Milestone for McCallum and MaxiTRANS

MAXITRANS and McCallum Disability Services celebrated two years of collaboration on last Thursday’s International Day of People with Disability.

Since December 2018 the road transport manufacturer has offered hands-on employment opportunities to 17 McCallum clients with disabilities in their small parts department.

Working a couple of days a week, each of the supported employees complete small component tasks with the assistance of supervisors, learning new skills, working on challenging tasks, and gaining confidence.

McCallum’s Adam Bogers and MaxiTRANS’ Chris Liston during the mask handover. They will service the disability agency’s clients.

MaxTRANS continuous improvement team leader in industrial engineering Chris Liston said logistics and sustainability have improved since the partnership began.

“We’re managing things better in the factory. We have less waste issues in the small parts department,” he said.

“We started cutting rubber with McCallum to redistribute our people amongst other valuable jobs, and now we’re doing entire carrier clamps.

“Cardboard recycling has been challenging, with the drop in its value, but the employees have been coming in every couple of days and servicing that area.”

McCallum executive manager of employment Adam Bogers said a rotating roster includes 11 regulars who enjoy coming in weekly.

“It’s provided invaluable experience in the open employment market for our clients, and being a part of the workplace like everyone else has made a huge difference to their self-esteem and confidence,” he said.

“The way they’re treated here by all of the staff is fantastic. They were accepted from day one, have been treated the same way as the other employees, and have gone through the same induction processes.

“It’s been a great two years, and hopefully there’s more to come.”

MaxiTRANS also marked the anniversary and the International Day of People with Disability by donating boxes of facemasks to McCallum and disability employer Ballarat Regional Industries.

The Soup Bus and Federation TAFE also received a box each to distribute to their respective clients and students.

McCallum workers and their supervisors have remained employed on site throughout the COVID lockdown.