A new training suite has been opened by Bradford pneumatics specialist Thorite at its Laisterdyke base.

The state-of-the-art centre will be used by Thorite staff from head office and its depots around the country, along with customers who are provided with regular technical updates on equipment which Thorite supplies and services.

The training suite was formally opened by the Lord Mayor of Bradford, Coun Dale Smith.

The new centre will be used for monthly two-day training courses for users of compressed air and pneumatic equipment as well as a pneumatic foundation course which includes hands-on training in circuit creation and fault-finding. The courses will be headed by technical specialist Bernard Alder.

Investment in the training suite is part of Thorite’s programme to update and refurbish the company’s regional network of ten specialist sales and service centres across Yorkshire, Lancashire, the North East and West Midlands.

The Lord Mayor, whose term of office ends this week, was making one of his last visits to local businesses in a programme which has seen him make more than 800 civic visits to companies across the district.

He praised family-run Thorite for its commitment to and investment in training, saying: “I’m delighted to play a part in this important step forward for Thorite, which, although now a respected national brand and a multi-million pound operation, is still a family run business – and more importantly run by a Bradford family.”

Thorite started in 1850 making textile machinery for mills. In 2010, it marked the 50th anniversary of diversifying into pneumatics. Thorite employs around 100 people and Stephen Wright is founder Thomas’s great-great-grandson.

l The Lord Mayor is today visiting Sigma Technologies Ltd on Dockfield Road, Shipley.

The company, which relocated to its present base earlier this year, doubling its operating space, specialises in precision engineering and manufactures a wide range of components and assemblies using the latest CNC technology and production software.

Its operations range from making samples to mass production of components such as valve bodies stainless steel bolts in a 24-hours a day operation.