So how many people are in Camarillo who will be laid off?

Interesting comment indeed...having transitioned form a marginally six-sigma embracing Co. to a fully embracing six-sigma Co. I have witnessed increased shipping delays and manufacturing backorders. Certainly the GE way has done little for GE stock (unless you want to return to the gay ol' 90s when the Welch lore was flying and six-sigma was the be-all-end- all...less we forget that any fool could have made money in the 90s).

The Harvard business review published a great study on how COs managed like GE actually return less to investors over time.

It's no surprise that Camarillo got shut down. They are a wreck. Their planners are horrible, their QA are horrible, assembly is horrible, distribution is horrible. They throw out more products then they sell. I posted a while back that they were closing, maybe 2 months ago and people doubted it.

Also there are chances Life Tech Japan will be shutting down. Not that much really goes on there.

What went wrong in Camarillo recently? When I was there in late 2007 Camarillo had recovered from their initial post integration problems and seemed to be doing well.

I can't believe VBH is still around. No one figured out after all this time that the only thing she is good at is blaming others for her own ineptitude?

"There's one main reason why great people leave great companies."

I think you are confusing LIFE with a great company.

Let's not kid ourselves. There's one main reason why great people leave great companies. Failure of leadership. All roads point to LS on this one.

See below, MA decided to leave. Sounds like he was presented with a good opportunity in his home town and decided to give it a shot.

I disagree with your sentiment. Sure he was a talker... but that's part of leading and in doing so he changed the way we all thought about managing our business. Ask any long-timer that remembers darker days and you'll find unequivocal support for who MA was and the team that he built. Ever see the supply chain video?... stuff like this helped me find ways to sell value, on the ground and in my territory (not to mention getting a good laugh out of seeing him stuck to a bottle of FBS in the -20)!

"Life Updates:

Looks like several long time Invitrogen guys got canned from Carlsbad - global pricing director, etc.. etc.."

Did MA get canned or did he quit? He always seemed to be a bit of a tool, all talk without doing anything. typical senior management at life.

"Is "Advanced Technology and Systems R&D, Genetic Systems" a failign business?
It sounds the newly hired VP Scott Conradson's specialty is:

P&L and/or R&D responsibility with success in both recovering failing business and/or technologies,"

Was AW the former VP?

Camarillo is a wreck. Invitrogen's lack of focus on integrating the business dating back to the original Biosource acquisition has come home to roost. Add in the fact that many of the senior leaders, one in particular (read VBH), fought like idiots to keep the shop independent. It is sad. Many good people are soon to be without a job. But hey, VBH gets to keep hers! Do a walk-by and check out her crocodile tears.

WTF?

Which planet have you been on? No surprises here. Business as usual. But you'll be treated with respect and dignity as they escort you past security and out the doors.

http://www.vcstar.com/news/2010/feb/11/jobs-on-the-line-as-life-technolo...

Camarillo closing , move to Frederick, MD. WTF?

Is "Advanced Technology and Systems R&D, Genetic Systems" a failign business?
It sounds the newly hired VP Scott Conradson's specialty is:

"P&L and/or R&D responsibility with success in both recovering failing business and/or technologies,"

"That's sweet they know your name but do they understand anything about the function of the products you or your direct underlings touch?"

Yes for the GMs, product directors and manufacturing management.

Yes/no to executive management. Some know a lot, some know enough, some know a little. Next time you get the chance ask a few questions and share what you learn.

"I'm also impressed that the senior management take so much interest in manufacturing. We see them regularly, they know our names and they do actually listen to us."

That's sweet they know your name but do they understand anything about the function of the products you or your direct underlings touch?

"Looks like several long time Invitrogen guys got canned from Carlsbad - global pricing director"

Get your facts straight... He did not get canned, he left to pursue an opportunity that made sense for his family. I spoke to him on the way out and he had nothing but positive things to say about LIFE. He even told me I should feel proud to work here.

Sad day indeed, a true class act and a huge factor in company performance for many years.

"Way to keep that manufacturing floor/management disconnect!"

