersoll-Rand Company Limited
200 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677
Phone: [phone]
www.irco.com
Ingersoll-Rand is a big solid company that manufactures big solid things and a few
smaller ones. The company started out manufacturing steam-driven rock drills in
the 1870s. It still makes drills, but has branched out in a number of directions.
The Companies
The company manufactures refrigeration and climate-control systems under the
Thermo King and Hussman names. It provides security and safety-related products
and services for residential, commercial, and institutional buildings. Kryptonite
and Schlage are among its many security-related brands. The company also makes
industrial productivity solutions such as Ingersoll-Rand tools. And, of course,
Ingersoll-Rand makes drills and other construction-related equipment.
The company has grown and profited year after year, but 2001 was tough on
everyone including Ingersoll-Rand, which announced 51 site closings and 4,000
job cuts that year. In 2002, the company had to settle a class-action lawsuit brought
against it related to its reincorporation as a Bermuda corporation. Additionally,
2002 saw Ingersoll-Rand shed some of its bulk11,000 jobs, or nearly 20
percent of its workforce.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
8,951
9,682
7.5
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
174
246
L
45,000
56,000
19.6
Number of Employees
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
64
Recent Milestones
2001 The company moves its headquarters to Bermuda, saving the company
more than $40 million a year in taxes.
2001 Purchases National Refrigeration Services and bicycle lockmaker
Kryptonite.
2001 Acquires Hussman International refrigeration for $1.8 billion.
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65
Lockheed Martin Corporation
6801 Rockledge Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
Phone: [phone]
www.lockheedmartin.com
Its no accident that Lockheed Martin is headquartered outside of Washington, DC;
like any customer-focused organization, Lockheed Martin wants to be close to its
customers. And it has a good customer in the Federal Government, which accounts
for approximately 80 percent of the firms revenue. Lockheed Martin is the poster
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child for the military industrial complex. The company, formed by the merger of
Lockheed and Martin Marietta in March 1995, has become the leading aerospace
and defense company in the world, ahead of Boeing and Northrop Grumman.
Lockheeds products include the F-16 and F-22 fighter jets, the Trident II missile,
and management services for some NASA space operations and Department of
Energy sites. Some of the companys lower profile activities include ship and
submarine combat systems, air-traffic control systems, and fire-control systems.
While Lockheeds strong government ties have solidified the firms industry standing,
they have also raised concern about a lack of competition within the defense
industry. In 1998, the Pentagon and the Department of Justice took steps to stop
the proposed merger of Lockheed and Northrop Grumman; Lockheed later backed
out of the deal. To cut costs and strengthen its focus on core activities, the company
has reorganized and consolidated itself into five principal divisions: systems
integration, space systems, aeronautics, technology services, and global
telecommunications.
66
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
26,578
23,990
10.8
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
500
1,046
P
125,000
125,000
0
Number of Employees
P = company has moved from a loss to a profit. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2002 Awarded $12.7 billion contract to provide F-16s to international clients.
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2002 Sells COMSAT mobile communications for $100 million.
2001 Named lead Joint Strike Fighter (J-35) contractor, a deal estimated to be
worth $200 billion.
2001 The company unveils plan to shed $3 billion in costs.
67
Medtronic, Inc.
710 Medtronic Parkway NE
Minneapolis, MN 55432
Phone: [phone]
www.medtronic.com
Fifty years ago, Medtronic was a start-up medical equipment repair shop. Today,
the Minneapolis-based company is the number-one manufacturer of implantable
biomedical devices. The company sells products for cardiac rhythm management,
cardiac surgery, treatment of vascular conditions, neurologic and diabetes treatment
The Companies
and diagnosis, and spinal and ENT (ear, nose, and throat) treatment. To some
extent, Medtronic has fueled its growth with strategic acquisitions that have given
the company access to new technologies quickly. But thats not to say the company
doesnt innovate in-house. Medtronic operates 26 research facilities around the
world, and devotes 10 percent of revenue to R&D. Indeed, between 1969 and 1998,
according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, Medtronic ranked first in the
world in terms of number of patents issued for medical devices.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
7,665
6,411
16.4
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
1,600
984
62.6
28,000
26,050
7.5
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
68
Recent Milestones
2001 Buys medical device makers MiniMed and Medical Research Group.
2000 Announces partnership with Johnson & Johnson and GE Medical
Systems to provide online product ordering.
1999 Buys Sofamor Danek, a spinal implant maker; stent maker Arterial
Vascular Engineering; and Xomed Surgical Products.
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69
NCR Corporation
1700 S. Patterson Boulevard
Dayton, OH 45479
Phone: [phone]
www.ncr.com
NCR Corp. began as the National Cash Register Company, maker of the first
mechanical cash registers. NCR introduced the world to retail bar-code scanning
in 1974. It continues to forge into uncharted technological territory. In the 1980s,
the company was focused on computer hardware. The company was purchased
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by AT&T in 1991 and was spun off to AT&T investors in 1997, becoming an
independent, public company once more. In recent years, NCR Corp. has spun
off computer hardware operations to concentrate more on products and services
for business. The company has focused on providing business solutions in areas
like customer resource management, customer relationship management, data
warehousing, and payment solutions as well as point-of-sale systems and ATM/selfcheckout technologies.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
5,585
5,917
5.6
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
220
217
L
29,700
30,445
2.4
Number of Employees
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2000 Buys Ceres Integrated Solutions, a customer relationship management
software solution provider.
2000 Purchases 4Front Technologies, an outsourcing service provider.
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Newell Rubbermaid, Inc.
Newell Center
29 E. Stephenson Street
Freeport, IL 61032
Phone: [phone]
www.newellrubbermaid.com
Newell Rubbermaid is no plastic tiger, but a conglomerate of decentralized
companies that manufactures and distributes a wide variety of consumer products,
including storage and cleaning products, writing utensils, home decor products
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(the company is the worlds largest picture-frame manufacturer), kitchenware, and
toys. The company has a strong brand portfolio that includes household names
such as Rubbermaid, Calphalon, Levolor, Mirro, Graco, Sanford markers, Goody
hair products, and Rolodex.
Pursuing a strategy of growth through acquisition since the 1960s, the firm has
bought more than 75 companies and has enjoyed a string of strong sales-growth
years. In 2001, Newell Rubbermaid purchased Gillettes stationery products business
and changed CEOs. The company recently expanded into hand and power tools
with its acquisition of American Tool Companies in 2002 and American Saw and
Manufacturing in 2003.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
7,454
6,909
7.9
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
203
265
L
47,000
49,425
4.9
Number of Employees
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
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Recent Milestones
2002 Acquires American Saw & Manufacturing.
2002 Acquires American Tool Companies.
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2001 Acquires Gillettes stationery business.
72
Northrop Grumman Corporation
1840 Century Park East
Los Angeles, CA 90067
Phone: [phone]
www.northgrum.com
Sprawling like one of the aircraft carriers its Newport News division builds,
Northrop Grumman is the countrys second largest defense contractor. The
company comprises several business unitselectronic systems, integrated systems
and aerostructures, ship systems, Newport News, component structures, and
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Logicon Inc., its information technology subsidiary. Northrop designs, integrates,
and manufactures military surveillance and combat aircraft, defense electronics
and systems, airspace management systems, information systems, marine systems,
and precision weapons. The company has sold its commercial aerostructures
segment but is holding onto its military aerostructures business.
Since 1990, Northrop has developed and expanded from being an aircraft
manufacturer into its current status as one of the leaders in high-tech defense
systems. The company has manufacturing facilities in 26 U.S. states, Canada, and
England. In 2001, Northrop secured its position as a top gun in the defense field
with the acquisition of Litton Industries, a maker of navigational systems for ships.
The company went on to purchase the ships on which to install its new navigational
tools, purchasing Newport News for $2.6 billion and thus becoming the worlds
largest naval battleship builder.
In 2002, Northrop acquired the space and electronics unit of TRW, which
manufactures defense satellites, lasers, computer systems, and communications
equipment. Northrop is now a leading producer of military satellites and missile
and integration systems.
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Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
17,206
13,558
26.9
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
64
427
85.0
117,300
93,300
25.7
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2002 Acquires TRW for $7.8 billion.
