A manufacturing business in Leeds is booming and is calling out for young people to consider a career in the manufacturing industry.

Sound Leisure, is taking part in the Leeds Manufacturing Festival this month (October) and is opening its doors to show young people some of the opportunities on offer. The family owned company, one of only two traditional Jukebox manufacturers in the World, will give visitors a sneak peek behind the scenes and former apprentices will share their stories.

Learn and earn on the job.

Chris Black, director of Sound Leisure said: “There are so many opportunities in the manufacturing sector at the moment. There are companies out there screaming for young people to come and join the industry, offering apprenticeships, giving people the chance to be learning and earning on the job.

“We’ve had great success with apprentices at Sound Leisure and have people working in the business who started off as shy school leavers who are now very vocal members of the team.”

“Sadly manufacturing is an industry that has been overlooked for some time as people think it is an old fashioned dying industry, this couldn’t be further from the truth, there are plenty of opportunities for people and lots of jobs waiting for the right people.”

Work your way up through the business.

“A career in manufacturing offers a wide range of scope for people to come in at one level and work their way up through the business. You find there is great team work in manufacturing businesses and part of that is because of the longevity that tends to come with this career. A lot of people come and stay in this sector for life.”

“Manufacturing is a really exciting industry to work in, you can travel the world if you want to. We want to inspire the next generation of manufacturers and are really looking forward to opening our doors this month and showing people what we do.”

Sound Leisure has been manufacturing high quality Jukeboxes in Yorkshire since 1978.

In addition to hand building a wide range of classic styled CD and Digital Jukeboxes they are the only manufacturer to be producing a vinyl playing Jukebox. Working alongside some of the world’s best known brands they export 75% of their machines which are sited in some of the World’s most prestigious locations, with many famous personalities boasting a Sound Leisure Classic Jukebox in their home.

Thousands of manufacturing careers available.

Leeds is the third largest manufacturing centre in the country by local authority area with around 1,800 SME manufacturers and the Festival, organised by Leeds Manufacturing Alliance, will provide a series of events opening the doors of many of these companies to young people and local communities.

The Leeds Manufacturing Alliance hopes more manufacturers in Leeds will get involved in the Festival and are urging more to come forward and help inspire our next generation. It is also hoped that the Leeds Manufacturing Festival will become an annual event which will help towards fundamentally changing perceptions about the sector.