Your comment shows how disconnected you are. Most of the people holding management positions in manufacturing including many of the site leads have worked the shop floor or labs. I'm also impressed that the senior management take so much interest in manufacturing. We see them regularly, they know our names and they do actually listen to us. I could complain about many things but not management being disconnected from manufacturing.

the legacy of promoting those who have no understanding of the jobs done by people they manage. Middle management has no clue what the people who actually handle their product are doing.

Come on. GL is a Harvard MBA. The whole belief system is that the talented "cream of the crop" from top business schools, properly trained in the GE way, can administer anything. That's the whole point of "business administration", to administer business without knowing anything about the details of the products being administered. There are established methods, like Six Sigma, LEAN, etc. that simply work, without having to have a deep (or even shallow) understanding of the underlying technology or processes.

BIG LIFE PROBLEM THAT BP WILL HOPEFULLY CHANGE: the legacy of promoting those who have no understanding of the jobs done by people they manage. Middle management has no clue what the people who actually handle their product are doing. If they are working 11 hour days with no breaks, they have no clue. If they are sitting in a corner checking facebook half the day but still meeting their "numbers," they have no clue. If Life would promote people to Management who have actually done the jobs that put product on the shelves, there would be a lot less waste. I guess HR and the good-ol-boys are more concerned with whether someone has an MBA from National University.. or maybe a PhD from 30 years ago and no management or manufacturing experience. Way to keep that manufacturing floor/management disconnect!

"wrong, no more layoffs. AB will dominate IVGN management. We are the best. We have the best people, best facilities and we can only improve IVGN books and work efficiency. Greg should be proud to get our help."

This was an older post.. HILARIOUS. AB had almost 75% layoff of certain forces in multiple areas. The board is Invitrogen majority. And we've had a HUGE round of layoffs in production, R&D, then IT, then management, then sales, HR, etc.. etc..

Life Updates:

Looks like several long time Invitrogen guys got canned from Carlsbad - global pricing director, etc.. etc..

Naming of regions have aligned with AB terms (districts).

ASR teams deploying at high rates, covering broad areas of products
to capture maximum marketshare.

Some very high end benchtop instruments (could be called cheap AB instruments!) are hitting market to corner areas not covered by previous ones.. this coupled with the HUGE SoLiD gains is going to make for an interesting year at Life.

Oh and don't forget 2 more aquisitions early this year/late last of novel technologies for certain focus areas.

I have the feeling another large purchase is coming.. someone that fits into LIFE without the redundancies that AB brought...

Take the job with McDonalds and hope for the deal to fall through.

I heard that LIFE is buying McDonalds! Is this true? Please help as I am considering positions with both companies!

Whomever posted about Pfizer was obviously joking. Life Tech can't afford to buy Pfizer and there would be no reason too, they are completely different companies.

what deal with pfizer? who's buying who? what's your source? I'm currently considering jobs with BOTH companies!

it may or may not be true that Sales took a huge hit, but Management always takes huge hits and they always bogart the doobie.

The deal with Pfizer is looking good. Life Technologies will soon be officially the worst biotechnology / Pharma in the entire world.

I read that Life Technologies is a brilliant company, run by real super geniuses who know their own arses from the arses of litter-mate controls.

Paul Johnson (PJ) is the head of America's sales. Former AB guy with the requisite GE connection.

So who is heading up sales now?

I heard Life Tech is going to buy Pfizer

Sales at LIFE took a huge hit in certain regions, not so much in others.. everything is being aligned to a hybrid strategy btw IVGN and AB.

one territory I know lost it's AB rep, IVGN rep, AB Solid rep, and IVGN Tech Sales Rep..

There is a new strategy for overall sales, and a new leader from AB

Visigen CEO lawsuit smacks of failure to pay tech-related deal milestones.

Seems to indicate that the Visigen technology has failed to perform internally, or at least failure to perform to the specs it was sold at.

Any other thoughts?

Huge volume traded today, look like someone knows something about Q4 performance or lack of it.

