Tektronix Reviews

I worked at Tektronix full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Most employees are top rate in their professions, the caliber of people, the complexity of the work, and business processes make it a stimulating place to work.

Cons – The finance side of the business and Danaher business practices drive the business TOTALLY. Over the years as a manager I lost ability to control my own budget, invest in or sufficiently develop my employees, or to be informed adequately about the business performance and management actions.

Advice to Senior Management – Walk the floor, get out and about, be seen. Look up from the spreadsheets. Losing market share to the competition is because your strategy for managing the product portfolio and employees has been poorly executed and is unsustainable.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Tektronix full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Challenging environment with ability to take on more responsibility

Cons – Poor leadership and no innovation

Advice to Senior Management – Invest in IT innovation

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Tektronix full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – There are a lot of good people

Cons – Its not if, its when you will get cut

Advice to Senior Management – quit losing market share

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I worked at Tektronix full-time for more than 10 years

Pros – Very few companies could attract the talent that Tektronix has had over the years.

Cons – Danaher never understood that the real gem in the crown of Tektronix was the amazing engineering prowess it had and the innovation it was capable of. Basically they refocused resources from engineering and innovation towards manufacturing, distribution and inventory efficiencies(not that these are bad, just not the traditional Tektronix value add). Unfortunately what customers wanted from Tektronix was the best, leading edge technology, not a product that was 10% cheaper to assemble in China and middle of the road software from new places that were coming up to speed on the special software needs of leading edge hardware like Tek products required. For years I watched top talent steered away from technology development and into efficiency gains and manufacturing optimization and training new engineers from other countries. All this for products that were often high dollar, low volume type products.... Clearly Danaher never understood what Tektronix customers were buying when they purchased the Tek brand. Now they are so far behind, and the Danaher money is gone - misspent - one wonders how they could ever come back without major new investment to rebuild the engineering resources that were squandered... Or perhaps they could take on a new role in their industry as more of a commodity player instead of a technological leader.... Either way, I don't think Danaher's investment here will ever pay off and a rare and once great technology and innovation giant is gone.

Advice to Senior Management – The current CEO, Amir Aghdaei is very nice to know personally, however most of his managers were afraid to tell him what needed to be said. His personal style is to require his direct reports to get on board quickly with the direction he wants to go in. If you didn't there could be serious questions about your commitment to the organization.... He has an amazing confidence in himself which is a plus sometimes, but to balance that a world class CEO needs to be willing create a culture around him that welcomes and encourages many viewpoints and to be in the habit of really listening - understanding. I respectfully submit that Amir places his own opinions too high in the values of opinions in a room, even in areas where some around him have a much larger pool to draw from... This prevents him from really having the best information to work from and after teaching those around him the price for "not being on board" is to put your career at risk... well you can see how this leaves him def and blind in the long run. Smart guy - but limited by self confidence. I feel bad that a 65+ year old company needs to pay the price for one relatively new guys shortcomings, but that is how the world works...

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Tektronix full-time for less than a year

Pros – People are great, campus is wonderful, work-life balance works well and there are very smart people

Cons – No design center, marketing designs products, no customer feedback loop. Some RIP

Advice to Senior Management – Build a design center with an actual design vision and focus.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

I have been working at Tektronix

Pros – Tektronix has an amazing amount of engineering depth. There are people who are world renowned experts in their area sitting in the cube down the hall. My coworkers are friendly, supportive and encouraging.

Cons – Danaher and senior Tektronix management doesn't seem to understand that Tektronix designs & builds technology for technologists. Danaher is all about creating efficiency, not about creating technology. Vision about technology is sorely lacking in senior management. Tek needs a technologist with vision to lead the company. Sadly the right people for the job have either left on their own or have been let go because they don’t easily fit into the Danaher mold. That doesn’t bode well for Tektronix maintaining market leadership.

I worked at Tektronix

Pros – good co-workers and technology, great location

Cons – poor management and vision, too many meetings, not enough R&D investment

Advice to Senior Management – stop looking out for yourselves and pay attention to managing

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Tektronix

Pros – - Great set of people
- Challenging problems
- People eager to help out others
- Flexible work conditions
- Good practices brought in b y Danaher

Cons – - Innovation is somewhat stifled after the Danaher acquisition
- Lack of recognition for managers and above
- Seems to be all about turning the crank these days

Advice to Senior Management – Allow innovation to run it's course, bring back some of the spirit of Tektronix. Recognize good people for the contributions they make. Create a less political environment.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Tektronix

Pros – Tektronix' glory days of the late 20th century have waned, but in spite of its corporate takeover and loss of original vision by its founders, the DNA of the company continues on. The individual contributors working here in the form of amazing engineers are still some of the smartest people on the planet.

While the problems Tektronix focuses on are miniature (by definition - electronic instruments focus on the very small), the technology is nothing short of amazing.

Cons – Tektronix management, starting at the very top with its current and most recent President, are driven by Danaher financial and manufacturing mentalities. This form of corporate management works well in reducing "waste." It is not nearly as effective in creating the future. R&D operations are substantially more costly and "wasteful" than manufacturing.

In spite of Danaher's "DBS" (modeled on Toyota's approaches) promotion of the company as a "learning organism," Tektronix has been eviscerated since the take-over in the name of cost cutting and the bad economy.

Pruning and cost cutting may be a necessary evil in today's environment, but the specific choices Tektronix has made to meet Danaher's goals speaks to the current state of mis-management. For example, when the current trend in almost every corporation around the world is to increase design thinking, Tektronix (and many of Danaher's other operating companies) have laid off entire departments of designers - mostly because they don't know what to do with them or where to "put" them.

Advice to Senior Management – Top-line growth does not happen without radical thinkers and innovators. Take a look at successful companies across all industry segments and note: breakthroughs come from cross-functional teams of highly gifted individuals with divergent modes of thinking. Your "innovation council" is heavily weighted to engineering and manufacturing - get your creatives on that thing to quickly spin up the engine of innovation into a semblance of the powerhouse it once was.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

I have been working at Tektronix

Pros – + proximity to dining options & movie theater
+ learn about kaizens
+ one end of campus (near Nike & Comcast) is well cared for
+ after hours fight club

Cons – - leadership pipleine blocked up with middle managers lacking panache, foresight & market insight
- executives are trying to drive growth with dull tools
- outdated technology tools and underfunded R&D limit organic growth
- low-quality benefits & perks for employees so Tek is unable to attract/retain top technical talent
- too isolated from real-world

Advice to Senior Management – - Design tools: uninspired product portfolio --- listen to customers & stop developing test gear for Tek engineers;
business needs to develop a revolutionary position on electronic test & execute

- SSO: sensible choice to form a services division, hope SSO does something besides equipment calibration, field maintenance, and leasing

- CSO: decades of under-investment have resulted in an undifferentiated market position and reliance on 2-3 customers; CEO ignoring this atrophied arm which has become non-strategic for Tek; need to replace execs who have failed to position company for growth; need to acquire some leading components/technology companies in 2011 to feed the instrument business

- Other: need to add custom test set development at Tek & Keithley for growth and to appease strategic customers!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend