"The simple fact is that most employees work at the pleasure of their employer."

Our Democratic party here in the USA thinks the purpose of a company is to keep people employed. My opinion: The purpose of a company is to provide a product or service at a fair price, that other people or companies need.

Since GM is still a government company, they continue producing the "Volt" which is not a profit making product for them. Have you purchased a "Volt" lately? Have you even seen an advertisement for one ? Any Volt owners on this blog ?

Oh yes ... It's Monday here in the good old USA! 8:00 AM East Coast time.

LHR

Can someone benchmark where DX is at now, like list site and number of employees for a specific date? Example:

Sep. 17, 2012
Former DPC (LA): 200 employees
Former Dade (Deerfield, ?): Y employees
Former Bayer (?, ?): Z employees

Bonus points if someone can put employee numbers for when Siemens first bought the 3 above companies, so we have some sense of attrition and shrinkage (right sizing in Corporate speak).

My experience with Siemens layoffs (outside of DX) has been a mixed bag. Sometimes they follow the "playbook", and jettison the employees with < 2 weeks notice. Other times, they tell an employee that for whatever reason they want to treat "differently" that his/her job will be eliminated in X weeks or Y months, and to please try to find another job within Siemens. Typically the later has a skill set that they don't want to see go to the competition, or has a close releationship with the CEO or other Executives.

So, despite their best efforts, large companies do recognize that "one size fits all" policies aren't always the best way of doing things!

Truth be told, the "one size fits all" is a lazy person way of doing things, and this is the real motivation behind such policies and processes - NOT out of any sense of fairness!

If Siemens told a German news agency there would be 1400 layoffs, and everyone here seems to know it, one can only assume that, in effect, Siemens has already informed its employees.
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Did you mean that Siemens informs the employees only in a general sense, via the public news channels, and that the specifically targeted employees only find out at most 2 weeks before, or sometimes even the day of, being laidoff?

Guess it's up to sites like these to post the specific details of the layoffs. Is there someone on this forum with an HR background? I would guess this is the "playbook" for how layoffs are generally handled at most companies?

If Siemens told a German news agency there would be 1400 layoffs, and everyone here seems to know it, one can only assume that, in effect, Siemens has already informed its employees. If you want details such as dates and numbers, forget about it. It is extremely rare that those being laid off are informed in advance. There may be a few exceptions to this rule, but Siemens has already told the employees they won't do that because they never have. You can vent here all you want, but you will only find out on layoff day(s).

I think it's strange that Siemens would tell a News Agency, in Germany no less, regarding an additional 1400 Healthcare layoffs by end of 2012 and still hasn't informed the employees.
"...The plan for healthcare unit foresses 1400 job cuts by 2013."
They haven't even come out and denied the comments.
The fiscal year is over in two weeks so I'm wondering if that's what they're waiting for.
Also almost time for the quarterly Time Hall and MR employee video.
It just feels like the calm before the storm.

Move to PIIGS countries. Where is the respect for other points of view? If everyone you don't agree with left, what would America be? Iran!! A theocracy where individuality is not tolerated. What is is about freedom of expression and ideas is it that you can't understand? You are for freedom as long as everyone does the same thing and it happens to be your thing. I may not agree with you, but I don't want to banish you. I want to stay here and scare you to death with my posts. Watch out. The boogey men are coming tonight.

the dude laid off was ex-Dade? good. slowly but surely ex- Daders will go their merry way

All progressives should move to one of the PIIGS counries, Portugal,Ireland,Italy Greece or Spain!!!

Other than an occasional typo, can you be more specific about your complaint with my use of the English language? If you don't or can't appreciate the stream-of-consciousness style, that is also your problem. I feel it goes well with the nature of these kind of threads, many of which seem to arise out of a stream of unconsciousness.

you're not cynic, you are someone who needs to re-take his writing (and spelling) class at elementary school.

Emphasis on MIGHT. On the other hand, your privately owned company MIGHT be owned by Bain Capital. The simple fact is that most employees work at the pleasure of their employer. I most states, you can be terminated at a moment's notice for any reason or for now reason. Unless of course you happen to be a member of one of those Commie, pinko, European socialist unions that were created for the sole purpose of driving businesses into bankruptcy (where do you think that Bain learned that trick?) and destroying the American free enterprise system which was sanctioned by God when he handed our founding fathers the great tablets of the Constitution on Mount Philadelpia. In God we trust .... all others pay cash, please.

Yeah, yeah ... I'm a cynic. Deal with it !!!

Companies expect loyalty, but do not give it in return. ANYBODY who thinks a company will not lay them off because they have been loyal is very naive. This goes for any publicly owned company. A private company, the owner might show reciprocal loyalty.

LHR

This is the way it always is. Lay off the longest term employees, while managing to avoid charges of age discrimination, and get rid of those with the highest salaries in their job description. All of those people can be replaced later when things turn around .. and replaced with young, eager, (inexperienced) people who won't cost an arm and a leg. Management is unique and managers are not exactly a dime a dozen, so companies will keep the managers (although they often shuffle them around in a yearly 'reorganization' charade).

Of course management will get their bonuses, but only if they meet the goals for the year. Of course, their goal is to lay off 1400 people this year to help right the ship.

Sound mean? Sound callous? Sound cynical? Maybe, but it's also a fairly realistic picture of the modern corporation. Don't be too harsh with them though.... corporations are people too, my friend.

Very sad when they start laying off loyal and dedicated people when they should really be looking at the morons who are running the company. I should say higher mgmt probably will receive their bonus checks this year. If they really think that laying off even 1400 people will bail them out of their financial woes, then good luck with that train of thought. I think MR should either step down or be shown the door. Heeve ho and don't let the door slam back at ya.

As far as the person from Duluth, I think there is more to that story.......
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Oh, do tell!

The four in Norwood were not in the same dept, correct?

As far as the person from Duluth, I think there is more to that story.......

I know the man very well. He took an honest approach based on hhis training from Dade / Dupont and had a reputation for putting his customers first. Guess Siemens can't afford to pay for that kind of mindset anymore. Right and wrong have a way of working themselves out, but innocent people get hurt in the process. If you are considering a Siemens purchase, run ! Very fast! Siemens can no longer live up to their promises. There is a cancer eating away at this company from the inside...

Four people form Norwood? how many people are in Norwood? and is Norwood still full of functions that could be assimilated elsewhere?

Revenge for what?

it's more of a revenge than layoff.

one laid off in Duluth today. Had 30+ years of service - no retirement offered.

Only four? At this rate it will take Siemens 5 years to make their quota of 1400 for 2012. Everything they do seems to be in dribs and drabs ... just little baby steps. But what do you expect from a big company? Siemens just doesn't seem to know how to think 'big'; they have no vision, no 'feel' for DX, and no spontaneity or creativity. Strange how they bought two companies that grew from nothing into major players by being creative, taking risks, encouraging independent thinking, and having a vision of where they were going. No offense to any of the ex-Dade people, but that was the culture that made both Technicon and DPC what they ultimately became before they sold out to larger companies.

It is the most telling sign of a mature business that has, for the most part, been reduced to a commodity business. My advice for anyone who wants to work in an upcoming, dynamic, and growing business is to look outside of diagnostics.

four people laid off in the Norwood site today 9.14.12
Most likely more to come.

I was not Middle Management. More a thorn in middle management's A$$ Especially DS. I think it was mostly engineers, chemists, clerks.

I thank JD, JC and JC for recovering the 10% Miles lost* in our 401K ( Profit sharing) * Miles really tried to screw the Technicon people with the stunt they pulled mixing our Profit sharing with Miles's 401K's.

LHR

Sorry to hear that. Was that the big middle management layoff?

I was downsized in 1992 -- right after Miles (Bayer) took over.
LHR

Oui.

