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Two options and the choice depends on the work environment. Option 1: out last them. My experience in larger corporate environments says they'll be my boss for 2 years or less. Smaller places where that may not be true, option 2: leave.
Does your company have a PLM system where manufacturing equipment documents are maintained under doc control? Where I work, we can’t put a machine on the floor and validate it for production without drawings, schematics, operating manual, software validation, OQ, safety verification, etc loaded and released in our PLM system.
you leave
Pro
I'm with this, you can't do your job effectively with a manager like this.
A story: some A-Holes hoard info. I was a maintenance supervisor in a pretty large manufacturing plant that had some big equipment running. Some processes very sensitive to temp and humidity. So in the heat of summer, 3 in the morning, the hvac in part of the plant shut down. So I call and wake up the Facility tech. He tells me he can walk me through a restart- it was run by a computerized system. So we spend 45 minutes on the phone getting it restarted. It involved him giving me the password. I wrote everything down so I could restart it myself if it happened again. So all was cool- until 2 nights later it happened again. So I take my notes to the terminal. Try to log in, but password not accepted. So I call the guy again, middle of the night. Told him the password didn’t work. He told me he changed after giving it to me. He offered to talk me through it again. I said “you didn’t trust me- why don’t you come in and fix it yourself!” He lived 45 minutes away. He was pissed. I was smiling. His supervisor tried to chew on me the next morning. I asked him to give me his number and I would call him next time!
Good for you. My manager also holds all the keys and passwords to machines, rooms, and computer programs. We’ve been done when we can’t reach him after hours when we can’t login to a program or machine.
Agree with the poster above. Confronting them puts a target on your back. So the choices are outlast them, leave or apply for openings in the company that move you out from under him
He’s been here a few years and his mgt “crew” has his back. I just bring up when I can’t do something that I don’t have access.
I've been doing facilities engineering for the better part of a decade and is astonishing the number of Engineers that are promoted to be managers who have no business doing it people who are myopic driven by preconceived notions so only look for data that supports those beliefs or are straight up obstructionist what's even more astonishing is that there is a significant number of director level and plant level management at a lot of these places that can't think their way out of a paper bag so instead choose the engineer that plays Yes Man to them the direct result is catastrophic failures more stress and headaches for the actual problem solvers and fewer opportunities for them . I've always believed that being very good at what you're doing matters but in Corporate America it seems like that's an excellent way to get stuck . It will cause meteoric rise at first that will Peter out once you reach the level where you would transition to managing people . The only saving grace is typically you can go and make a jump to a different company to move to that management level . However most of these companies still recognize that you're the only person fixing things or the only person that has returned any of their investment and as a result will suddenly panic when you announce your departure and offer you the moon to get you to stay . My favorite Flex is putting in your goals for the year I'm multiplier of your salary and savings for the company then when they give you a four or 5% raise for the year you can go oh yes that that $5,000 is roughly 1% of what I saved you this year thank you for being so very generous but say it with a straight face because I've never seen a manager who doesn't realize exactly how ridiculous they look when you have documentation that you save them 2 million dollars in the year and they offered you a 5% raise
Ok.... it's 2025.... we have this thing called the internet where literally every owners, operators, service, or repair manual exists and your managers hoarding isn't your real gatekeep anymore.
Probably the worst reply and isn't constructive shame on you. Most schematics can be custom and/or proprietary.
Very unfortunate situation, Hence the entire work force is in danger in the advent of emergency situation, Its in important such behavior is reported to the higher Authority
Do they refuse to hand it out or are they just unaware of the situation? There is only so much you can do about the first, not really sure what the boss's reasoning is either. Talk to them about it maybe, but end of the day if they just point blank refuse, I just figure out how to work with it or work towards going elsewhere.
Or tell him to go fix the machine!
Yeah you gotta outlast them or hop it, but chances are if they're holding all that responsibility like a wannabe Atlas they'll blunder at some point...
Although that weren't the case for me, he somehow kept bouncing back up with seemingly no issues. Got proper mad if I sorted stuff out myself that was time-critical, so I had to be like a mouse in the clockwork. When he finally left (2 days between him and myself handing in our notices), I took on the role and found our dept's relationship with the factory was totally shot. I turned it around in a month, but all the more flabbergasted that there hadn't been intervention from higher up with how silly it had gotten; point is you really shouldn't underestimate their sticking power if you plan to outlast them. It can take several years like a boiling frog, have to be very decisive on when enough is enough and bail out!
Schedule a private meeting. discuss your concerns with your boss, focusing on how the lack of documentation effects your work and the team's productivity
Things change the first time you prove him wrong in front of everyone. However this didn't do any career in the air force any good.
Ask him for the manuals and info? And if he says no then go around and above him
I would suggest keeping a paper trail to CYA. Keep the team members and higher-ups that need the system running in the email chain. Address the task that is within your scope. If you cannot resolve the issue, state your stopping point and reason why. ie. "...have no further instruction or documentation to resolve the issue. Please advise in how to proceed..."
With enough of these email chains "on record" all parties CC'd in the email chain will see patterns of inconsistency and higher-ups will be able to figure out who/what is the bottle neck. No need for you to address anyone directly. Don't draw any needless attention. Once your flagged as a threat, you're done. Look for another place before the efficiency expert gets you.
Worked with an idiot of a manager like this before. They have trust issues and I'm sure it reflects on their personal life. Found a different job and quit asap. Now I love where I'm at. My new manager trusts me with expenses that I used to get questioned about at my last place. Night and day difference.
I agree with a lot of people saying leave, but it's not that simple for most people. Unfortunately this doesn't fall under hostile work environment conditions, so you cant use that unless this individual is sexually harassing, making comments about race, religion, sexual orientation, appearance etc. Labor laws haven't advanced to the point where you can report gatekeeping. The best thing to do is go over his head if you can't quit and bring an HR representative to listen to you speaking to this individuals boss regarding these behaviors. If the behavior gets worse it is a form of retaliation for reporting unprofessional behavior and stuff can get bad for the individual doing this. Also, every person that I have worked with that acts like this normally gets fired or has problems within the workforce later on.