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2001 Acquires Newport News Shipbuilding, maker of nuclear-powered
aircraft carriers and submarines.
2001 Acquires Litton Industries for $3.8 billion.
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Raytheon Company
141 Spring Street
Lexington, MA 02421
Phone: [phone]
www.raytheon.com
Raytheon opened for business more than 75 years ago and in that time has risen
to the fourth-leading spot in the aerospace and defense industries. Raytheon means
light of the gods, and the company has always aimed to light the way for
customers through innovation. In the 1940s, Raytheon adapted radar technology
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to invent microwave cooking; in the 1990s, it adapted infrared technology to enable
Cadillac drivers to see in the dark. In the defense arena, Raytheon invented guided
missile technology and created both the Tomahawk and Patriot missiles. Raytheon
is divided into four main divisions: electronics; command control and information
systems; commercial electronics, products, and services; and aircraft. The company
solidified its leading position in the industry through a series of strategic mergers
and acquisitions throughout the 1990s. In 1997, the company merged with Hughes
Electronics and acquired Texas Instruments defense division. In an effort to
pay for its acquisitions, the company has been paring down its businesses to
focus on missile, radar, and defense-related products and services, in addition
to its commercial division.
Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
16,760
16,867
0.6
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
640
763
L
76,400
87,200
12.4
Number of Employees
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
75
Recent Milestones
2002 Sells its aircraft integration unit for $1.13 billion.
2001 Issues 29 million new shares of common stock.
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2000 Sells its flight simulation and training business, an engineering and
construction unit.
76
Toyota Motor Corporation
9 W. 57th Street, Ste. 4900
New York, NY 10019
Phone: [phone]
www.toyota.com
Toyotas stars keep rising; the Japanese automaker recently became the third largest
automobile maker in the United States, outselling DaimlerChrysler in cars and
trucks for the first time ever in August 2003. And while its 4Runners and Lexuses
continue to sell well, the company has made a concerted effort to produce fuel-
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efficient carsits latest, the Prius, has become a hit among the cognoscenti in places
like Silicon Valley and Hollywood. Aside from cars, Toyota manufactures forklifts,
develops housing, and provides financial services to support its auto business.
The company is known for its Toyota Production System, which pretty much
has defined lean manufacturing and just-in-time concepts. The firm has developed
a global production platform, with ten plants in the United States, alongside
those in Japan, India, and Europe. Unlike many of the other leading automobile
manufacturers, Toyotas expansion has largely been through organic growth,
with few outright acquisitions.
Key Numbers
March 2003
March 2002
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
128,965
107,443
20.0
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
6,247
4,177
49.6
264,096
246,702
7.1
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
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Recent Milestones
2002 Forms joint venture to produce resin fuel tanks.
2001 Opens manufacturing plant in France.
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2000 Reaches deal with Chinese government to produce cars in China.
78
United Technologies Corporation
One Financial Plaza
Hartford, CT 06103
Phone: [phone]
www.utc.com
Spectators at the 1853 Worlds Fair oohed and aahed at the performances of Elisha
Graves Otis, founder of the elevator company that would eventually become a
key part of United Technologies Corporation (UTC), who demonstrated the use
of the first safety mechanism for elevators by cutting the rope as he rode up and
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down in an early elevator. Other companies that would become part of UTC
developed steel propellers and the earliest air conditioning systemand Lindberghs
first solo flight across the Atlantic was in a Ryan monoplane equipped with an
adjustable propeller manufactured and designed by a company that would become
part of UTC. Today, UTC companies focus on designing and manufacturing
aerospace products and industrial systems; UTC subsidiaries include Pratt &
Whitney (aircraft engines), Carrier (heating and air conditioning systems), Otis
(elevators and escalators), Sikorsky (helicopters), Hamilton Sundstrand (aerospace
and industrial systems), and International Fuel Cells.
Troubled by a slow economy and problems in the commercial airline industry,
UTC cut more than 4,000 jobs in 2001 and restructured the company to focus
on its aerospace and building systems units. UTC also deferred its acquisition activity
in order to maintain a stronger balance sheet. For job seekers, UTC is hard to
beatMinority MBA magazine selected it as one of the ten best employers in
the United States, Fortune ranked it as one of the most admired companies in its
industry, and UTC peppers its benefits with liberal tuition reimbursement
programs and stock options.
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Key Numbers
2002
2001
% Change
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
27,980
27,486
1.8
Worldwide Earnings ($M)
2,236
1,938
15.4
155,000
152,000
2.0
Number of Employees
Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
Recent Milestones
2002 UTCs Sikorsky division acquires Derco Holdings.
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2001 Restructures and trims 4,600 jobs from its payroll.
2000 Makes a failed bid for Honeywell.
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Whirlpool Corporation
2000 N. M-63
Benton Harbor, MI 49022
Phone: [phone]
www.whirlpool.com
The largest appliance manufacturer in the United States and second largest in the
world, Whirlpool has been in the business of making waves in the appliance world
since 1911, when Upton Machines of Michigan started making motor-driven
wringing and washing machines. Uptons first order of machines went to Sears
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Roebuck & Company, initiating a business relationship that has lasted for more
than 87 years. Today, Whirlpool makes appliances under the Kenmore brand
for Sears, in addition to the Whirlpool brand that retails for the mass market.
Over the years, the company added the first automatic dryer and vacuum to its
stable of home appliance products. In addition to sales in the United States,
Canada, and Europe, Whirlpool is focusing on emerging markets in Latin
America and Asia.
Key Numbers
2002
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
Worldwide Income ($M)
Number of Employees
2001
% Change
11,016
10,343
6.5
394
21
L
68,000
59,000
15.3
L = loss. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
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Recent Milestones
2002 Purchases remainder of Mexican appliance maker Vitromatic and
renames it Whirlpool Mexico.
2002 Purchase a 95 percent interest in Polands second largest appliance
maker, Polar.
The Companies
2000 Company goes through massive restructuring.
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Xerox Corporation
800 Long Ridge Road
Stamford, CT 06904
Phone: [phone]
www.xerox.com
Never call Xerox a copycat; the company invented the photocopying industry.
The company string of innovation pearls include PARC, its famous R&D campus
in Palo Alto that invented, among other things, the mouse, the graphical user
interface, laser printing, and Ethernet. Xerox calls itself the document management
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company. Around that rallying cry it produces copiers, printers, scanners, fax
machines, document management software, and consulting services.
In recent years, Xerox has struggled somewhat to maintain an even keel. It
underwent a major reorganization in 1999 and has had trouble finding steady
leadership. The company went through two CEOs in the late 1990s and early
part of this decade before finding Anne Mulcahy to fill the CEO spot in 2001.
Where the company doesnt waver is in its commitment to diversity. First and
foremost it walks the talk of diversity, with a woman CEO. Additionally, Fortune
named Xerox one of the 50 Best Companies for Minorities in 2003 (13th on
the list). Within the company, there are a number of caucuses for individual
groups that fall into place along the lines of gender, race, or sexual preference.
Key Numbers
2002
Worldwide Revenue ($M)
Worldwide Income ($M)
Number of Employees
2001
% Change
15,849
17,008
6.8
91
71
P
67,800
78,900
14.1
P = company has moved from a loss to a profit. Sources: Hoovers; WetFeet analysis.
83
Recent Milestones
2002 Pays $10 million fine to settle complaint with the SEC regarding reporting
its earnings; restates earnings.
2001 Begins using contract manufacturer Flextronics to manufacture products.
2001 Sells its customer financing operations to GE Capital.
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2001 Sells its stake in its Fuji Xerox joint venture.
84
On the Job
Compensation
The Roles
Real People Profiles
On the Job
85
This section samples some of the opportunities within the manufacturing industry,
both for people with technical and for those with nontechnical backgrounds.
Manufacturing companies typically recruit a variety of engineers, both with
undergraduate and graduate degrees, for manufacturing positions and computer
science and some natural sciencedegree holders for a number of supporting roles.
Companies hire a number of MBAs and nontechnical majors for marketing,
finance, information management, procurement, and human resources roles.
The number of roles across the industry is mind numbing.
