Cynwyd-based Ifor Williams Trailers has created 30 jobs after setting up a new academy to train welders. Its training school was officially opened by Ken Skates, the Economy and Transport Minister, at the beginning of April.

The company took the decision to train its own welders to meet “soaring” demand for its trailers.

Ifor Williams Trailers (www.iwt.co.uk) was established in 1958 in Cynwyd and has expanded over the years, opening manufacturing sites in Corwen, Ruthin, Sandycroft and on Deeside Industrial Estate; it currently employs more than 500 people.

The 30 new welding jobs are on top of the 100 posts created at the company’s Sandycroft factory, which opened in November 2017.

As well as having 50 UK outlets for its trailers, the company has an international network of distributors that stretches as far as Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Skates said: “Setting up the Weld Academy was a brilliant idea. I have learned that new welders can acquire all the knowledge and skills required to then go onto the shopfloor to build the trailers, to weld them together and to produce what are incredibly important high-quality goods for the international market-place.”

Project manager Nick Backstrom, who runs the Weld Academy (based at the Corwen factory), said: “This is all about getting the local workforce skilled in line with the bespoke needs of Ifor Williams Trailers.

"It’s a really intensive course that can take someone from zero skills to being production-ready, tailored to the needs of the business. They are putting in close to a 150hrs behind the welding mask.

"If they pass the test at the end of the course, they will get a job and shadow an experienced welder, before they work on their own.”