MTS Systems reviews

Morale is very low after this last layoff (beginning of quarter 3, 6% of their workforce, 150 employees including open reqs). Those below management have no faith in those above and are just waiting for the hammer to fall again (more layoffs, reduction in pay). And with good reason. The leadership has stopped listening to customers and those they manage. MTS has been enforcing mandatory week long or more layoffs during Christmas and the 4th of July (3 so far). Another termination layoff occurred just last year. The bottom line is that MTS is desperate to make their EBIT. The current strategy of the company is that a web application and service (high margins and looks good on paper) are going to double the size of the company in 5 years (already almost 2 years in). That's not happening (last quarter they were down 23% alone in comparison with last year). Middle management is in fear of rocking the boat and just "follows orders" and reorganizes and promotes themselves. Slogans that Human Resources has put up on the wall: "Ethics, Transparency, Investment in the Future.." mean nothing. The head of the test division was phased out of the company and replaced with a "yes"-man. The former head of test has sold all of his shares in the company. That gives you an idea where the confidence level is currently at. There are about 12 people at the company that represent the core of the knowledge base at MTS. Most are nearing retirement age. MTS is doing very little to retain this knowledge and pass it to the next generation. The only thought is next quarter, next quarter.... The real issue is that MTS has already been down this road before. The prior CEO (Laura Hamilton) laid out a strategy to commoditize services and systems and this strategy led to attrition and nearly running the company into the ground. During this period, MTS was also held in violation of a written contract with the U.S. Military as was fined 7 million dollars. To the credit of the current C-suite, they were handled a very challenging set of issues. The current CEO Dr. Jeff Graves comes from an engineering background. Morale was boosting with his announcement among the entier company until the cracks started to show. Over his 2 year reign it has become apparent that he does not value engineering or innovation and he does not listen to the market or those around him. His largest internal initiative has been to get employees to invest in the United Way. How that contributes to the bottom line is beyond me or most at the company. Badgering and pestering your employees to place their hard earned dollars where they don't want to does not seem like a reasonable place to put his efforts. It only makes sense that this would boost his CEO "rating".

Quarterly revenue drive is destroying company. Jeff Graves squandered an improved employee morale after Laura Hamilton was pushed out. Had employees ready to turn the tide at MTS. Improved MRP processes had company driving towards more efficient execution of projects. The improved MRP processes are all for naught. Revenue drive add false priority into the mix versus customer delivery and cost. Through Class A MRP out the window every quarter, and go to spreadsheets and backwards execution of projects (engineer easy components first, then difficult ones later to drive revenue). Yet every quarter Jeff Graves is surprised by our overrun of costs and inability to deliver to the customer schedule. Management has no clue. If they had a employee survey they might. Employees are beat up over managements failings. Record revenue quarter after quarter with same understaffed engineers translates into layoffs. Work/Life balance is terrible if you try and meet your customer delivery requirements; way understaffed. For the past two years there have been shutdowns on the k of July 4th and Christmas/New Years. Extremely little time off of your own choosing. For contractors the result is two unpaid forced vacations a year. Every benefit area is being systematically cut. Change to 401K policy this year netted a 3% pay cut for everyone. Always waiting for the next shoe to drop on benefits.