Workplace reviews and discussion: 鴻發國際科技股份有限公司

A company for retirement

1. To put it nicely, this company is hiring a mechanical design engineer; to put it bluntly, it is merely looking for a draftsman. The company does not need you to think about anything. You only have to follow the PM's instructions and complete the work within the deadline.

2. This company's machines do not require validation. At your company, I developed a new machine model and completed the 2D/3D drawings in only nine days; as soon as one prototype was completed, it was shipped. In addition, the head of the PM department is also the company's vice president. He does not know how to manage projects but likes to micromanage. During development, for example, the hardware department did not know about changes to the coin module, while the software department did not start rushing to design the machine's external UI until just before shipment. This clearly shows a lack of cross-departmental communication. Most notably, after rushing to complete a new project, the bonus was only NT$3,000.

3. Machine specifications should be confirmed during the development stage. After 15 machines had already entered mass production, they said the IPC needed to be replaced because it was cheaper. I can accept the explanation that it was cheaper, provided that the PM communicates with every relevant department before making a decision. Instead, the PM never communicates with anyone and only brings things up when the machine is about to ship. The PM vice president also shifts the blame, saying that he mentioned it long ago and that everyone else simply was not listening. As a result, outside vendors and internal R&D staff are constantly left to clean up his messes.

4. The company has no concept of an approved-sample document. The procurement department often switches from Supplier A to Supplier B without notification. No one finds out until a problem occurs during mass production, and, even more absurdly, mechanical R&D is held responsible whenever something goes wrong. Basically, everything from the eighth-floor production line to the fifth-floor PQC is managed by the procurement manager. When the procurement manager calls to ask about something, she acts as though you owe her NT$2.58 million and conducts business based on her emotions. When R&D needs to modify a mold and asks procurement whether inventory should be stocked, procurement always says there is enough. When the mold actually needs to be modified, they then say inventory is insufficient and ask when it can be fixed, followed by relentlessly pressuring R&D, leaving everyone dumbfounded. Procurement also never maintains sufficient inventory, so whenever materials run short, there is always a waiting period. Just when the production-control department had begun to counterbalance procurement, the procurement manager went to become the production-control manager after only a few days. In other words, she was still in control, so the problems described above continued to occur.

5. The same as the incident described above, which occurred on June 13, 2025: Previously, a design using Lens A was adopted to consume existing inventory. Since the inventory of Lens A has now run out and its MOQ is too high, procurement opened an ECR to replace it with Lens B. The R&D manager disagreed, but procurement directly issued the materials to the production line and demanded that the mechanical engineer modify the BOM.

6. The HR department at this company has no real authority and does not know employees' salaries, because the CEO keeps salary matters firmly under his control. Even an application for mechanical samples costing less than NT$100 requires the CEO's approval. Even when a department head wants to adjust an employee's salary, it must go through the CEO. As far as I know, when the head of R&D raised the issue of salary adjustments, it was rejected!

7. Because the company's HR department cannot find mechanical engineers or testing interns, it often comes up with bizarre ideas. For example, it has proposed giving non-majors in document control the title of mechanical engineer, or turning testing interns into test engineers. The purpose is to attract people who want to be called “engineers” to work here. Such strange ideas are extremely unfair to genuine engineers. People given the company's “engineer” title have widely varying ability levels, which will cause companies in the industry to question the abilities of engineers who are actually about to graduate!

8. The company's MIS department is extremely disorganized. Whenever there is a computer problem, they tell you to restart it. If they cannot solve it, they simply reinstall the operating system. Desktop computers are labeled “Internet access prohibited” by MIS; everyone knows why. In addition, the desktop computer specifications are antiquated. The department head nicely asked us to list the current computer specifications, but in reality, the CEO simply does not want to help engineers upgrade their hardware, and nothing has happened for a long time. The software currently in use is SolidWorks 2016. The CEO does not want to purchase the software outright, believing that renting it is cheaper, but the matter of updating the software remains unresolved to this day.

9. As mentioned above, the version in use is 2016. Strangely, the software used in the Serbia region is a more advanced version, making it impossible to exchange drawing files within the same company. Even the systems and part numbers follow different standards, making it seem completely unlike the same company is operating. The Serbia side also occasionally demands that we change to its coding principles, resulting in endless arguments between the two sides, which ultimately go nowhere.