Coats Group plc announces acquisition of GSD Corporate Ltd
- 06 May 2015
Coats Group plc, the world’s leading industrial thread and consumer textile crafts business, and GSD are pleased to announce that, following the strategic alliance announced in May 2014, Coats has acquired 100% of GSD Corporate Ltd, which becomes a Coats Group company.
GSD, a UK based company, supplies expert management solutions that analyse time, cost and production capability in the sewn products sector with the focus on maximising productivity and controlling costs. GSD will become part of Coats Global Services, which was launched in 2013 in response to customer demands to help them realise productivity and supply chain improvements, develop technical skills and enhance corporate responsibility.
Paul Forman, Chief Executive, Coats Group plc, said: ‘We are delighted that GSD will be joining Coats Group. GSD is a world leader in its field, with a comprehensive offering that meets both cost efficiency and social compliance needs at a time when we are seeing growth in demand in these areas. Coats is also a recognised industry leader, with longstanding expertise and deep industry relationships. Both companies, and more importantly our customers, will benefit from the combination and wider availability of these value adding services.’
Paul Timson, Managing Director, GSD (Corporate) Ltd, said: ‘This is a great opportunity for GSD and for our customers. We are delighted to be joining Coats following the success of our strategic alliance over the last 12 months. The combination of GSD’s specialist technical knowledge, data integrity and industry experience married to the global reach, customer and brand relationships, industry stature and consulting expertise of Coats, will provide a transformative and exciting offering.’
Coats Global Services and GSD will work together to deliver management solutions to maximise productivity and drive down costs in the sewn products manufacturing sector, with GSD providing time-cost benchmarking and Coats offering consulting and technical production expertise, for retailers, brands and their supply chain vendors.
GSD will enhance Coats Global Services’ end to end Operational Excellence offering, which provides practical, industry-specific technical services, training, technology solutions, quality assurance and compliance, while GSD will have access to Coats’ global reach and resources.
ENDS
For more information please contact:
Kristina Blissett, Communications Manager, Coats, kristina.blissett@coats.com
T +44 (0)208 210 5084, M +44 (0)7714 539887
Paul Timson, Managing Director, GSD, paul.timson@gsdhq.com
M +44 (0) 7715169704
Notes to Editors
About Coats Global Services:
Coats Global Services was launched in response to customer demands to help industry partners realise productivity and supply chain gains, develop technical skills, and enhance corporate responsibility across manufacturing and colour management. GSD, with its powerful software solutions and loyal customers worldwide, will enhance Coats Global Services’ end to end Operational Excellence offering which provides practical, industry specific technical services, technology solutions, innovative tools and training.
About GSD (Corporate) Ltd
GSD is a UK company based in Preston, traditionally the heartland of the UK garment and textile industry. Since 1976 it has been, and continues to be, a global market leader, supplying methods analysis and productivity improvement solutions to the sewn products sector. As the globally accepted Predetermined Times System for the sewn products sector, GSD is referenced by the International Labour Organisation as an industry standard. It is active in more than 68 countries and has more than 5,000 customers worldwide. There are also more than 12,000 formally licensed ‘GSD Practitioners’ in the world today. Revenues in 2014 were approximately £1.5m.
To find out more about GSD visit www.gsdhq.com
About Coats
With a rich heritage dating back to the 1750s, Coats is the world's leading industrial thread and consumer textile crafts business, at home in more than 70 countries, employing over 20,000 people across six continents. Revenues in 2014 were US$1.7bn.
Our well-known brands and strong relationships with customers and consumers mean our products and services meet current and future needs. Our company-wide understanding of our business partners and consumers, coupled with the deep expertise of our people, builds trust and certainty.
Coats’ pioneering history and innovative culture ensure the company continues leading the way around the world: providing complementary and value added products and services to the apparel and footwear industries; extending the crafts offer into new markets and online; and applying innovative techniques to develop products in new areas such as tracer threads, aramids and fibre optics.
- One in five garments on the planet is held together using Coats’ thread
- More than 100 million car airbags are made using Coats’ thread every year
- Coats produces enough yarn to knit 70 million scarves a year
- Every three hours Coats makes enough thread to go to the moon and back
- More than 450 million pairs of shoes are made every year using Coats’ thread
- In 1879 Thomas Edison used Coats’ thread in his experiments to invent the light bulb
- Every week over 10 billion teabags are brewed using Coats’ thread
- Coats produces enough thread to reach around the Equator every ten minutes
- Thousands of surgical operations take place every day using Coats’ thread
- Coats is the second largest and fastest growing global zip manufacturer