Ballarat manufacturer MaxiTRANS plans to fill all 70 new positions needed to construct 395 heavy vehicle trailers for Coles by the end of the month.
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In April the company, which has its main workshop in Wendouree, signed a $60 million deal with Coles to construct the trailers which will be used in New South Wales and Western Australia.
The company has since gone on a major recruitment drive to fill the vacancies and has successfully filled all of the new positions with local applicants.
MaxiTRANS manufacturing group general manager Anthony Roder said about 50 new employees were already on site and by the end of June the Learmonth Road workshop will house about 500 employees.
“Off the back of the Coles announcement a couple of months ago, that really gave us the chance to get the name out there and and people started talking and it’s been a very positive response.”
About 20 of the 395 trailers produced at the Learmonth Rd site have already hit the road, with a further three trailers expected to roll off the production line every day.
The entire project is expected to be completed by February 2018.
The successful local employment drive comes after the company had previously been criticised for employing foreign workers.
As recently as 2012 MaxiTRANS had warned of a skills shortage in Ballarat which was forcing the manufacturer to look overseas to fill vacancies.
The company had partnered with Federation University’s TAFE sector to attract workers specialising in spray painting and welding to complete the Coles project.
Chief executive Dean Jenkins said the company had found filling positions with locals in Ballarat far easier than the 30 Hallam positions also linked with Coles.
The company’s work was also acknowledged at the recent Brisbane Truck Show Awards, which is the largest transport equipment show in the Asia Pacific. MaxiTRANS took home the top honour for all four categories it was nominated in, including best trailer.
Mr Jenkins said the awards for the company’s Freighter T-Liner Mark II trailer demonstrated the ability of regional manufacturers to compete with the biggest operations in the country.
“It recognises that you can do some pretty simple things that make a real difference.”