He was in charge prior to the sale to Revlon. That was long before the French took over under Cooper. The latter was a very interesting group ranging from smart, shrewd individuals who instinctively understood DX and the shoot-from-the-hip, 'all you gotta do is' who pushed to get the Japanese systems out before they were really ready. Of course, that was done to attract Bayer who didn't have a clue about how to do a decent due diligence. Served them right. They had to clean up that mess, but refused to invest more and, that's what led to the huge decline in clinical chemistry market share. One system was supposed to replace SMAC which was really on its last legs; one was to take over for the aging RA systems that had several unfixed method problems and the failed Chem 1. Neither Japanese systems made it either.

If you were just standing on the outside during all of those years, it would have made a great sitcom. If you were on the inside and remembered all of the years of success, it was incredibly demoralizing. I can imagine that the Fascists in Italy felt pretty much the same way when they saw the people string Il Duce up by his feet.

GC ? Did he have a French accent ?

Big problem with that was they tried to do it in Middletown, the plant that GC set up so the manager could look after his daughter in college in Va. The great distance from Tarrytown and remoteness of the site made transferring new technology extremely difficult. Years later, when it came to transferring other technology for Immuno 1, it took years and years to get it all right. It was always hard for Middletown to attract high level technical talent due its location. Nonetheless, the Middletown people were always hard workers who tried to learn new things that were more than just mixing chemicals and filling bottles. But there was always a it came to communication between TTN and MTN, mostly due to poor management that prevented each 'side' from seeing things from the others' perspective.

You are definitely correct in the timing of the shut down of STAC. And your reason for the shutdown sounds rational. Actually they were in the process of working on the high volume filling of the reagent/sample packages. ( I forgot what they wee called ... getting old I guess.)

LHR

As I understand things, STAC was killed as a lead up to the original sale of Technicon to Revlon. Taking STAC off the table somehow made the books look better. I have a vague recollection of an attempt to bring STAC back in the form of a proposed system called RAZ in the late 80s, but that proposed project was never approved. Instead, all resources were directed towards trying to extend the Chem 1 technology to the Advia IMS system which never made it.

Technicon;

Midget ?

Or ATTAM; bubble tech with some pumps that would shut down.

And then there was STAC with freeze dried reagents. Intel 8008 processor.

STAC actually got a few in the field before it was taken off the market. I think Technicon bought purchased them back from the customers.

SMA II did very well -- oh, I'm giving away my age ...

LHR

Has any site been scheduled for a mandatory Town Hall yet?

Then we remember the same things. RA was a smaller system with which DS was only loosely associated even though he always claims (sole) credit for it. RA addressed a completely different market segment than SMAC. RA maxed out at around 240 test/hr; SMAC reached up close to 10,000 tests per hour. The most amazing thing about RA was that the basic product was completed in around 15 months. The system was fairly simple, very reliable, and allowed labs to do specific tests on each sample rather than running large panels. The first few years they had several locations building systems in 3 shifts because they couldn't keep up with demand. It was particularly popular in Europe where customers were able to develop their own methods for esoteric analytes or apply third party reagents. And it took alot of courage for Technicon management to get away from the 'bubble' which had been the source of their immense success. Had they follow up on RA with higher speeds, muliple modules, better reagent packaging, and larger test menu, Technicon would have been much more competitive with the Hitachi, Beckman, and Dimensions systems. But that is ancient history; we know how it all turned out in the end.

"Chem 1 maxed out at around 500 at most. It was plagued with reliability problems, had a limited menu of less than 40 methods, could not use other reagents and never met the promise or excitement that accompanied its introduction. "

Introduced in Paris

The design was such that one "had" to purchase reagents from Technicon -- as Technicon patented the reagent pack. That was the intent from the start, although they never stated such... Some European countries would not allow their hospitals to purchase
Chem I for that reason I believe.

I guess SMAC II was the really last successful LARGE system that came out of Tarrytown. DS was not in a real position of authority on that one. he was an Engineer or Sr. Engineer at that time I think.

LHR

On the long term wish list.

Are these Vista projects still on?

DV Anti-HBs
DV Anti-HBc
DV Anti-HBc IgM
DV Anti-HAV
DV Anti-HAV IgM

Seems like nothing changes.

