Employment boost at laser cutting and fabrication company

Increasing demand for a laser cutting and sheet metal fabrication firm’s services has led to the creation of a number of new jobs.

Yorkshire Laser and Fabrication (YLF) in Normanton has recruited 10 extra members of staff including eight new operators, a head of operations and an additional CAD engineer in the last six months.

It has also invested more than £2.2m in the latest sheet metal fabrication and cutting equipment and design software.

Cheryl Reidy joined the company in January as head of operations, overseeing health and safety, maintenance, design, purchasing, planning and production as well as taking the lead on continuous improvement.

She had previously worked in lighting manufacture for 32 years.

“I was attracted to the role by the way YLF keep up to date with modern equipment and put back into the business from profits earned,” she said.

“The senior team have been welcoming, open and honest from day one and the support from staff at all levels has been great.

“No two days are the same with different challenges to overcome which makes for an interesting working week.”

Daniel Varley has joined YLF’s Computer Aided Design (CAD) team bringing the number of CAD engineers to four.

With years of experience of wide-ranging CAD, metal works and fabrication, he increases the capabilities and expertise on offer.

Varley is responsible for creative technical drawing using design and other specialist production software to help turn concept into reality.

He said: “Having worked in CAD roles for many years, I was aware of YLF through the industry well before I joined them.

“Their systems, processes, support and shared capabilities plus aims for growing and moving forward are highly impressive.”

YLF’s MD, Matt Orford said the newest arrivals bring the number of people employed by the company to 55.

He added: “The uncertainty of early to mid 2020 caused by the pandemic has given way to a high demand for the quality laser cutting and sheet metal fabrication services that YLF delivers.

“We are proud to be rising to the challenges and opportunities that this provides by recruiting new team members and investing in technology that enables us to increase our capacity and productivity while seeking to maintain the high levels of customer service we pride ourselves on.”