Allison Transmission Reviews

Pros

Pay and benefits are absolutely amazing compared to a lot of other companies. The people are also all extremely nice to work with for the most part.

Cons

Management does not always put their employees first unfortunately. And in many ways this company is still not even close to joining the 21st century.

Advice to Senior Management

Realize that not every decision has to contribute directly to the bottom line for it to be a good one. Sometimes employee wellness and happiness truly does need to come first. You have to make your employees want to work for reasons other than their pay.

Pros

Stability for employees for awhile

Cons

Good benefits and longevity; solid company

Advice to Senior Management

Listen to employees

Pros

The company has some of the best technical expertise in the business, (world class).
As an entry level position, it is a great place to get your first 5 years of experience.
The company uses a lots of professional engineering tools to use.

Cons

There is a huge lack of leadership (someone that others are willing to follow), in the engineering department. The cliques in the engineering department can lead to isolated segments of engineering. Some of the most technical advanced people don't get their due credit or chance at leadership either because the cliques don't agree or they are stuck in the past. This has cause the company to lose some excellent engineers. I know of at least ten senior engineers (non-managers) that have left since 2010.

Advice to Senior Management

You can't lead with a committee. You have to get the employees to buy in to any new direction. Most of the senior engineers that I knew at Allison take the view that any new idea will just blow over if you wait it out.

Allison spends a bundle on consultants, but your in-house people had (until they left) more expertise than the consultants you hired.

Recruitment: if you want to hire good people, you can't sit by and wait for them to come to you, you have to actively go and seek them out.

>Do you approve of the way Larry Dewey is leading Allison Transmission?
   Larry Dewey does a fair job. Most of my comments are directed at engineering.

Pros

Indianapolis company headquarters has a good cost of living.
Amazingly brillant and cooperative engineering staff.
A lot of creative outside the box thinkers

Cons

Senior management does not recognize talented members of teams.
Senior management does not foster team environment but preaches teaming.
Senior managers do not support their subordinates, when subordinates are subject matter experts.
Good 'ole boy network alive and well.

Advice to Senior Management

Be objective when performing performance reviews. It is about the performance of the person not the personality.
Be honest - too many times misdirection.
Think about what you are asking of your employees to perform - do not give projects just to create work -ask for business needs not business maybes.

Pros

Great product reputation. Good compensation.

Cons

Still rooted in old GM ways of doing business in a lot of areas.

Advice to Senior Management

Get to know your people better. Go out of your way to talk to people on a personal level. You may learn a lot that will help in keeping good employees.

Pros

Compensation and benefits are one of the best in the Midwest, Daily challenges make working at Allison a place where you can find a career rather than just a job.

Cons

Micromanagement within certain areas of the business, especially within the Product Engineering sector. There are areas where working with the hourly folks can be challenging, but for the most part there are a lot of good people to work with.

Pros

Technically competent and enthusiastic engineering staff
Reliable, efficient, and technically advanced product designs
Great networking opportunity and mostly positive interpersonal relationships

Cons

Micromanagement and unclear or conflicting expectations for employees within certain departments
Direction or intentions from upper management sometimes not transparent
Political scenery very present

Advice to Senior Management

I would recommend more transparency to employees who are not part of management in regards to company direction and product development. I would also recommend treating employees with more respect, especially those with extensive product knowledge and tenure within the company.

Pros

The company has a good reputation for heavy duty automatic transmissions.
There are various locations around the metro Indianapolis area, and housing/cost-of-living can be balanced with commute time.
The company was once owned by GM, so there is still a lot of positive polices & procedures that were grand-fathered into the company by the new Private owners.
Allison transmissions are used in military vehicles.

Cons

There is little social interaction between employees. An eerie silence in the offices.
People fearing for their jobs or layoffs (I left in 2009).
Feedback/Performance Reviews are always nebulous in the world of engineering.
Here it is no different.
There is the aura of left-over middle-management from when GM owned Allison.
In other words, too many middle managers, consuming oxygen instead of being retired.
Too many Jr. level supervisors lacking the skills to be an effective leader.
There was not enough engineering-level training available for the "in-house" tools, which were developed by GM.

Advice to Senior Management

I can offer no advice to management.
Advice can only come from high-paid consultants.