AFTER years of upheaval and job losses, world-famous pram manufacturers Silver Cross is facing a new problem - it can't recruit enough staff to keep up with orders.

But for bosses at the Guiseley factory, which has enjoyed a welcome recent revival, it's a problem which barely more than two years ago would have been dismissed as a wild fantasy.

Before The Design Company took over Silver Cross in September 2000, the Oxford Road company had called in the receivers just 12 months earlier, with debts of more than £4 million. Seventy redundancies followed and the future looked bleak.

Then the Hazell family from Oxfordshire came in and did their best to bail out the company from the debts they had inherited.

But their inexperience in this particular type of business soon caught up with them and they were losing tens of thousands of pounds a week when they had admit defeat and sell the business to The Design Company. A further 22 redundancies followed.

Now, exactly two years later, Silver Cross has just announced record profits for last month, the order book is bulging and factory bosses are anxiously looking to recruit another 20 people in a bid to meet the extra demand, bringing the workforce numbers up to the 155-mark.

That figure in itself is remarkable given that when The Design Company took over, staff numbered only around the 28 mark.There are even hopes that by the end of this year, numbers could reach as high as 175.

Manufacturing Operations Manager Michael Kernick said that before the current owners took over, staff had been taken on when the business wasn't sustainable, which had led to redundancies and the recent roller coaster years for its workforce.

"What we've done is slowly built the business up again and when we take people on, it's because the work is there for them," he said. "This is conservative recruitment - it is still very tight and there will be plenty of overtime. I had to make people redundant a couple of years ago and I never want to do that again. We only recruit what we need and what we can offer now is a stable business.

"I think stability is the key and I really do feel we can offer that - we have turned around a business that everybody else failed to do. Two years ago it wasn't even a business.

"We see the all-time record profits in July as the norm now. We have never been in such a strong position, not even in Silver Cross's heyday because we are a complete nursery business now."

Silver Cross launched a new range earlier this year which has proved very popular and the business now offers more than 250 options for prams. The factory has also branched out into nursery furniture, rocking horses and bedding.

Mr Kernick said that there are also plans for a sustained period of investment to replace some of the older machinery in the factory over the next three years.

Work has already begun on creating a showroom for customers to look around at the Guiseley factory, replacing an area which used to be used as offices near the reception area. There are also monthly sales to the prestigious United States market, and the company now manufactures 70 per cent of the textiles it uses in Guiseley instead of the 30 per cent previously.

Sub-contracting has also increased productivity in the factory's chrome plating plant.

Mr Kernick stressed the company's commitment to manufacturing in Guiseley, scotching any lingering worries that the company might move from its home of more than 70 years.

"The commitment to Guiseley is long-term," he said. "We are not offering short-term jobs here. It would rip the heart out of the community of Guiseley if Silver Cross was to move and we have no intentions of doing so.

"We can boast a low staff turnover and all we ask is enthusiasm, commitment and a day's hard work from people.

"It has taken us a lot of hard work for us to reach this far and we are now a very viable and profitable business. There is still a lot of work to be done and I don't want to gloss over the fact that we still have a way to go before we become market leaders. We still need to continue to grow and I hope that within the next two years we will be in the top three in the nursery business - we are not far off that now and our ultimate aim is to be market leaders.

"It may take us a little longer than expected, say five years instead of the three we first thought, but we will get there."

"We had record sales last month and we are struggling to keep up with the growth of the business. We've had some big orders come in, because the quality is there and we've shown we can deliver on time. The extra demands have been unbelievable.

"We are now into Mothercare and Toys R Us, both of which are obviously big outlets for us. They are both big businesses - something which we have not been involved with for a long time."

Mr Kernick, who has been at Silver Cross for 12 years, said people were needed to be able to satisfy the growing demands on the businesses.

"For so long we have been chasing work and now we have it in abundance and we need to make sure we can keep up and not lose this newly-found business," he added.

Silver Cross has customers across the world including Prime Minister Tony Blair. In the past the company has also supplied its goods to members of the Royal Family.

About 20 new people are urgently needed at the factory to fill a variety of positions including shop floor operators, sewing machinists and warehouse operators.

Anyone interested in filling a position at Silver Cross should contact personnel officer Elizabeth Hunt on (01943) 876177.