"Profit From Experience"

Product Training Courses for customers and employees, at home and abroad


How did 'Profit from Experience' come about?     

Originally established in the mid 1970s, at the Cliffe Vale factory, Jim Gibson (the PR Manager) held training courses for both customers and employees on a 'when required' basis. These courses proved a valuable marketing and sales tool and soon became very popular and more regular, mainly because of Jim's huge personality.

Jim Gibson performing in 1980
The one with no bow tie but a bucket of warm water!


Twyfords Profit From Experience course
February 1979


With the building of a new office block at the Alsager factory in 1992, together with its purpose-built training room, Chris Wrigley (then Sales Manager) took on the role of Customer Training Manager. The Twyfords 'Profit from Experience' product training brand was born. 

Chris Wrigley in 1995
Customer Training Manager


Twyfords Profit from Experience brochure
Front cover from 1995


New office block built in 1992 - Alsager factory
home of the training centre till 2000


Regular monthly 2-day courses, were established and the sales force were tasked with inviting customers to attend. (Sales Manager, Robert Evans, won the prize for inviting the most customers to successfully participate in the training.) 

Chris Wrigley quickly developed the courses and oversaw the building of an all-new Training Centre in a re-purposed dispatch warehouse in the factory.

Twyford Training Centre in 2000


Purpose-built training room
Alsager factory image from 2005



When Chris Wrigley retired in 1996, Mike Rylands (then Product Manager) who had been assisting Chris for some time, stepped into his shoes. 

Mike Rylands 


Sadly and tragically, Mike developed cancer and was not able to continue in the role for very long. 

Chris Wrigley came out of retirement, on a consultancy basis, to continue running the courses until a new Customer Training Manager could be found. This didn’t take too long. Terry Woolliscroft (then Product Manager) was the choice and he took on the role in summer 1997.  

Terry spent some time with Chris and then conducted his first course on 15th and 16th July 1997. He stayed in the position of Customer Training Manager until the financial crisis of 2008 which saw Terry being made redundant (after 29 years with the firm). All formal customer and employee training and formal factory tours came to a full stop. 

Terry Woolliscroft
Outside the Training Centre - Alsager factory



Selection of images from some courses    

Courses held in - Alsager at the factory, Aberdeen, Abu Dhabi, Brodick, Cape Town, Chicago, Dubai, Dublin, Dumfries, Durban, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Inverness, Jeddah, Jersey, Johannesburg, Leicester, London, Moscow, Orkney, Port of Spain, Riyadh, St. Helier, Saint Peter Port, Saint Petersburg, Torquay


Saudi Arabia - Riyadh and Jeddah - January 2000
An invitation from our customer, Orbit, to train their sales staff in venues in Riyadh and Jeddah. Export Sales Manager, Richrd Robards, made the arrangements for the trip

Preparing the training room with
Richard Robards, Export Sales Manager for the region (right)


Training Room with a view
Riyadh - January 2000


South Africa - Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban - April 2001 

Profit from Experience in South Africa
April 2001


Scotland Tour in 2002 for Total Install


Twyford PFE Total Install 
Inverness 2002 team photo
 


Twyford PFE Total Install
Terry Woolliscroft presenting - 2002


Hong Kong - March 2003

"Twyford - The Professional's Choice"
Product training - March 2003 




Ireland, Dublin - September 2004 

Twyford Profit from Experience 
Customer - Usher, sales staff 
Steve Breslin (Export Sales Manager) 
and Terry Woolliscroft at the back


Trinidad and Tobago, Port of Spain - April 2005

Twyford Profit from Experience 
Customer - Anthony P Scott
All set up and awaiting delegates 


Twyford Profit from Experience 
Customer - Anthony P Scott
with Richard Robards (Export Sales Manager), presenting


Scotland, Dumfries - November 2005

Twyford Profit from Experience
Setting up



What did the courses cover?     

Profit from Experience training was packed with information. Put simply, courses were designed to show how the products were manufactured, how they were brought to market, how they met rigorous quality standards and how they could be used to design 'the perfect bathroom'.  Every course was different in some way since they were tweaked to suit the particular attendees.

The manufacture of:
  •     Vitreous china products - factory tour
  •     Fireclay products - factory tour
  •     Brassware, taps and fittings - factory tour and videos
  •     Acrylic baths - videos
  •     Steel baths - videos
  •     Shower enclosures - videos
Insights into:
  •     The Development of the Flushing Toilet
  •     Milestones in the History of Twyfords 
  •     Milestones in the History of Doulton bathrooms
    
Insights into the materials used:
  • Vitreous China
  • Fine Fireclay
  • Porcelain enamelled steel
  • Reinforced acrylic sheet
  • Chrome plated or gold finished brass
  • Stainless steel
  • Real Wood and MDF
Also:
  • Bathroom design
  • Water regulations
  • Toilet testing
  • Sales & Marketing
  • Product Care & Guarantee
  • Good Handling Guide

To keep the courses lively some were punctuated with exercises - the assembly of some products such as fitting legs to a porcelain enamelled bath and the assembly of components such as WC/cistern syphons.

All products were demonstrated either in the showroom, training centre or workshop.