To avoid unnecessary confusion, we dont describe general support roles that dont
differ from their analogues in other industries; instead the focus here is on industryspecific opportunities. Weve divided the job descriptions into those that are
generally for undergrads and those for advanced-degree holders and MBAs.
Major areas covered here are design and product development, research and
development, sales and marketing, manufacturing, supply chain, finance, and
On the Job
other roles particular to the industry.
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Compensation
Undergraduate
Engineers earn top dollars out of the gate, but salaries tend to taper off after about
10 years for engineers in the manufacturing industry. To put this in engineering
terms, the salary is a curve over time that becomes asymptotic around the high
five digits. Contrast this with business and nontechnical degree holders, who earn
$15,000 to $20,000 less starting but have the potential to earn much more. Typically
salary in the manufacturing industry is based on degree type (which dictates
positions) and industry sector. Undergraduates with degrees in chemical engineering
draw in the best average starting salaries, clocking in at just over $50,000. Electrical
engineers fare nearly as well, with entry-level salaries at nearly $50,000. Mechanical
engineers draw in a salary in the mid-$40,000 range, industrial engineers in the
low $40,000s. Large companies will often rotate individuals through different
On the Job
entry-level posts, so the actual title doesnt matter with these types of companies.
Theres significant variance in salaries across industries. Salaries in the medical
instruments industry are among the highest. Electronic component manufacturers
also pay higher, according to insiders we spoke with. Salaries in these two sectors
can run up to $10,000 higher than those in the other sectors. The industry hires
few pure science majors, and those graduates typically earn less than engineers.
Undergraduates with business degrees from top schools earn respectable salaries,
too, according to insiders we spoke with: Business degree holders from a top
public university averaged salaries in the low $40,000 rangefinance majors
earn a bit more, marketing a bit less, and MIS types earning top dollar out of
the bunch.
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Graduate
Current MBA salaries reflect two phenomena: (1) a recession and its attendant poor
job market, and (2) the crop of dot-com flotsam that decided to go to business
school after their start-ups tanked just now graduating and pumping up the supply
of freshly minted MBAs. Manufacturing shows less of the munificence that
consulting or financial services does. Nevertheless, recent hires from top 20 MBA
programs said they received offers in the range of $70,000 to $80,000 for marketing
and finance posts at a Big Three automobile manufacturer. MBAs going into
medical and electronics fields received loftier remuneration; however, we are
looking for people who have technical undergraduate degrees and experience,
a medical manufacturing insider says. There are, of course, exceptions to the rule.
For graduate engineering holders, insiders we spoke with said the degrees garner
On the Job
25 percent to 30 percent higher salaries than their undergraduate equivalents.
88
The Roles
Research and Development
R&D Fellow
Education: PhD
R&D researchers are the mad scientists in an otherwise sane corporate world. They
conduct independent research and develop new technologyall independently.
Their research is intended to work toward new products and in the strategic
direction of the company for which they are working. They are very active in the
scientific and professional communities, presenting papers, attending conferences,
and visiting with people in the marketplace. They are often the industry experts
in their companys core technologies. Though much of the work is independent,
they interact with product design teams and collaborate with other members of
On the Job
the scientific community.
R&D Engineer/Scientist
Education: BS, MS
Experience: none to 5 years
Research and development engineers perform experiments and test within the
goals and scope of the R&D center. The R&D engineer designs tests, supervises
technicians carrying out tests, documents results, and communicates those results
to senior team members and cross functional teams.
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Product Design and Development
Human Factors Specialist
Education: BS in psychology, industrial engineering, or related field
Experience: 1 to 4 years
Human factors engineers and user experience specialists are the poets in a sea of
engineers: They think creatively about how humans interact with technology and
the world around them to design better products. The human factors specialist helps
design products and is an expert in the way that humans interact with technology
and machines. The human factors specialist performs situational analysis, humanin-the-loop scenarios, and ergonomic and kinematic studies. He is typically a
member of a product design team.
Product Development Manager
Education: MBA, BS in engineering
Experience: 3 to 4 years pre-MBA
On the Job
A product development manager might determine scientific and technical goals
within broad outlines provided by top management. Her program might include
the redesign of a product, improvements in manufacturing processes, or development of a product offering. She might make detailed plans for the accomplishment
of these goals. For example, working with her staff, she may develop the overall
concepts of a new product or identify technical problems standing in the way of
project completion.
90
Product Design Engineer
Education: BS, often MS, in an appropriate engineering discipline (mechanical,
electrical, chemical)
Experience: 5 years
Product design engineers often spend time on the shop floor as manufacturing
engineers or in customer-facing roles before they make it to the vaunted position
of product engineer. Product engineers are the link between the conceptual world
of research and development and the very practical world of manufacturing.
Typically, the product engineer will work as part of a product design team that
consists of a core group of designers as well as cross-functional members from
manufacturing, research and development, finance, and marketing. Product
design teams work together to determine product roadmaps and time frames
for different markets. They determine which products can be developed from
available technology, set a timeline for those products, and then develop and
design the product to meet market needs. The product design engineer is often
also responsible for testing of a product to make sure it meets the intended design
goals. The role requires many talents, not only engineering and problem-solving
On the Job
abilities, but superb communication skills, excellent financial and forecasting abilities,
and a passion for meeting market needs.
Test Engineer
Education: BS in an appropriate field
Experience: none to 5 years
The test engineer ensures that a product meets the specifications on which it
was designed. She develops test criteria and test cases, runs or supervises tests,
and then documents and communicates test results. She is the gatekeeper who
prevents poorly designed products from being manufactured.
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Product Design Sculptor/Modeler
Education: BA in industrial design, studio arts
Experience: 3+ years
Product modeler is one of the most creative positions in the industry. Modelers
take engineering drawings, interpret them, and create from them clay or other
appropriate models of a product. While modelers strive for some degree of
verisimilitude, they also capture the spirit of the product they model. Modelers
generally have great latitude how they choose to express a product.
Operations
Manufacturing Engineer
Education: undergraduate degree in engineering, math, or physics
Experience: 3 to 5 years
Manufacturing engineers are the people that make manufacturing happenthey
take a product design and figure out how that product will be manufactured. They
On the Job
define, design, and improve the machinery and low-level processes by which
products are created. The role is a big one. The manufacturing engineer develops
processes, identifies and prioritizes improvement opportunities, and executes those
improvements. He is well versed in process technologies, automation equipment,
operations methodologies, statistical controls, and affiliated technologies and
methodologies. He documents changes in processes, communicates those changes,
and oversees the implementation of those processes. He typically works with
small teams in the manufacturing area and is considered the technical resource
in a plant.
92
Operations Engineer
Education: BS in mechanical or industrial engineering
Experience: 1 to 5 years
Operations engineers take whats given to them on a shop floormanpower,
material, machinery and their specific processes, and the floor itselfand create
the desired product with the most appropriate manufacturing process given those
resources. The work takes considerable imagination and communication and an
ability to work with other people, especially assembly-line employees. It is one of
the most human of all the engineering positions in manufacturing. The job requires
significant aptitude in work requirements, ergonomics, and problem solving.
Operations Manager
Education: MBA, technical undergraduate degree (often)
Experience: 3 to 4 years pre-MBA
Most MBAs in operations roles have technical or engineering backgrounds. They
essentially oversee engineers, and it is critical to be able to not only talk the talk,
On the Job
but earn the respect of the people they are supervising. Operations managers will
typically form an operations team and hire design and operations engineers and
support personnel to flesh out their teams. As with any team environment,
operations managers communicate copiously. They also spend a good deal of time
in the trenches, on the shop floor, problem solving and getting an understanding
of the companys operations. Typical work includes process analysis, production
planning, and scheduling within budgetary and time constraints. This career route
leads to plant manager and eventually COO (chief operations officer).
93
Finance
Corporate Financial Analyst
Education: MBA or BA
Experience: 3 to 5 years
The financial analyst provides a fairly standard function within the manufacturing
industry. Duties include developing financial forecasts, monitoring spending versus
budget, preparing financial reports, evaluating new business opportunities, modeling
cash flows of new and potential products, performing sensitivity analysis, and
developing processes for organization.
