Yorkshire Profiles

Yorkshire Profiles Ltd was founded in 2001 by Martin Halliwell as a small WaterJet cutting sub-contract business. The business started as literally a "one man and his dog" enterprise and quickly gained a large customer database in the North Yorkshire region. The first WaterJet machine the company owned was unreliable and produced inaccurate parts. The business struggled and fought with the supplier of the machine until eventually sending it back. A new WaterJet machine was purchased from a different supplier (WaterJet Sweden) which had twin head cutting capabilities. This did more than just double the capacity of the business, it allowed Yorkshire Profiles Ltd to provide accurate parts (within +/- 0.1mm on tolerances) . With the increased reliability of the new WaterJet cutting machine it was possible to run a 24/7 production operation. Thick plates could be left cutting overnight unmanned with the finished parts ready to take off the machine in the morning ready for the customer to collect. The company German Shepard (Mr. Anderson) had a well trained ear for the WaterJet machine and would inform Martin of when something was about to go wrong. Unfortunately Mr Anderson passed away and was not to be replaced within the business. The company was quickly gaining ground with financial stability and an expanding customer database and eventually more staff taken on to handle the ever increasing workloads. Martin's wife (Karen) joined the workforce and in 2007 so did his son (Matthew) turning Yorkshire Profiles Ltd into a family run business. Yorkshire profiles now has 11 employees with the belief that it is not the quantity of employees but the quality of training and experience provided to them. With this belief Yorkshire Profiles is able to keep overheads down and efficiency up allowing them to keep prices very competitive. Team members are continually informed of targets and the companies three main goals. Affordable prices, accurate parts and fast turn-around. If any of these three goals are not achieved, any member of the Yorkshire Profiles team will do whatever it takes to put it right. The downside to just having one WaterJet was that lead times were getting longer as more customers realised Yorkshire Profiles supplying potential. After several debates the family decided the recession would be an ideal time to expand further and a top of the range laser cutting machine was installed. This has been a huge success for the business and the workload has been increasing exponentially in the following 12 months since the expansion. This lead to more people being employed and a physical expansion of the company, again doubling in size in terms of floor space. The laser allowed Yorkshire Profiles to keep lead times down on Mild steels, Aluminiums and Stainless Steel parts and by transferring work from the WaterJet to the Laser, WaterJet lead times became reasonable again as a result. Yorkshire Profiles now deals with customers nationwide and is keeping its promises for accurate parts, affordable prices and quick turn-around times.