Abengoa reviews

Spanish management that is completely afraid push back on Abeinsa Spain when the requirements don't support doing business in US. All are total "yes-men." The ones that make the decisions are all men. The Spanish, no-push-back is a cultural thing. Americans don't understand, nor do they like that. Spanish management requirements are implemented despite the total uselessness of the plan and the cost involved. Anything coming from Abeinsa Spain is equal to coming from God; it is not to be questioned. The additional resources that are required to implement and maintain the corporate policies/programs are outrageous. An employee's input to a process is of no consequence if you are not Spanish. I have seen where it is even less if you are female. As an American, you are the worker bee, and you will do the work of two - your own and your Spanish counterpart's. They see you as an extension for doing their job. An American Engineer (PE) is expected to be the middle-man to approve designs from Spain. The info will come at the last minute with incomplete and incorrect information. In addition, there is inadequate time for a proper review, so deadlines are often effected.

1. The government has a clause, that all purchasing happens from US companies, so Abengoa creates those Sub-US-Temporary-Companies, and they basically purchase from their own selves (from those Sub Temporary Companies) to create a cash flow. The problem with that is, their fake sub-companies do nothing but make a profit on top of local real companies that were intended to win the bid after negotiations, Abengoa basically is cheating into creating a cash flow in their system by using a loan guarantee that is supposed to be used for the project only. It is illegal, but the company is desperate for cash and is avoiding from going bankrupt. Abengoa in reality is a financial holding company, not a real EPC, which creates a nightmare for the US engineer. 2. Abengoa ships their design from Spain, their US engineers are hired to red-mark, review and sign, but the problem is, the Spanish engineers ship just about any document, they don't check anything, they even send calculations made on other projects with older project headlines, they are very unprofessional and very arrogant (Extreme Nationalists, non Spanish means very minimal to them). The company only cares about meeting deadlines tied to financial holds with the loan guarantee. 3. The culture of the company is this: We are from Spain, you are not, this is a Spanish company, so you are no body, it doesn't matter if you were a US engineer with hundreds of courses and training and tens of years in experience, you will be pushed away, they shuffle the non Spanish, they specially mock the US educated. They fear the US engineer or procurement personnel would have a key role in the company, which is fairly easy for the local experienced, so at the peak of performance, you are out. 4. If you are a US purchaser, you are supposed to do everything while you are in, the Spanish purchasers do very little because of inexperience and too strong attitude, so the US engineer or purchaser ends up doing the work, or the US purchasers and engineers quit. 5. The spirit in this company is low, there is no pride in the work, if you work harder than the Spanish engineer (which you easily will), then they will label you as the little worker, you will not be respected for hard work, to them, hard workers are the little ones, and every non-Spanish engineer or purchaser must be a hard worker or out they go. Let me put it in Summary, when the team started, there were over 35 US engineers and purchasers, 30 are out within a year !!