Corporate Finance Manager
Education: MBA or BA
Experience: 7+ years
A typical corporate finance role found throughout the manufacturing industry,
the finance manager oversees the financial operations of a department or group.
On the Job
Her responsibilities include hiring new talent, mentoring and evaluating group
members, supervising development of reports and forecasts, planning forecasts
and budgets, managing compliance issues, and developing departmental policies.
Financial Analyst, Treasury
Education: BA, MBA
Experience: 0 to 7years
Treasury activities include all functions related to cash management and shortterm financesthe current assets portion of the balance sheet. For companies
like General Motors, whose cash and marketable securities topped $38 billion in
2002, this can be the equivalent of being treasurer of a small country. Assign-
94
ments in treasury span a broad range. Activities might include forecasting cash
flows, identifying short-term investments, analyzing risk on a foreign currency,
managing credit risk of suppliers, analyzing the companys cost of capital and
suggesting ways to improve it, or implementing a short-term paper policy.
Supply Chain
Supply Chain Analyst
Education: BS/BA
Experience: 0 to 3 years
The supply chain analyst works to ensure that the processes involved in the supply
chain are optimized through performance analysis, development of better processes,
development of metrics and programs by which to measure the success of the
supply chain, support teams in production process development, and reporting
on the supply chain to managers. Supply chain analysts often work to implement
lean manufacturing or some other specific manufacturing doctrine.
Procurement Specialist
On the Job
Education: BA, BS
Experience: 0 to 5 years
The procurement specialist conducts and manages the processes for obtaining
services and supplies for the company. He manages all supplier-related activities
and evaluates supplier performance and ensures satisfactory contract completion
and closure. He develops supplier requirements and requests for proposals. He
then evaluates supplier responses and negotiates contracts with potential suppliers.
95
Marketing and Sales
Marketing Analyst
Education: BA/BS
Experience: 1 to 3 years
The marketing analyst supports sales and marketing departments by providing
management with sound analysis of internally generated data and by developing
external market models. Some duties include generating reports for marketing and
sales groups, providing custom analysis as directed by managers, providing market
and competitive data to sales and marketing teams, and developing market models
based on competitor pricing and product offerings.
Product Manager/Product Marketing Manager
Education: MBA (often), BA/BS
Experience: 7 to 10 years
The product manager owns a product from the business perspective. She is
On the Job
responsible for developing marketing plans and activities for specific products or
product lines to gain a foothold or gain a more advantageous place within the
marketplace. She develops business and positions plans for her product or product
line, oversees market research for the product (either in house or contract), manages
product launches and rollouts, maintains a close eye on competitive activity (via
the marketing analyst), works to differentiate the product in the marketplace, and
works with cross-functional teams, especially research and production engineering,
to establish new products to add on to the product line or to develop a new
product line. The position requires interplay between the market and engineering
the product manager takes market requirements and translates them into product
features based on a product platform and engineering capabilities. In marketdriven companies, a product development group develops a product based on
market requirements, rather than the other way around.
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Territory Manager
Education: BA/BS
Experience: 1 to 5 years
Territory managers are typical in consumer product manufacturing organizations,
such as Black & Decker and Newell Rubbermaid. Territory managers typically
are responsible for sales at distribution partners stores in a given area. They work
to make sure that partners stores such as Wal-Mart or Home Depot properly
merchandise the companys products, advise them on new products, and generally
work as account managers for major accounts. Territory managers often are
responsible for a group of field representatives.
Sales Manager
Education: BA/BS
Experience: 5 years
The sales manager ensures that the sales team meets forecast targets and realizes
sales potential in his market segment. He manages associates and develops them
On the Job
through coaching, training, and a variety of other levers.
Technical Sales Representative
Education: BS engineering or science, often MS and MBA
Experience: 4 to 5 years
The technical sales rep is a combination of an account manager, product specialist,
and market expert. The sales rep is assigned to a customer or group of customers
(depending on size of customer) whom she persuades, based on the merits of her
companys product, to purchase the product. She often travels, is on site with the
customer, and has deep technical knowledge of a product. The job, then, requires
that special blend of sales and communication skills combined with an ability to
explain technology.
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Real People Profiles
Manufacturing Engineer, Aerospace Manufacturer
Degree: BS, mechanical engineering
Experience: 4 years
Manufacturing engineers often rotate to the position from other engineering roles.
I came to the role from one in design engineering. From that vantage point, I
learned about the manufacturing engineer roletheres a significant amount of
teamwork, says an insider. The manufacturing engineers job is to figure out
how to manufacture a product has just been designed or improved or to figure
out how to make the design process better. The good thing about aerospace
manufacturing is that its highly specialized manufacturingwere not pumping
out hundreds of thousands of partstheres a lot of engineering effort involved
On the Job
in it, say an insider. She continues, no day is typical, but Ill give it a shot.
A Day in the Life of a Manufacturing Engineer
8:00
8:20
I pull into work and check my e-mail first.
9:00
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I leave the house for workits a beautiful September morning outside
of Dallas.
I have a meeting with the product design teamwe go over the requirements for a new product that we won a contract for. The product? I
could tell you, but Id have to kill you (kidding). But one cool part of
the job is that I have secret security clearance. Also, it makes you
proud to build things that will help the troops. The other members of
the team include two product design engineers, the test engineer, and a
materials specialist. Its important for me to get my ideas in now, because
Ill have to make this thing manufacture-able.
10:30 I go to my desk and work on the computer for a few hours. This is
engineering and a huge part of the work is problem solving. In this case,
I have to figure out how our machines are going to make the product
that is completely newnot just something thats been rolling off the
assembly line for 100 years. This is complex stuff, and its very
interesting.
12:30 Lunch in the cafeteria with the product design team.
I go out on the shop flooruh, this is manufacturing, and you work at
the plant, you have to be in touchI talk to people working on the line.
These are people much farther along on their career trajectories as well
as with a different education level. A big part of the job is communication.
You have to be able to communicate in every imaginable way. With the
people on the shop floor, I need to make sure that not only is the production
process going correctly, but also that the machines are working properly.
2:00
Meeting with the plant managera routine update on the status of my
projects. He is also my mentor, so I take the time to discuss some next
career stepsof rotating back into a product design role.
2:45
More problem solving. This will take the remainder of the dayour
new product is supposed to go into production in a week, so there may
be some long nights ahead. Thats the nature of the job. There are times
when you stick around until the job gets done, its not a question. You
also have a burning desire to solve the problem. Thats the real reward.
But those are a few peaks, and you have to know how to relax and enjoy
the many periods when its not chaotic. I typically work 45 to 50 hours a
week.
6:00
I return some e-mails that stacked up during the dayone from a fellow
manufacturing engineer that had a solution for meBINGO! That
takes care of a big hurdle to get our new product into production. I shut
down the computer and head out for a quick trip to the gym.
On the Job
1:15
99
Financial Analyst, Automobile Manufacturer
Degree: BBA, finance
Experience: 18 months
Large manufacturing firms typically have rotational and management development
programs for undergraduates with finance degrees. The program puts you through
6-month stints in various finance functions: treasury, corporate finance, accounting,
manufacturing, product development, or in the marketing and sales organization.
Each gives you a flavor of the different aspects of the company and finance. This
is the best training imaginable, says an insider. With each function, theres a lot
of spreadsheet work. Everything I do revolves around Excel, says an insider.
Its a great job, though I do feel that the organization is a bit overwhelming at
times, he continues.
A Day in the Life of a Financial Analyst
Get to workI know whats waiting for me. Theres a report that I know
my boss will want a status report on as soon as I get in. Of course, I open
the e-mail and theres that Outlook message sending a receipt that I opened
it. I call him immediately and let him know that Im waiting on a number
from the procurement specialist. Were analyzing the costs were spending
on a supplier. Its all about knowing, managing, and lowering costs here.
9:00
I begin work on another spreadsheet. This time, its working on a forecast
for next year for the plant. Im on the home stretch of a rotation in
manufacturing. I prefer corporate finance, but you have to know how
the company operatestheres no better way than this.
