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NEWS
Roadstar old-timers still going strong
Long-term employees celebrate significant birthday and anniversary milestones at Melbourne manufacturerThey say hiring and holding on to good employees is one of the biggest challenges for Australian caravan manufacturers, but that doesn’t appear to be a major problem at Melbourne’s Roadstar Caravans.
The 27-year old manufacturer is celebrating two significant employee milestones this year, with Roadstar production manager Mick Dubojski celebrating his 73rd birthday this month, while another long-term employee Noel Zammit, who heads up design and production planning, is marking 38 years in the caravan industry.
As recounted on the Roadstar website, both have had interesting and varied roles before ending up at the now Somerton, Victoria-based factory.
After migrating to Australia as a 21-year old trained cabinet maker and carpenter in 1964, Mick kicked off more than half a century in caravan-building at the then Reservoir-based Newlands Caravans.
He stayed there for nine years before running Hacienda Caravans for three years, then moved to Windsor Caravans where he headed up the ‘Shell’ department for another 10 years or so.
When West Australia’s Fleetwood bought Windsor Caravans in the late-1980s, Mick decided to stay and work with the new Roadstar Caravans, which was made up of ex-Windsor employees, and he’s been there ever since.
Noel Zammit started his working career in caravans at an even earlier age, when after studying design he joined Windsor Caravans as a 17-year old and worked there in design, production planning and purchasing for 10 years, before joining Roadstar.
Noel’s seen a few major changes in the caravan industry over the years, such as caravan buyers in the past having much fewer options than they do today, and the move from traditional style wooden furniture to more efficient CNC-cut solid ply, flat-pack construction.
Mick has also seen plenty of changes in the way caravans are built, like in the ‘old days’ when the interior would be finished off with a coat of spray paint applied liberally throughout the van.
Mick has more recently used his expertise in mentoring and training roles, including guiding TAFE students in building a van from scratch.
By contrast, Roadstar boss Ken Nizam is a relative rookie, although it is coming up to 10 years since his family business and chassis supplier Hi Tech Engineering bought Roadstar Caravans in 2008.
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Written byChris Fincham
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Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
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