The UK arm of the American photonics company Thorlabs, with a large factory and offices at Ely in Cambridgeshire that makes optical tables, motion-control and vibration-isolation systems.
Thorlabs is a photonics company that supplies the parts research labs and manufacturers need to work with light, including fibre optics, laser diodes, optical instruments, polarization measurement and control, and piezo motors. In the UK its base is Thorlabs Ltd at Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the first floor makes optical tables and holds the warehouse and the second floor houses motion control and offices. The UK site also includes Vytran Europe, part of Thorlabs' fibre work.
The company was founded in 1989 in Newton, New Jersey, by Alex Cable, who had worked at Bell Labs. He thought photonics suppliers under-served graduate students and junior professors, who faced high costs and long lead times. Thorlabs states its mission as "We transform the world by identifying, enabling, and accelerating key photonics technologies." It lists speed without losing quality, fair pricing and clear product information, and using customer feedback among its values, and says it makes its own parts in-house, from optomechanics and fibre to lasers and electronics.
The Ely site came from Melles Griot Ltd, which began as Photon Control Ltd in 1982 and was renamed in 1992. In April 2004 Thorlabs announced it would buy it from Melles Griot Corp., and said it would keep manufacturing in the UK. A 2023 company presentation says Thorlabs Ltd operates a facility at Ely that doubled to 110,000 square feet and can hold up to 500 employees. The same document gives about 309 UK staff in July 2023 out of 2,798 worldwide, in 22 locations. The presentation also lists Exeter alongside Ely; the other UK pages we read mention only Ely.
Thorlabs UK's recruitment page describes a purpose-built site about 12 miles from Cambridge with in-house training and development, free on-site parking and refreshments, and a large canteen with an entertainment area for breaks. Benefits listed include a contributory pension, private healthcare, group life cover, group income protection and 25 days of holiday plus public holidays. Those are the company's own words. The group also says it reinvests its profits, a point it lists as part of its approach.
Thorlabs UK's recruitment notices list engineering roles in compliance, electronics, mechanics, software, technical support and sales, plus manufacturing and assembly, CNC machining, logistics, quality control, IT, finance and administration. That breadth is typical of a company that makes much of what it sells. If you like practical engineering, hands-on building or working with scientists, a manufacturer like this shows how many different jobs sit behind a research lab's equipment. Thorlabs' site is the place to read about current openings.
Website: www.thorlabs.com
PURPOSE helps school and university students explore 62 sectors and over 1,000 entry-level careers in the UK, then connects them directly with employers.
Explore PURPOSE