9:30
On the Job
8:30
I drop by the desks of various people from whom I need numbersthe
operations people, HR, procurement. A big part of the job is getting the
information and getting it quickly. The spreadsheet work is just heads down
at the computer. I get the people work done in the morning before their
calendars get filled. That way, I can pester them throughout the day if
they havent got it for me.
12:00 Bagged lunch, just like high school. Multiple Power Bars. I take a few
minutes to read personal e-mail at my desk.
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12:30 Tweak financial forecast for next year.
1:00
Meet with my boss about the modela stickler for detail. We go over it
cell by cell.
2:00
I work on corrections based on my previous meeting.
3:00
Plug in numbers from all the requests I made in the morning.
4:00
Conference call with a sister plant to go over the budgeting processor
how well do it similarly.
5:00
I type up the meeting minutes and send them off, reply to various e-mails,
and send my boss a copy of my spreadsheet for the forecast.
5:30
Im outFriends is on tonight, and I get to spend a night at home with
my girlfriend.
Sales Rep, Aerospace Manufacturer
Education: MBA, BS mechanical engineering
Experience: 4 years pre-MBA with company, 2 years post-MBA
The sales rep and business development jobs at aerospace and manufacturing
companies are ones that afford the most travel. For me this job works because
On the Job
it lets me do the business development work that I wanted to get into (and the
reason I got my MBA) as well as lets me stay close to aerospace, says an insider.
I spend a lot of my time, and am, in fact, based around DC, he continues. The
job is similar to any other sales positionin fact, its very much like custom
software sales. You identify your clients, you make a lot of contact with them,
you find out their requirements, and bring back a team and solution that will
meet their needs best. Its a very iterative process, and its mostly about finding
out about how you can meet their needs. It just so happens that what were selling
is going to aid in our national defense. Having a technical background isnt
necessary for the job, but it does help. I find that the engineers Im working
with take my requests more seriously because I was once in their shoes. They
cant say to me I dont understand, says an insider.
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A Day in the Life of a Sales Rep
9:00
Im in my office outside of Washington, DC. Im feeling a bit guilty
about the Krispy Kreme I had on the way to work. I call my liaison who
keeps tabs on legislation on the Hill. Theres no news yet on which way
they are headed. However, right now, it looks like our proposal will get
the go-ahead.
9:30
I meet with our group VP to discuss our positioning on the proposal.
Were crafting the wording exquisitely. Theres no need to risk losing a
huge deal because of our prose. We wrangle on this for a while.
10:30 I set up a conference call with our engineering team thats based out in
the Midwest. I sit in Virginia with my VP. We go over their iteration of
our solution. It sounds good. Then we go over the roles that were going
to play when the client comes to tour our facility. This is as carefully
staged as a Broadway production.
12:00 Lunchthe guilt about the doughnut lingers so I forgo food and take a
walk around the building.
12:30 I check e-mail, tinker with our proposal, call legal, and have them take a
look at it.
I call up the team lead out in the Midwestjust making sure that theyre
on schedule and that what they told us this morning isnt changing.
2:30
Legal calls back, the proposal looks fine, but for some very minor revisions.
3:00
Meeting with the entire group to review our projects, give status updates,
and the like. Theyre closely linked so we need to keep abreast of what
everyone else is up to.
4:15
More e-mail and paperwork.
6:00
I leave the office and head out for a drink with one of the clients entourage.
8:30
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I call up our client, chat, see whats on his mind, and most importantly,
how he thinks things are going. Hes on our side, I think. Weve worked
with him before and weve built up a rapport. Its important to talk to
clients frequentlynot only does it build a relationship, but they give
you an endless stream of clues as to what they want. In this case, hes
mentioning their reservationour pricingand what they want to see.
2:00
On the Job
1:00
I get home and spend some time with my wife and baby girl.
Marketing Manager, Medical Device Manufacturer
Education: MBA, BA
Experience: 5 years
There is sometimes confusion between a marketing manager and a product
manager positionmany times they are the same job. However, as a rule of
thumb, product managers tend to be more technical or concerned with the
development or definition of a product, whereas marketing managers face
outward morethat is, they are concerned with the pricing, distribution, and
target market in addition to the product. I have a background in pharmaceutical
sales, says an insider, so, even though I dont have a technical background,
Im very familiar with how you have to market to health care professionals.
She continues, Theres something extremely rewarding about making a product
that saves peoples lives. How many people can say that their work does that?
As a marketing manager, youre essentially concerned with the four Ps of marketing:
product, place, position, and price. This is the beauty of working at a product
companyyou have a total product to think about, and in a holistic way. Theres
On the Job
a good deal of satisfaction that comes with having total responsibility for a product.
Our insider adds, Theres a lot of responsibility: If the product fails in the market
place or doesnt meet revenue targets, that weight goes on your shoulders.
A Day in the Life of a Marketing Manager
8:30
Who doesnt check e-mail when they first arrive in the office?
9:00
Call our market research firm to ask some questions about their
projections for the demand for stents in the next 5 years.
9:30
Meeting with a cross-functional teamengineers, scientists, policy
expertsto cover progress on an addition to the product line they are
working on. This is a hugely cautious process.
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10:30 Pricing meeting with my manager and other product managers. I run
over my proposal for pricing on our product line extension and we
discuss how it fits in our overall strategy.
12:00 Go out to lunch with one of our partners, then meet with the head of
cardiovascular surgery and listen to how his group approaches procedures
and what their needs are.
104
I power through e-mail thats built up during the day, run some sales
reports for my product, and follow up with the market research firm.
5:30
On the Job
3:30
I head home
The Workplace
Lifestyle and Hours
Workplace Diversity
Vacation, Benefits, and Perks
Compensation
Career Notes
Insider Scoop
The Workplace
105
Lifestyle and Hours
Manufacturing is one of the precious few industries left where there is a balance
between life and work. Industry insiders are quite happy with their lifestyles
most work 45- to 50-hour weeks. In many cases, though, those hours arent evenly
distributed over the year. During product introductions, changes in production
processes, and other disruptive events, engineering effort increases significantly.
People in the industry are expected to, and should love, to stick around until they
have solved the problem. On the flip side, insiders tell us that these occasions
arent all that frequent, and the perk is a good work-life balance. Many companies
in the industry offer flex-time arrangements, where employees are expected to
work a set number of hours over 2 weeks, but can choose, to a certain degree,
when to work them.
In general manufacturing is a good industry to work in. A number of manufacturing
companies made it on Fortune magazines 100 Best Companies to Work For
list in 2003, including Medtronic, Harley Davidson, and Guidant. Of course, hours
tend to increase as you climb the corporate ladder; however, even managers feel
that they arent overly taxed. This is a good place to work, the people are very
nurturing, says an insider. Manufacturing is also not the go-go lifestyle of
consulting. The pace tends to be less hectic than that of many other industries.
Some insiders carp about the bureaucracy of larger companies and the existence
The Workplace
of some crevices for deadwood to hide inof course, were talking about
organizations the size of small cities. Travel is fairly limited in the industry.
People in engineering and manufacturing functions dont travel much as part of
their day-to-day duties. Sales and marketing executives, however, do some traveling,
but not nearly like that of consultants. Additionally, most salespeople travel within
a territory, so cross-country sorties are kept to a minimum.
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Workplace Diversity
While manufacturing isnt exactly known as a rainbow of diversity, things are
changing. Cummins and Xerox both made Fortunes 50 Best Companies for
Minorities ranking in 2003, while General Electric and DuPont made Working
Mothers 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers list in 2003. Still, thats a
short list considering the number of companies in the industry. Most executives
holding offices in the manufacturing industry are still white men. Chalk part of
that up to the nature of the businesses, which tend to be engineering focused. And
most engineering degrees are not earned by women or under-represented minorities.
Even today, women receive only approximately 20 percent of the engineering
degrees handed out each year, and only about 14 percent in mechanical and electrical
engineeringtwo degrees favored by manufacturing companies (Engineering
Workforce Commission 2001). Nevertheless, companies are making efforts to
increase diversity in the workplace. As one insider puts it, theres a real business
case for diversity in our industryits about solving problemsand the more
angles from which you look at a problem, which diversity brings you, the more
likely you are to be able to solve those problems quickly and elegantly. Most major
manufacturers have affinity groups to promote diversity in the workplace and make
hiring minorities and people of color a priority. Some, like Raytheon, have gone to
great lengths to make diversity a priority. Its not just talk with our executives, theres
The Workplace
involvement all the way up to the CEO level. Raytheon also gets kudos for
launching Louise Francesconi, its VP and president of Missile Systems, to Fortunes
list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business in 2003. Xerox tops that with
the only manufacturing company with a female CEO, Anne Mulcahy (number
three on the list).
