Manufacturing giant MaxiTRANS has delivered a specially developed, innovative trailer for Melbourne Polytechnics’ beekeeping course.
The Maxi-CUBE Classic Dry Freight van will become the classroom for budding Victorian apiarists learning the trade of beekeeping and honey extraction.
As a prominent Victorian training provider of Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses, Melbourne Polytechnic is taking the classroom on the road after first developing a beekeeping course in Victoria during the COVID pandemic.
The self-sufficient, off-grid trailer serves as both a classroom and a model for practical, hands-on training.
A Western Star prime mover is keeping the unit mobile as it moves across diverse terrains, with the classroom travelling throughout the state, offering flexibility and accessibility.
Melbourne Polytechnic facilities and assets team member James Farmer is helping lead the design and construction of the trailer classroom, originally pitching the idea.
MaxiTRANS directed the unique concept to refrigerated and dry freight trailer specialist Maxi-CUBE to design a space that suits the students needs.
“There’s two extractors in there, a warming cabinet, equipment to do repairs to boxes or create new boxes. They learn to rob hives, take the wax off them and run them through the extractors,” Farmer says.
“There can be up to 20 students and they don’t all need to be in the trailer at the same time. They learn the whole process as they go through.”
The trailer was designed to be large enough to serve as a classroom, while adhering to road safety and transport guidelines.
Since being completed in April, the trailer has come into action with immediate impact, as the classroom went for its first beekeeping course in August.