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

Nursing home company

1. To put it nicely, this company is hiring a mechanical engineer; to put it bluntly, it is merely looking for a draftsman. The company does not require you to think about anything—just 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 finished, it was shipped. Furthermore, 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 was unaware of changes to the coin module, and the software department did not rush to design the external-display UI until just before the machine was shipped. This clearly shows a lack of cross-functional 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 the new one was cheaper. I could accept the explanation that it was cheaper, provided that the PM communicated the decision with the relevant departments. Instead, the PM makes decisions without consulting anyone and only brings them up when the machine is about to ship. The PM vice president then shifts the blame, saying that he mentioned it long ago and that everyone else simply was not listening. As a result, external suppliers and internal R&D staff are constantly left to clean up his messes.

4. The company has no concept of an approved sample or sign-off document. The procurement department often switches from Supplier A to Supplier B without notifying anyone; this is not discovered until a problem occurs during mass production. 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 relies on emotions to get things done. When R&D needs to modify a mold and asks procurement whether inventory should be prepared, procurement always says there is enough. Once the mold modification actually begins, they say inventory is insufficient and ask when it can be fixed, then relentlessly hound R&D, leaving everyone speechless. Procurement also never properly prepares inventory, so shortages lead to long waiting periods. A production-control department finally emerged to counterbalance procurement, but within a few days the procurement manager went over to become its manager. In other words, she still controls everything, so the problems described above continue to occur.

5. Regarding the same incident that occurred on 2025/6/13: 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 initiated an ECR to replace it with Lens B. The R&D manager disagreed, but procurement directly issued the material to the production line and required the mechanical engineer to modify the BOM.

6. The company’s HR department has no real authority and does not know employees’ salaries, because the CEO tightly controls all salary matters. Even an application for mechanical samples costing less than NT$100 must be approved by the CEO. Even when a department manager wants to adjust an employee’s salary, it must pass through the CEO. As far as I know, when the R&D manager raised the issue of salary adjustments, the request was rejected!

7. Because the company’s HR department cannot find mechanical engineers or testing interns, it often comes up with bizarre ideas, such as having a non-major document-control employee nominally serve as a mechanical engineer, or turning a testing intern into a test engineer. 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 carrying the company’s “engineer” title have widely varying skill levels, which will cause engineers who genuinely graduate into the profession to have their abilities questioned by companies across the industry!

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 the problem, they simply reimage the computer. Desktop computers are labeled “Internet access prohibited” by MIS; everyone knows why. In addition, the desktop specifications are antiquated. The department manager says, in a flattering way, that we should list our current computer specifications, but in reality the CEO simply does not want to upgrade the engineers’ hardware, and nothing has happened for a long time. For software, the company currently uses SolidWorks 2016. The CEO does not want to purchase a perpetual license, believing that renting is cheaper, but apparently the software update issue 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, meaning that drawing files exchanged within the same company cannot be used interchangeably. Even the systems and part numbers follow different standards, making it seem completely unlike the same company is operating. The Serbia side also occasionally asks us to adopt its coding principles, causing constant arguments between the two sides, which ultimately go nowhere.