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Vacation, Benefits, and Perks
When it comes to benefits and vacation, manufacturers tend to stack up in the
middle rangethat is, there arent outrageous benefits, but neither are benefits
lean. GM for instance, offers 14 paid days off a year, a standard 2-week vacation
policy that ratchets up to 5 weeks after 22 years of service. 401(k) plans are standard
throughout the industry, but employer-matching programs are less common. GM,
however, does offer matching 401(k) plans to its employees. Xerox is one of the
best companies in the industry when it comes to benefits; its package includes
matching 401(k) plans, vacations that build to 6 weeks, tuition assistance, and other
cycle of life benefits such as adoption assistance and eldercare assistance. The
biggest perk that is unique to the manufacturing industry derives from the nature
of the industry itselfthat is, it creates products, which employees are eligible to
receive discounts on. So, while you probably cant spring for a Tomahawk missile
(besides, theres no space in the garage), you can get hefty discounts for your Bose
stereo if you work at Bose, your Jaguar if you work at Ford, or your Saab if you
The Workplace
work at General Motors.
108
Compensation
One of the best things going for manufacturing is its low profile. While graduates
flock to publishing and media and other sexy jobs that dont cover bar tabs in
cities whose costs of living edge up with that Tokyo, the manufacturing industry
pays solid salaries in areas that dont require a platinum card to buy groceries.
Undergraduate salaries in engineering fields tend to pay between $40,000 and
$50,000, while initial salaries for business degree holders hover around $40,000.
MBA salaries tend to start at $70,000 to $80,000, but we heard from one insider
whose MBA fetched under $70,000. The industry does pay bonuses based on
individual performance, but the lackluster economy has eroded a large chunk of
incentive compensation. Even in good times, though, bonuses would be closer
to 10 percent of base salary. The manufacturing industry, unlike venture capitalism
or investment banking, is not an industry for people trying to strike it rich. An
insider adds, I wouldnt trade this life for one of 80-hour weeks and double the
pay. Indeed work-life balance is a mantra heard in manufacturing almost as much
as Om is in a yoga studio.
The Workplace
109
Career Notes
The career trajectories that take shape in the manufacturing industry reflect the
size and type of manufacturing that a company performs. Theres not a single
path to executive management that can be laid out as the path to partner at
Goldman Sachs or McKinsey. Furthermore, the path is a longer one than in
consulting or financial services. Most CEOs of Fortune 500 manufacturing
firms started out in the same company they would eventually run 30 years
before they became CEO. Contrast that with the 7- to 10-year track to partner
at consulting firms. Technical people fill a large portion of the ranks of
manufacturing firms. And many of the CEOs of manufacturing companies
climbed up from the ranks of engineers. Former CEO of GE Jack Welch was
himself a PhD technologist, and Boeing CEO Phil Condit began his career as
aeronautical engineer at Boeing. Finance is another well-trod path; Richard
Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, began as a financial analyst in the companys
treasury department. Also, manufacturing companies are becoming more market
focused and less engineering driven, which does portend a change in this pattern.
As a rule of thumb, the less technology required to manufacture a product and
the more likely the companys customer is a consumer, then the company is likely
to be less engineering driven. Insiders agree that the best way to get ahead is to
go big early. You need to get in on and take charge of a large, high-profile project
The Workplace
earlyits a big company and thats the only way youll get noticed, says an insider.
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Insider Scoop
What People Really Like
Eureka! Many of the professional jobs in manufacturing are engineering roles. Ask
an engineer what she likes about her job and shell (at least the ones we spoke with)
tell you that theres an incredible satisfaction solving a problem and getting
something to work. It melts when Im working on a problem, says an insider.
Whether its finding a way to manufacture the product that seemed to exist only
on paper or breaking up bottlenecks in production, people in manufacturing love
the ability to think creatively. Moreover, the cultures of many firms are set up to
support innovative, creative thought.
The real world. You deliver a real product, you can put it in your hand and touch
it, its not a solution or some other intangible thing, says an insider. Theres a
certain amount of satisfaction that occurs when you see something youve designed
roll off the assembly line.
Ticket to ride. The skills in manufacturing are eminently transferable to other
companies in another sector as well as throughout the manufacturing industry.
The processes are fairly similar, says an insider, which means that its not a
big leap to go to another company or even another sector.
The Workplace
Room to grow. Manufacturing companies tend to be big and within them theres
a lot of room to migrate to other rolesfrom product design to assembly line
without leaving the company.
111
Big and beautiful. Manufacturing companies are big and stable. And because they
didnt balloon out in the dot-com boom, they also didnt have to cinch their belts
like other companies did in the current recession. Says one insider, I know my
company will be here tomorrow.
Cool things. Whether it be a life-saving surgical stent or a Hummer, manufacturing
veterans love the things they make.
Got a life. You wont be putting in many all-nighters like your investment banking
buddies. Manufacturing employees rarely log outrageous hours, giving people a
chance to enjoy their lives; the predominance of flex time compounds this.
Watch Out!
Call in the arborist. Companies in the industry often have hundreds of thousands
of employees, and those employees are enmeshed in a complex organizational
structure, replete with under-performing people hiding in the cracks. Some industry
insiders gripe that there is a fair amount of deadwood in these organizations.
Beware the military industrial complex. Some insiders complain that the
complexity of manufacturing companies creates a somewhat stifling bureaucracy.
Its not a startup where you can push your ideas through in a day, says an insider.
Biding time. Upward mobility in the manufacturing industry is relatively slow. There
are ranks of qualified people ahead of you on the road to the executive suite.
The Workplace
No Oz. Theres no twister to sweep you away to some fanciful kingdom
manufacturing companies are situated squarely in square states. If youre a
cosmopolitan type, you might have to make your own fun in a factory town.
112
Getting Hired
Getting Hired
The Recruiting Process
Interviewing Tips
Getting Grilled
Grilling Your Interviewer
113
Getting Hired
The Recruiting Process
While manufacturing isnt exactly a high-growth industry, there are some sectors
that are growing rapidly, even through the most recent recession. This is especially
true of sectors like medical device manufacturing. The downside is that with so
few other jobs out there in the economy, people who were formerly looking for
jobs in industries like telecom are now looking in manufacturing; imagine a single
flower blooming in a meadow and a whole hive of bees looking for pollen.
Nevertheless, companies we spoke with will still be looking to fill their ranks
with new recruits in the upcoming recruiting season.
The industry hires both seasoned and green hiresso not all recruiting comes
from universities. If youre an experienced hire with the right skill set, your best
bet is to find a headhunter or look directly at company websites for jobs. For
undergrads and engineers, most companies have a set of target schools from
which they recruit. If a company youre interested in doesnt recruit, call the
company directly to schedule an interview. Youre better off calling than using
the Web in this case, as 3 years of recession have created a tsunami of online
applicants. For MBAs and business undergraduates, there are a number of
manufacturers with well-established management rotations. Fords rotational
program, for instance, is well regarded and accommodates finance, operations,
HR, and marketing professionals. But many of the full-time slots in such programs
are taken up by people who have gone through summer internships. For companies
whose end customers are businesses or other industries, many of the best
opportunities are for people with technical undergraduate degrees.
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Getting Hired
Special Notes for Undergraduates
Most major manufacturing companies populate their entry-level positions through
college recruiting drives. Though they primarily hire engineers, they do have spots
open for business majors and some liberal arts majors. Most business jobs tend
to be in corporate finance and IT, with some positions open in marketing and
human resources. The best way to find out about these opportunities is through
your career center or on a companys website for a roster of target schools. Many
smaller companies dont have the resources to conduct extensive on-campus
recruiting drives, or they do so only at a few campuses. This shouldnt deter you
from applying; many candidates have landed jobs this way. Nevertheless, youll
need to be persistent in this economy.
