The owners of a West Cumbrian engineering firm are eyeing further growth after doubling its staff and investing in new machinery and technology since taking on the business five years ago.

Aneta Gibka and Rafal Gibki took over RAF General Engineering, formerly known as Hudson Swan, in July 2017.

The couple moved to Britain from Poland in 2005, with Rafal working at Hudson Swan as an engineer before purchasing the engineering and fabrication business when the previous owners retired.

Despite facing some challenging times, the pair have managed to grow the business and its turnover consistently since they have been in charge.

“We started the business at quite a hard time because first we had Brexit and then Covid-19 and then Putin decided to go to war in Ukraine, which put up steel prices significantly,” says Rafal.

“Now we are looking to just grow the company steadily.”

There are now 16 staff working at the business, compared to eight when Rafal and Aneta took over.

As well as taking on more staff they have also bought five new machines,

“We needed to grow and to do this we needed to invest in new machinery and new manufacturing software which was purchased with the help of Made Smarter in 2021, this has had a positive impact on our innovation and production in general,” says Aneta.“We’ve got very highly skilled staff now and we’re very proud of that because a lot of them started with us as apprentices and they’ve been through the learning process alongside Raf and now they have decided to stay.”

They are hoping to take on four more engineering staff to keep up with growing demand.“The problem we have got now is trying to find the right people to work here,” says Rafal.

“We’re advertising all the time, but it is difficult to find skilled people.”

The business has taken on at least one apprentice each year from Lakes College, in Lillyhall, and will continue doing so to help fill the gap.

RAF manufactures parts for local firms, including Workington engineering firm TSP Engineering, James Fisher Nuclear & Iggesund. Outside of Cumbria, its work includes supplying parts for use in the steelmaking process to Tata Steel at Port Talbot.

Aneta and Rafal are hoping to continue to grow the business by working with new customers across the UK, as well as new sectors such as aerospace.

Their growth ambitions have been helped by the business being given a silver award as part of the Swimming With The Big Fish initiative spearheaded by Cumbrian chartered surveyors Solomons Europe.

The scheme aims to help SMEs pick up contracts as part of major projects at Sellafield, with Solomons Europe acting as matchmaker.

Aneta is hopeful that with the help of Swimming With The Big Fish the business could become a supplier to major projects at Sellafield as part of its Programme and Project Partners model.

“Solomons Europe have been so helpful and very supportive,” says Aneta.

Alongside providing employment, the company is also supporting the community by donating time to construct a stainless steel monument which will be part of the Covid-19 Garden of Remembrance being created in Workington’s Vulcan Park.

“We try to be involved in the community as well and add social value alongside employment,” says Aneta.