A partnership between Volgren, Australia’s largest bus body builder, and Waverley Industries has not only reduced overall assembly time, but created long-term employment opportunities for people with special needs, in particular intellectually disabled adults.
Waverley Industries, a not for-for-profit group with more than 30 years’ experience in the packaging and assembly sector, provides various sub-assembly brackets, hand rail anchor plates and LED internal cabin lighting strips for Volgren’s three manufacturing facilities in Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria.
Michael Healy, Volgren’s Supply Chain Manager, said in the three years of working together, Waverley Industries has become a trusted partner of Volgren by improving the pre-assembly process and the overall quality of finished components.
“Volgren has always prided itself as being a family-orientated business, with a strong emphasis on supporting the local community. The partnership with Waverley Industries was an obvious choice for us,” Michael said.
Healy said that Waverley Industries assembles LED light kits and three different types of gussets, as well as sharpening used drill bits.
“The working relationship continues to evolve as we get a better understanding of one another’s capabilities and requirements.”
“The nature of jobs is changing from simple assembly work on gussets to more complex jobs. As more opportunities are raised by our continuous improvement initiatives we hope to steadily increase the volume and scope of work to Waverley Industries,” Michael said.
Waverley Industries CEO Frank Cresia was delighted with the news that their Hallam employees with disabilities have the opportunity to work with Volgren, ‘Australia’s largest bus body builder’.
Mr Cresia said ‘this partnership provides our organisation further diversification and most importantly, it provides new challenges for our Hallam team that will be empowered to do the work. This partnership e
nhances Waverley Industries creditability within the assembling and packaging industry. It will also encourage other likeminded corporates to have the confidence in future dealings with Social Enterprises like Waverley Industries.”
Healy said the sharpening of used drill bits from Volgren’s Dandenong facility is a good example of identifying different ways of working together.
“Previously, most of our drill bits would have been disposed of but, by lending the drill sharpening equipment to Waverley Industries, we’ve been able to recycle the drill bits back to working order, which is both a cost saving measure and helps the environment.”