Once you land a position, youll find that most large firms have a rotational program
and some type of university for new recruits. Companies offer very challenging
work from the get-go. Its a constant learning process here, says an insider, I
learned more here in the first month of work than I did in my entire
undergraduate career.
Special Notes for MBAs
Most major manufacturing companies do have established MBA recruiting
programs, but they hardly have the recruiting juggernaut found in financial
services and consulting. Firms that recruit heavily tend to have spots open for all
disciplinesoperations, finance, marketing, and human resources. And relative to
the size of the firm, recruiting for MBAs is small in manufacturing firms. As with
undergraduate recruiting, manufacturing firms do most hiring from a list of target
schools. If the firm doesnt hire at your school, you still may still be able to schedule
an interview with some tenacity. Your chances of landing an interview at a firm that
doesnt recruit at your school increase manifold if you have a technical background.
Firms that have consumers as end users tend to hire more nontechnical majors
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Getting Hired
that is, the Fords and Black & Deckers of the world. Companies like Boeing and
Raytheon often have people with technical backgrounds, former engineers, to
populate their sales and business development benches. If youre trying to sell
a product to engineer, who better to do that than a former engineer?
Interviewing Tips
The manufacturing industry covers a wide landscape both in terms of types of
companies and types of jobs; there is no single set of interview questions that will
work for all people at all times, or even most people most of the time. Moreover,
there is wide variability in how companies within the industry interview. Ford, for
instance, conducts initial interviews at career fairs at its target schoolsscreening
for fit, credentials, and general competencyand then flies candidates to a
Leadership Conference, basically a group interview session, to evaluate
candidates in more depth.
Firms vary in their use of behavioral and case questions. More and more firms
are moving toward a group interview and role-playing process in second-round
interviews; they are looking for leaders and communicators and people that fit
in with the culture. Firms have a six-sigma mentality and are looking for candidates
with built-in quality. You should be meticulous in every part of your selfpresentation. You also need to be able to communicate. Thats really what
were looking for; if you cant communicate your solution to anyone, how is it a
solution? an insider asks. That means you need to be able to communicate
both in oral and written contexts. Moreover, people skills are paramount and
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Getting Hired
political savvy is keyas a manufacturing employee, youre very likely to be
working with people who have been on the job 30 years longer than you and
possibly with little advanced education. This means you need to be able to deal
with people unlike you. Expect interviews to cover these social aspects of work
as well as your technical or subject matter expertise.
Though no one expects you to be an expert in the industry, you can only help
yourself by familiarizing yourself not only with the vocabulary of the industry
but also with the basic structure and issues of the industry. Your interviewers will
appreciate that you speak the same language, and this will give you an advantage
over your fellow intervieweesit helps to go native. To this end, there is no single
book that covers the manufacturing industry completely. But if you are going into
a factory setting, Eliyahu Goldratts The Goal is a must. If you are interviewing
at GE or a company run by a GE alumnus, be sure to read Jack Welchs Jack:
Straight from the Gut; the book gets straight to the heart of GE culture. Weve
included a list of recent articles about the manufacturing industry in the For Your
Reference chapter of this guide. It can only help you to be informed about the
industry. By doing your homework, youll show employers that youre serious about
the job as well as add subtlety and complexity to your understanding of the industry
that will help you in any scenario the interviews may throw your way. By gaining
an understanding of the industry youll also find out who the dogs and the stars
are and which ones would make the best employers for you.
Once youre up to speed on the industry, you can investigate job functions in your
discipline and match them against your skill set. Since companies often rotate new
hires through jobs as part of leadership programs in their first few years at the
company, they often look for aptitude and general competency rather than a singular
skill setthough this isnt the case with PhD hires. In any case, youll want to show
your interviewer that youre able to hit the ground running and execute as soon
as possible.
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Getting Hired
While personal relationships dont bind the industry together the way they do in the
entertainment industry, venture capital, and other, less structured environments,
you should check to see if you have any contacts in the company youre interested
in. Continue by researching the pedigrees of the executive management team.
Companies often hire a larger proportion of candidates from their alma maters.
Set up an informational interview to get the scoop on the company, culture, and
interview process, as well as how to get your resume in the right hands. This is
especially critical in a time when recruiters are inundated with resumes from
job-hungry candidates.
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Getting Hired
Getting Grilled
Here are some general questions that companies often ask. Many more will apply
specifically to your discipline.
Why do you want to work in the manufacturing industry?
What are your short- and long-term goals?
Tell me about a time you had to use persuasion to reach your goals.
Tell me about some of the ways you communicate with your peers when you
work in a group.
When you work in a group, what role do you play?
Tell me about a time when you worked in a group with members from diverse
backgrounds.
Tell me about a time when you had to motivate a team to finish a project.
Tell me about how you deal with unstructured problems.
Tell me about a time when you took a leadership role on a project.
Give me an example of a time when you set a goal and the steps you took to
reach it.
Give me an example of a time you didnt meet your goal (or failed).
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Getting Hired
Grilling Your Interviewer
The following are good general questions that suit most companies in the
manufacturing industry. Youll also want to think of questions specific to the
sectors and companies you are targeting.
What are some of the effects that mergers and acquisitions have had on your
industry (corporate culture, culture clash, and others)? (This is especially true
of the aerospace and defense industry.)
To what degree have you applied lean manufacturing principles to your
organization? What improvements have you seen?
What are some of the representative career paths of people who started at
the company 5, 10, 15 years ago?
How does your company support sustainable growth?
How will your company perform in a protracted downturn?
How are your business units integrated? What are some of the ways different
business units interact?
What are some of the career avenues I can explore 5 years down the road?
120
For Your Reference
For Your Reference
Articles
Books
Additional Resources
121
We gathered the following articles, books, and online resources from our
interviews with industry insiders and through our own research. They provide a
grounding in the classics in the literature of the world of manufacturing as well
For Your Reference
as a jumping-off point for you to explore the industry at large, businesses
within the industry, and major themes and topics of the manufacturing sector.
Articles
Closing in on Perfection
Developments in ultra-precision machine tools have brought levels of precision
in manufacturing down to nanometers.
Source: Gene Bylinsky, Fortune, June 9, 2003.
Jeep Builds a New Kind of Plant
DaimlerChryslers Jeep builds a factory that ties suppliers with the assembly
line.
Source: Philip Siekman, Fortune, November 11, 2002.
Elite Factories
Information technology and computers are transforming factories. The article
provides two stunning examples, a BP chemical factory and an R.R. Donnelly
printing house.
Source: Gene Bylinsky, Fortune, August 11, 2003.
122
How Timkin Turns Survival into Profit
A manufacturers manufacturer discusses the current recession and the
tectonic shifts that it will induce on the industry.
For Your Reference
Source: Adam Aston, BusinessWeek, April 7, 2003.
A Twist of Faith
An engineer turns an impossible idea into a fortunethe story of the Philips
head screw.
Source: Paul Lukas, Fortune Small Business, December 1, 2002.
Lean Manufacturing? Fat Chance!
Regular BusinessWeek contributor Lisa Bergson muses on dealing with the
reluctance of workers to accept any type of change on the factory floor.
Source: Lisa Bergson, BusinessWeek, May 24, 2002.
Its All Made in China Now
The author discusses the rise of China as a manufacturing powerhouse.
Source: Bill Powell, Fortune, February 19, 2002.
New Products from Rented Brains
The outsourcing movement has caught wind in the soul of manufacturing.
Engineering and development functions are increasingly being outsourced
abroad and to specialty firms.
Source: Stuart F. Brown, Fortune, September 4, 2000.
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For Your Reference
Books
The following books are not so much how-to manuals as they are lively
accounts of life within manufacturing companies. Many of these volumes are
considered classics, because of their lively telling, the management principles
they illustrate, the unique historical situation they describe, or any combination
of the three.
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement
Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox (North River Press Publishing, 1992)
This narrative dramatizes one plant managers discovery of operations
techniques and subsequent turnaround of a factory in the Rust Belt. A
B-school classic.
