Why we’ve joined West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services (WYMS)

3 min read | June 2025

• As a leading offsite construction company, we’re keen to champion growth in manufacturing in Yorkshire and beyond

• We’ve joined West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services (WYMS), a charitable organisation set up to support manufacturing businesses across the region

• We’re looking forward to meeting more members of the West Yorkshire manufacturing community, to connect and learn about how we can support the future of the industry

Here at Thurston Group, we place championing the manufacturing industry and our peers at the forefront of what we do, having recently opened our doors up to the Made in Yorkshire network for a factory tour.

With this in mind, we’ve joined West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services (WYMS), to further dedicate ourselves to helping secure the future of the manufacturing and engineering industries locally and beyond.

Why we’ve joined WYMS

As a leading offsite construction company, we’re on our way to becoming the top choice modular manufacturer in the UK for public and private sector businesses alike. But to get there, we need a skilled, growing workforce, so we can scale up, whilst maintaining operational excellence under our continuous improvement strategy.

West Yorkshire Manufacturing Services (WYMS) is a charity, formed in 2021 by a group of manufacturing and engineering leaders. Its aim is to ensure that the region’s manufacturing and engineering industry has a skilled workforce that enables the sector to thrive.

Since launching, WYMS has delivered exceptional training and apprenticeship provisions across the region, whilst running workforce re-skilling and upskilling courses, and providing an Industry 4.0 hub for people to learn about introducing new technologies into manufacturing.

At Thurston, we’re well-aligned with the WYMS way of thinking – we’ve already  provided additional training for our staff members looking to grow  their careers alongside bringing in new apprentices, and we’ve also invested in  more advanced technology for our shop floor.

What we hope to gain from joining WYMS

By joining WYMS, we’re excited to connect with more manufacturing firms in the region, to talk about how we can secure the future of this industry and its workforce.

Great things can come out of collaboration, and we’re looking forward to learning about what else we can do to champion the young people entering manufacturing careers, whilst ensuring our longstanding workers have the opportunities to upskill, reskill, and discover what modern manufacturing can be.

Our HR director, Liz Scott, said: “At Thurston, we know that people are the engine behind every great manufacturing business. Joining WYMS is part of our commitment to invest in talent – supporting both the next generation coming into the industry and the colleagues who’ve helped us grow to where we are today. We’re excited to work with the WYMS community to share ideas, upskill our workforce, and make sure modern manufacturing remains a brilliant career path for years to come.”

If you’re a manufacturing leader, interested in learning more about what we do and how we could work together, please connect with our managing director Matt Goff here on LinkedIn.

Looking for a career at Thurston Group? Send an email to hr@thurstongroup.co.uk and let us know how your skills could help us soar higher.