GL should bring in Mike Leach and have him as co-pirate. Then they can lock Mark A in the electric closet !

That depend on whether you are AB legacy or IVGN legacy

"Stock price is going to be lower for the rest of the year. 2009 was the year for cashing in on the ABI chump change. This year is a rudderless ship taking on water."

GL captain or pirate? Either way a Keelhaul is in order.

Stock price is going to be lower for the rest of the year. 2009 was the year for cashing in on the ABI chump change. This year is a rudderless ship taking on water.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405274870458650457465471291020433...

This is Brett Petrie's buddy who's followed him around from company to company. They ran Baxter Dade into the ground together many years ago. That's where the connection was made. He's got more going for him than Brett though. (which isn't saying alot)

The Dorsey Group is not new to MFG. They have been working with manufacturing for over 12 months and recently started working with us here in Carlsbad. Dorsey helps implement high performance work teams which is being rolled out in manufacturing. We were skeptical at first but it's actually going well.

Why, after 6.5 years of GL's leadership in Carlsbad, are the existing work teams not high performance already? Any why, after 6.5 years of GL's leadership in Carlsbad, is there nobody in house that understands the problem well enough to get the work teams to high performance. Why does this have to be outsourced to a consulting group? Everything that is wrong with American corporation leadership, right there in a nutshell.

From insider.com

Life Technologies (Nasdaq: LIFE) - downgraded from Buy to Hold, price target raised to $59. Sees 3 fundamental reasons behind the rating cut: 1. the risk/reward profile at current levels is less attractive than other LST names given strong 2009 (up 124%), 2. there remains some uncertainty around the trajectory of the NIH budget post-stimulus, which may cause NT multiple compression, 3. margin upside is now limited due to the significant synergy caputre following ABI purchase. The firm said it continues to view "LIFE's markets favorably, but view current risk/reward as fairly balanced."

Read another way.

1) Life Tech had a great 2009. Can they keep it up? Others may have a better 2010.

2) Nobody knows who is going to benefit from NIH stimulus. If you add together LST companies individual projections of what they think they can gain it outstrips stimulus money available.

3) Similar to #1. Life Tech beat its synergy projects and may not repeat that performance in 2010.

What you mean Willis? We are not a "mess"!!

Anyone knows why LIFE was downgraded by Deutsche Bank? May be poor integration and inflated valuation?

Anyone heard of the Dorsey Group? They are new consultants working with MFG.

Yet another consulting group thrown into the fray. It's curious how the problems are never solved.

The Dorsey Group is not new to MFG. They have been working with manufacturing for over 12 months and recently started working with us here in Carlsbad. Dorsey helps implement high performance work teams which is being rolled out in manufacturing. We were skeptical at first but it's actually going well. www.thedorseygroup.org

Most of Office Space was filmed about a block away from the Austin site.

Bob Slydel (John C. McGinley): "What you do at Initech is, you take the specifications from the customers and you bring them down to the software engineers."
Smykowski: "Yes. Y--Yes. That's-- That's right."
Bob Porter (Paul Wilson): "Well, then I just have to ask, why couldn't the customers just take them directly to the-- to the software people, huh?"
Smykowski: "Well, I'll tell you why. Uh, because... engineers are not good at dealing with customers."
Bob Slydel: "Uh-huh. So, you physically take the specs from the customer?"
Smykowski: "Well... no. M-My secretary does that, or they're faxed."
Bob Slydel: "Uh-huh."
Bob Porter: "So then you must physically bring them to the software people."
Smykowski: "Well... no. I mean, sometimes."
Bob Slydel: "What-- What would you say you do here?"
Smykowski: "Well, look, I already told you. I deal with the bleepdamn customers so the engineers don't have to. I have people skills! I am good at dealing with people! Can't you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?!"

"I have people skills!"

They're like the Bobs in Office Space

Anyone heard of the Dorsey Group? They are new consultants working with MFG.

Yet another consulting group thrown into the fray. It's curious how the problems are never solved.

Anyone heard of the Dorsey Group? They are new consultants working with MFG.