Jack: Straight from the Gut
Jack Welch with John A. Byrne (Warner Books, 2001)
Jack Welchs best-selling book about his years at GE. A must for anyone going
into GE or a company run by GE alumni.
My Years with General Motors
Alfred P. Sloan (Doubleday, 1996)
The legendary chairman of GMs account of his transformation of American
business.
124
The Reckoning
David Halberstam (Avon, 1988)
Popular historian and story-teller David Halberstam insightfully recounts the
For Your Reference
rise of the Japanese auto industry and the parallel events in the U.S. auto
industry.
The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing
Their Perfomance
Peter S. Pande, et al. (McGraw-Hill, 2000)
Pande, et al., delve into the ways in which GE and Motorola have used the
process improvement in their organizations to achieve stellar operating and
financial results. Six sigma refers the tenant of statistical process control that
allows for only 3.4 parts per million standard deviation from a defined process.
Skunk Works
Ben R. Rich (Little, Brown, 1996)
A recent classic on the history of Lockheeds famous Skunk Works program in
the Mojave Desert as well as the principles that allowed for creativity and rapid
development.
125
For Your Reference
Additional Resources
The following links provide useful online resources for the manufacturing industry.
Association for Manufacturing Excellence: www.ame.org
Lean Enterprise Institute: www.lean.org
National Association of Manufacturers: www.nam.org
Nanotechnology Glossary: http://nanotech-now.com/nanotechnologyglossary.htm
National Nanotechnology Initiative: www.nano.gov
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WETFEETS INSIDER GUIDE SERIES
JOB SEARCH GUIDES
Getting Your Ideal Internship
Job Hunting A to Z: Landing the Job You Want
Killer Consulting Resumes!
Killer Investment Banking Resumes!
Killer Cover Letters & Resumes!
Negotiating Your Salary & Perks
Networking Works!
INTERVIEW GUIDES
Ace Your Case: Consulting Interviews
Ace Your Case II: 15 More Consulting Cases
Ace Your Case III: Practice Makes Perfect
Ace Your Case IV: The Latest & Greatest
Ace Your Case V: Return to the Case Interview
Ace Your Interview!
Beat the Street: Investment Banking Interviews
Beat the Street II: I-Banking Interview Practice Guide
CAREER & INDUSTRY GUIDES
Careers in Accounting
Careers in Advertising & Public Relations
Careers in Asset Management & Retail Brokerage
Careers in Biotech & Pharmaceuticals
Careers in Brand Management
Careers in Consumer Products
Careers in Entertainment & Sports
Careers in Human Resources
Careers in Information Technology
Careers in Investment Banking
Careers in Management Consulting
Careers in Manufacturing
Careers in Marketing & Market Research
Careers in Nonprofits & Government Agencies
Careers in Real Estate
Careers in Supply Chain Management
Careers in Venture Capital
Consulting for PhDs, Doctors & Lawyers
Industries & Careers for MBAs
Industries & Careers for Undergrads
COMPANY GUIDES
Accenture
Bain & Company
Boston Consulting Group
Booz Allen Hamilton
Citigroups Corporate & Investment Bank
Credit Suisse First Boston
Deloitte Consulting
Goldman Sachs Group
J.P. Morgan Chase & Company
Lehman Brothers
McKinsey & Company
Merrill Lynch
Morgan Stanley
25 Top Consulting Firms
Top 20 Biotechnology & Pharmaceuticals Firms
Top 25 Financial Services Firms
The WetFeet Research Methodology
Who We Are
You hold in your hands a copy of the best-quality research available for job seekers. We have
designed this Insider Guide to save you time doing your job research and to provide highly
accurate information written precisely for the needs of the job-seeking public. (We also hope
that youll enjoy reading it, because, believe it or not, the job search doesnt have to be a pain
in the neck.)
WetFeet is the trusted destination for job seekers to research companies and industries, and
manage their careers. WetFeet Insider Guides provide you with inside information for a successful
job search. At WetFeet, we do the work for you and present our results in an informative, credible,
and entertaining way. Think of us as your own private research company whose primary mission
is to assist you in making more informed career decisions.
Each WetFeet Insider Guide represents hundreds of hours of careful research and writing. We
start with a review of the public information available. (Our writers are also experts in reading
between the lines.) We augment this information with dozens of in-depth interviews of people
who actually work for each company or industry we cover. And, although we keep the identity of
the rank-and-file employees anonymous to encourage candor, we also interview the companys
recruiting staff extensively, to make sure that we give you, the reader, accurate information about
recruiting, process, compensation, hiring targets, and so on. (WetFeet retains all editorial control
of the product.) We also regularly survey our members and customers to learn about their
experiences in the recruiting process. Finally, each Insider Guide goes through an editorial review
and fact-checking process to make sure that the information and writing live up to our exacting
standards before it goes out the door.
WetFeet was founded in 1994 by Stanford MBAs Gary Alpert and Steve Pollock. While exploring
our next career moves, we needed products like the WetFeet Insider Guides to help us through the
research and interviewing game. But they didnt exist. So we started writing. Today, WetFeet serves
more than a million job candidates each month by helping them nail their interviews, avoid illfated career decisions, and add thousands of dollars to their compensation packages. The quality
of our work and knowledge of the job-seeking world have also allowed us to develop an extensive
corporate and university membership.
Are we perfect? Nobut we do believe that youll find our content to be the highest-quality
content of its type available on the Web or in print. (Please see our guarantee below.) We also are
eager to hear about your experiences on the recruiting front and your feedback (both positive and
negative) about our products and our process. Thank you for your interest.
The WetFeet Guarantee
Youve got enough to worry about with your job search. So, if you dont like this Insider Guide,
send it back within 30 days of purchase and well refund your money. Contact us at
1-800-926-4JOB or www.wetfeet.com/about/contactus.asp.
In addition, WetFeets services include two award-winning websites (WetFeet.com and
InternshipPrograms.com), Web-based recruiting technologies, consulting services, and our
exclusive research studies, such as the annual WetFeet Student Recruitment Survey. Our team
members, who come from diverse backgrounds, share a passion about the job-search process and
a commitment to delivering the highest quality products and customer service.
About Our Name
One of the most frequent questions we receive is, So, whats the story behind your name? The
short story is that the inspiration for our name comes from a popular business school case study
about L.L. Bean, the successful mail-order company. Leon Leonwood Bean got his start because
he quite simply, and very literally, had a case of wet feet. Every time he went hunting in the Maine
woods, his shoes leaked, and he returned with soaked feet. So, one day, he decided to make a
better hunting shoe. And he did. And he told his friends, and they lined up to buy their own pairs
of Bean boots. And L.L. Bean, the company, was born . . . all because a man who had wet feet
decided to make boots.
The lesson we took from the Bean case? Lots of people get wet feet, but entrepreneurs make
boots. And thats exactly what were doing at WetFeet.
Though manufacturing has been given short shrift
in recent years with the rise of the service and information economies, it still occupies
an undeniably large piece of the American psyche and a very real place in the heart of American
business. If you like the idea of working on something tangible, the manufacturing sector offers ample
opportunity to challenge yourself. While the traditional behemoths of American industrylike General
Motors, General Electric, and Fordhold their own, a whole new breed of manufacturers, in the guise
of specialty medical and electronics equipment manufacturers, now rank among the fastest growing and
most profitable sectors of the economy.
Careers in Manufacturing
Careers/Job Search
Careers in Manufacturing
Turn to this WetFeet Insider Guide to explore
Which manufacturing sectors are showing growth and longevity in the United States.
Innovations driving new kinds of manufacturing and changing the industry.
How to decide which area of manufacturing is right for you.
Profiles of 30 top manufacturing companies.
Manufacturing-specific job roles and day-on-the-job profiles.
The kind of lifestyle, hours, workplace culture, compensation, and perks you can expect.
Industry lingo, from chaku-chaku to six sigma to takt time.
WetFeet Insider Guide
WetFeet Insider Guide
WetFeet has earned a strong reputation among college graduates and career professionals for its series of highly credible,
no-holds-barred Insider Guides. WetFeets investigative writers
get behind the annual reports and corporate PR to tell the real
story of what its like to work at specic companies and in
different industries. www.WetFeet.com
2004 Edition