A Castleford engineering company says that investment in training has been so successful that it has outgrown its factory and is moving to larger premises in nearby Normanton.

Yorkshire Laser Fabrication (YLF) (www.yorkshirelaser.co.uk) introduced an extensive skills-development programme after it expanded its specialist engineering team by five last summer.

It sent three engineers to York University to enhance their understanding of CAD parametric modelling, and it invested in developing its management team to help the firm achieve ISO 9001: 2015.

Managing director Matthew Orford said: “Our business has been built on providing high-quality specialist laser cutting and fabrication services to the power, heating, telecoms, medical, food and automotive sectors.

We have successfully completed work for the Burj Khalifa Tower in Dubai, as well as supplying cabinets and light brackets for the telecoms and oil sectors respectively in hostile environments, such as the North Sea.

“The support that we’ve received from Leeds City Region LEP has been fantastic. They helped us to secure new premises, and we’ve completed three lots of completely different training that have put the company in a strong position.

“We’re looking to build on this now, and the expansion into new premises is just one part of our ambitious plans, which we expect to really ‘kick-start’ our growth.”