RA was very successful. At one point there were around 5000 systems running in the field. It was simple, relatively user friendly for its time, allowed for customers to use their own reagents to to use reagents from others for methods not supplied by Technicon. There were close to 100 methods running on RA systems.

Chem 1 maxed out at around 500 at most. It was plagued with reliability problems, had a limited menu of less than 40 methods, could not use other reagents and never met the promise or excitement that accompanied its introduction.

RA was already 8 years old and Bayer did nothing to support it. They were focused on the new systems by then and when those required significant post-launch work, Bayer lost interest in those as well. When Bayer bought Technicon they had around a 30 % market share in clinical chemistry; when they sold it they had driven it down to around 5%. From the perspective of German management who seemed to be standing on their heads most of the time, this must have looked like progress.

Well I must say, it looks like some of the people from the Tarrytown facility hated DS about as much as our guy (gal?) hates the people he works with at the LA site. I guess we are all just one big happy family.

'Chem 1. The system that made HL throw fits and chew on the carpet. Technicon (Revlon) never made their money back on Chem 1. The last really successful system that came out of Tarrytown was RA-1000.'

Neither of those systems could be termed successful, even with bayer's low standards. When siemens bought bayer they had about 4% market share in chemistry.
Quite the success.

Chem 1. The system that made HL throw fits and chew on the carpet. Technicon (Revlon) never made their money back on Chem 1. The last really successful system that came out of Tarrytown was RA-1000. And in his typical sinister manner, DS managed to claim credit for that one too even though he had little to do with it. DS was a discipline manager for much of Chem 1 and contributed very little to help that project other than to ruin a few careers along the way. In reality, it is almost impossible to think of any positive contribution that DS made over his 30+ reign of terror.

Last great product was the Chem I. Pushed through by D.S. By the way, I have a bridge I would like to sell you.

LHR

Developing the playbook has shown to be explosively successful.

Offering a bigger package for volunteers would encourage the best and brightest to leave and mean that they would retain an higher percentage of poor performers. Given that most of the people who made the DX components great companies at one point in their history, Siemens call ill afford to lose the few talented poeple who still remain. But since Siemens has shown an almost unique ability to NOT recognize talent in DX or to just believe that every employee is completely expendable and easily replaced by just anyone, the only thing holding them back is that they simply can't afford to spend one more pfennig on layoffs than they have to. They really seem to have the anti-Midas touch: everything they touch in DX seems to turn to dirt and their arrogance keeps them from seeing that they, management, are the problem.

I defy anyone to show a management decision or plan that has been successful in the past five years.

Siemens DX has the same problem now. People (office, bench-techs and Phd's)just want to get out as quickly as possible.
People aren't stupid. They can smell a sinking ship.
If Siemens just wants to trim the ranks quickly and amicably all they need to do is make a better package.
Easiest way to do that is simply remove the 26-week cap.
Sadly it won't solve their problem of excess platforms they can't give away. So they'll need to either sell off or just shutdown certain platforms now and bite the loss.

I suspect the pencil pushers in the offices downstairs tend to last the longest. Engineers, by their nature tend to move around a lot, or, are moved around a lot. Chemist wee pretty stable, if you had a Masters/Phd. Quite a turnover of Mechanical Engineers in R&D under J.H. E.E. did not fair much better in the 80's, 90,s.

LHR

I believe that JL from scientific services who was there for around 50 years recently retired. There are still a handful of pre-Bayer or even pre-Cooper years people in Tarrytown, but not many.

Cooper continued the Revlon store, but Bayer eventually replaced it with their own store. It was quite appropriate. Things in Tarrytown were alot sweeter smelling before Bayer (even during the wild Cooper years), and Bayer found much better ways to give their employees headaches and upset stomachs.

The Bayer store --- ha ha , should have been there when Revlon owned Technicon. Lots of happy women working at Tarrytown then. I wonder if any of the crew from the 80's-90's are still there?

I guess the devil; D.S. is no longer there -- medical reasons. Is he still alive ? He definitely ruined a lot of careers there.

LHR