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

A retirement home company

1. To put it nicely, this company is hiring a mechanical engineer; to put it bluntly, it is simply looking for a draftsman. The company does not need you to think about anything—just follow the PM’s instructions and complete the work within the deadline.

2. The company’s machines do not require validation. At your company, I developed a new machine type and completed the 2D/3D drawings in only nine days. As soon as one prototype was finished, it was shipped. Not only that, 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 was still rushing 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 suddenly said the IPC had 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 never communicates with any department when making decisions, only bringing it up when the shipment is about to go out. The PM vice president also shifts the blame, claiming that he mentioned it long ago and that everyone else simply was not listening. As a result, external vendors and internal R&D personnel often have to clean up his messes.

4. The company has no concept of an approved-supplier commitment document. The procurement department often switches from Vendor A to Vendor B without notifying anyone. We only find out when a serious problem occurs during mass production. Even more absurdly, the mechanical R&D team is always held responsible when something goes wrong. Basically, the procurement manager oversees everything from the eighth-floor production line to the fifth-floor PQC. When the procurement manager calls to ask about something, she acts as if you owe her NT$2.58 million and relies on emotion to get things done. When R&D needs to modify a mold, it asks procurement whether inventory should be stocked. Procurement always says there is enough inventory, but when the mold actually needs to be modified, they say there is not enough stock and ask when the modification can be completed. Then they relentlessly pressure R&D, leaving everyone speechless. Procurement also never maintains sufficient inventory, so shortages lead to long waiting periods. Eventually, the production-control department began to counterbalance procurement, but within a few days the procurement manager went to become the production-control manager. In other words, she still controls everything, so the same problems described above continue to occur.

5. Regarding the same matter that occurred on 2025/6/13: Previously, an A-lens design was used to consume existing inventory. Since the A-lens inventory has now run out and its MOQ is too high, procurement initiated an ECR to switch to a B-lens. The R&D manager disagreed, but procurement directly issued the parts to the production line and instructed the mechanical engineer to modify the BOM.

6. The HR department 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 must be approved by the CEO. Even when a department head 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 test interns, it often comes up with strange ideas, such as giving people without relevant academic backgrounds the title of mechanical engineer, or turning test interns into test engineers. The purpose is to attract people who want to be called “engineers” to work here. These bizarre ideas are extremely unfair to genuine engineers. People who receive the company’s “engineer” title have widely varying ability levels, which will cause employers in the industry to question the capabilities of engineers who actually graduate with the relevant qualifications!

8. The company’s MIS department is extremely disorganized. Whenever there is a computer problem, they tell you to restart the computer. If they cannot solve it, they simply reimage the computer. Desktop computers are labeled by MIS with “Internet access prohibited.” Everyone knows why internet access is prohibited. In addition, the desktop specifications are antiques. The department head politely tells us to list the specifications of our current computers, but in reality, the CEO simply does not want to help engineers upgrade their hardware, and nothing has happened for a long time. On the software side, the company currently uses SolidWorks 2016. The CEO does not want to purchase the software outright, believing that renting it is cheaper, but apparently the software upgrade issue remains unresolved to this day.

9. As mentioned above, the version in use is 2016. Strangely, the Serbia region uses a more advanced version, making drawing files exchanged within the same company incompatible. Even the system and part-numbering conventions are different, making it seem as though the two sides are not operating as the same company at all. The Serbia side also occasionally requires us to change to its coding principles, resulting in endless arguments between the two sides that ultimately go nowhere.