High Standards And A Mission, All In One Package
At Coleman Assembly & Packaging, business appears to be a simple matter of doing a good job at a low cost to the customer. And sometimes it really is that simple.
But if you dig deeper, you’ll find there’s a human service element involved: the challenge of providing opportunities for employment and enrichment to a population of people who might otherwise have difficulty finding both. Among the key players for the backstage team are approximately 100 developmentally or physically disabled adults who painstakingly do the jobs in the world of assembly and packaging that machines can’t do efficiently and manufacturers often find tedious.
On Growth Path
The business, which has grown considerably in the past year, is a subsidiary of GAAMHA Inc., a nonprofit organization that has been around since 1967 as an active partner in the Gardner area of North Central Massachusetts. GAAMHA, one of several agencies in the Bay State focused on serving people with disabilities, has been led for 20 years by CEO and President Sybil Arguijo.
“Coleman Assembly & Packaging was born when several of us were trying to think about new ways to offer more vital vocational training,” she said. “We wanted our individuals to have access to real opportunities and real situations that will help them gain the skills needed to take on more competitive jobs in the workplace.”
With a 50,000-square-foot office and workshop that houses both the administrative offices of GAAMHA Inc. and the workshops and storage space for Coleman Assembly & Packaging, there is plenty of space for employees to do jobs that require varying levels of skill and focus. Having such a large space, said Arguijo, allows the company to accept jobs other operations cannot. Part of the space serves as a massive storage area for skids that are delivered daily, and for the thousands of boxes the company is contracted to assemble and ship. The space also houses a biomedical “clean room” that allows workers to bag and seal equipment in a sterile environment.
Diversified Work
From producing more than a million pieces of plastic components per quarter for the automotive industry to filling boxes with empty bottles for a small start-up soda manufacturer, the workforce at Coleman — a blend of disabled and non-disabled workers — changes and shifts along with its needs and deadlines.
“The fact that we employ folks with disabilities is not always my selling point,” said Sales Manager Vernon Hickey, who has been a driving force behind adding accounts and increasing output on the line. He said that while some companies are dedicated to doing business with companies like Coleman that share their philosophies and values, manycompanies just want the job done right — Coleman’s primary mission.
“We want to deliver our customers their product on time and at a good price,” Hickey said, “and they take comfort in knowing that their product is in good hands.”
Help With Literacy
Perhaps the most notable and least publicized aspect of Coleman’s commitment to its workforce is the on-site literacy center, where individuals have access to the tutoring of a retired teacher. That’s where Coleman’s workers can take a break to work on reading, writing and fundamental financial skills like banking and balancing a checkbook.
“Some of these individuals have never, in their lives, had the opportunity to learn to read and we feel very strongly that it is our job to make that available to those who have the desire,” said Arguijo. “Beyond that, we believe that people with challenges have every right to live a busy and productive life. Being a part of that for these people has expanded me as a human being.”
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