Staff hard at work at Logan curtain making business with COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan

Vadain staff at Crestmead have been hard at work throughout COVID-19, quickly adapting to a new working environment, producing 250 curtains a day, to make sure the business is able to meet customers’ expectations.  

The loan scheme administered by the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority (QRIDA), provides finance of up to $250,000 for businesses and non-profit organisations impacted by COVID-19 to assist with carry-on expenses such as employee wages, rent and rates and other expenditure. 

Director Paul Cooper said all 40 staff were able to keep their jobs. 

“Even when it was quiet we maintained training and spent time redesigning the factory floor and maintaining machines so everyone could work in a safe environment,” he said. 

“The loan is going to be crucial for us because it will allow us to continue supporting all the staff. 

“The staff have a very high level of curtain making skills. There are more than 40 staff and they are culturally very diverse but make a great team. 

“There is a lot of synergy among the staff. They refer other people to come and work for us because they enjoy their work and we are able to hire new staff based on trusted referrals from our existing staff.” 

Paul said the company was also able to move into making resources for health care workers. 

“Each time aged care and front line health care industries need more gowns, we can roll them out on short notice and assist in protecting our health care workers,” he said. 

The family business was established in the Netherlands more than 40 years ago before expanding to Australia, Poland and India. 

“The company looked at various states and locations but set up in Queensland in Crestmead. At the time they acquired a small curtain making room that was already operating in Brisbane and migrated all the team into the business,” Mr Cooper said. 

“They brought in the equipment they use globally to maintain the manufacturing processes.” 

Paul said the company continued to innovate, adapting the factory to make sure staff could work in a safe environment.  

“We were able to bring innovation to the business to make sure we can safely work, and we have diversified. We’ve taken the opportunity to create more efficiencies. It’s a credit to the staff who have all adapted to the new measures to make sure we are staying safe and able to work,” he said. 

“We had to redesign the floor and way of working to ensure there was physical separation of staff and to make the business COVID safe. We had to minimise the impact on work flow while also making sure COVID safe guidelines were met. 

“We were also able to take on an additional line of work by managing the logistics side of our customers’ retail businesses. Instead of the store moving the fabric about, we are able to store it in the factory and offer a warehousing solution. 

“Doing that will allow us to maintain and increase the productivity and allow us to better serve our customers.” 

Existing COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan clients can find important information about the ongoing management of their loans on the COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan page.

QRIDA is delivering the $1 billion COVID-19 Jobs Support Loan Scheme on behalf of the Queensland Government.