Intertape Polymer Reviews

Pros

IPG is trying to be a successful company but it sure seems as if is makes a lot of missteps along the way. People were very good to work with for the most part.

Cons

Very unstable financially. Employees do not know from quarter to quarter what is going to happen to their jobs. IPG cut all salaries by 10% in 2008, there was a lot of uncertainty and little communication on if it was going to be restored.

Advice to Senior Management

Improve communication from the corporate headquarters to all of the manufacturing plants. Folks in the manufacturing sites feel out of the loop on most issues.

Pros

Company has a strong market presence due to its scale. Bradenton / Montreal - both very nice cities. Plant locations are generally in second tier cities. Usually very nice, especially for those who have ties to the area. Like many such places, they may not be a draw for those from other areas.

Cons

Many, many years of weak management have left the company with debt. There are lots of plant locations, many non-performing business units. There are opportunties for "financial engineering" - i.e. watch out. The Yull family and their personal friends continue to benefit in ways that would not happen in a truly public company. IPG is sort of half way in between.

The company has a poorly defined competitive strategy - thus it is difficult to say what skills and capabilities will be valued and which business groups will be retained.

Management needs a lot of work. Generally well-meaning people, but the breadth of experience and professional competency is not what one would expect. IPG is Still caught in a 25 year old mindset of selling to distributors. IPG has a reputation as "Call IPG for 10% less",,,

The company is generally not prepared to invest in new initiatives. A $50k program will require an executive team meeting and several months of time. But a $500k sales meeting for IPG sales people (employees) is an "indispensible expense" - again, an indicator of a 25 year old "Rah-Rah" type of sales mentality...each meeting is like a high school prom with a theme, nifty gifts labeled with the name of the lastest sales incentive program. Not much in the way of understanding customer's, engineering needs, product attributes, business objectives, etc.

IPG is a good company, and one you should not hesitate to join as long as you can weather having things go south - if they do. There is company level risk. And rarely a week goes by that a memo does not circulate that says "Mr./Ms.___ is no longer here"

So...a solid opportunity if you are local.

Advice to Senior Management

They have heard it before, from lots of sources. I doubt a line at "Glassdoor" will make a difference

Pros

Flexible schedule and good core employees that are not being utilized to their full potential. I personally like that it was close to home, time off was flexible, and the people were generally nice. Management was willing to work with you when unexpected events happened.

Cons

Management is the reason this company will FAIL! They need to do some major internal evaluations, first by doing some major house cleaning, starting at the top of the company and working their way down the ladder. I personally did not like working there because there was no room to grow and management was incompetent and was very unprofessional. Also, I disliked that raises were very hard to get, mostly due to the fact that the performance evaluations were, most of the time, never even reviewed.

Advice to Senior Management

Management needs to have better communication with their employees. They need be open minded and listen to the opinion and advice from the employees. And management needs start using their heads!

Pros

Sarasota is a nice place to be, but the company is in Bradenton. Some good, competent people. Company makes very good products, but is inconsistent

Cons

Company runs like it is still private. Struggle for power a few years ago on the board really hurt the company, as the most competent board people left to be replaced by the original founder. A lot of instability with management

Advice to Senior Management

Treat your people well...be honest...keep your talented people and rid yourself of yes men...you will be better off.

Pros

Intertape is company with good potential.

Cons

Unfortunately, Intertape has become progressively less innovative. After Mel's first retirement, Intertape shed most of its core talent and its been downhill ever since. While most of that talent either quite or retired, senior management made several baffling terminations. A misguided attempt at selling the company did little to improve the situation and in fact, made it worse.

Sadly, the Bradenton headquarters is staffed with clueless incompetents who spend more time working on their tans than solving the Intertape's many problems. Mel's return has done little to turn things around. Most of the remaining employees say they feel like they are on a death watch.

Advice to Senior Management

Shutter the Bradenton headquarters. Its useless. Fire most the senior management and try to replace the core talent you've shed over the last 4 years. Then improve your pay scale. It's woefully inadequate.