About
GTW Developments Ltd has, since its formation in 1997, been a development / intellectual property company. For most of its existence, the company has concentrated on developing new forms of pneumatic yarn splicer. From the outset, GTW Developments developed new splicers for the earlier Pentwyn Splicers company. GTW Developments and Pentwyn Splicers operated together, the former as a provider of new designs, the latter as a manufacturing and trading company, marketing the products developed by GTW.
In the new development company, we had three simple targets:
- to maintain Pentwyn’s long-established reputation as manufacturers of high-quality, reliable and durable products.
- to maintain the highest standards of customer service.
- to become respected for technical innovation of the highest quality.
Pentwyn Splicers, marketing GTW inventions, won a number of innovation and design awards, including:
| Cardiff University UK: | Innovation Award 1999 |
| British Design Council: | Millennium Product Award, Model 111, 1999 |
| British Design Council: | Millennium Product Award, Model 103, 2000 |
| Cardiff University UK: | Inaugural Sir Brian Smith Innovation Prize 2001 |
As time passed, and the market changed, GTW began to manufacture in its own right, and eventually purchased Pentwyn’s remaining intellectual property rights, including the “Pentwyn Splicers” trade mark. GTW Developments Ltd. now manufactures a completely new generation of products which are simple, reliable and very capable. These products continue to sell under the Pentwyn trade name, which is well known in the industry.
We have improved:
- The technology (the physics) of the process. We have identified a model of the splicing process which is radically different from that applied by other manufacturers. Two patents incorporating the new principles have recently been filed, and three more will be filed during 2007. Significant and on-going investment is being made in splicing research.
- The engineering of the product components. Our products are better yet simpler, and the manufacturing costs have been reduced to match. Our customers get better product durability, reduced downtime, reduced parts inventory, and reduced cost. Two of the new products were granted Millennium Product status, recognising excellence of design.
- The ergonomics of the designs. Once big, heavy, ugly, and “engineering-led”, our products are now being developed from the outset with users in mind – the designs are “user-led”. Our products are perceived by our customers to be more user-friendly as well as more reliable. Our latest product, introduced in 2009, performs better than its 1995 counterpart, and is 50 per cent lighter.
The embracing of improved support through better communication and customer relations, which are founded on quality, communication, honesty and openness. We have a reputation for the construction and supply of rugged equipment. As we continue to introduce improved products, the reputation for quality has been enhanced. Quality does not always work to our short term advantage – our spares and repairs business is reduced – but the customer is more content.
Further support improvements will soon be introduced, including an on-line splicing “textbook”, a smart decision-tree section of the web site, facilitating customer product selection, web-based movies for product demonstration, and an on-line “intelligent” diagnostic system for fault analysis and problem solving.