Unstoppable

Text: Malin Dahlberg Photo: Sara Bogren 

It’s quite something to watch Jimcaale Abdillahi tackle a pallet at the parcel terminal in Växjö. Armed with a roll of plastic and a perfectly judged flick at each corner, he whizzes around the boxes.

In the time it takes for the terminal’s automatic packing machine to wrap one pallet, Jimcaale has finished off four.

His skills have drawn attention, and not just from his admiring colleagues. Terminal manager Tonny Johansson wrote on the job site LinkedIn: “No machine in the world can wrap pallets in plastic as quickly and with the same high quality as you do by hand, and with a smile every time. Hats off to you; I am truly impressed!” 

“It’s hard to describe how it feels when someone says such nice things, but it makes me happy. It makes me want to develop professionally and learn new things,” says Jimcaale Abdillahi.

At work, he’s the guy who is always ready to laugh and who never loses his cool when things get complicated or stressful. But his special plastic-wrapping skills – faster than a left jab from Muhammad Ali – are no coincidence. They are the result of several years of training in his native country, Somalia.

“There are no machines to help like here in Sweden. In Somalia, you use your muscles and the power of your entire body. And that’s what makes it fun: when you get to move quickly and use all your strength,” says Jimcaale.

He came to Sweden as a refugee in 2012 and says he really likes it here. He has friends in Växjö and at work at PostNord. He is responsible for some of the bigger clients at the terminal and is also shadowing the group leader with a view to taking on greater responsibilities in the future. 

“I would also like to study information logistics. That’s my dream,” says Jimcaale. 

Jimcaale Abdillahi
Position at PostNord: Terminal worker in Växjö, Sweden.
Special skill: Can wrap a pallet in plastic by hand four times faster than a machine.
Closest colleagues: Jacob Johné, Hadi Hosseini, Johanna Mattisson, Linus Nilsson and Wisam Ahmad Hasan. 

See Jimcaale’s lightning-fast wrapping skills
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