Nick Grey

Nick Grey (Inventor)

Nick Grey
Born	(1968-07-12) 12 July 1968 Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England
Nationality	British
Education	Tenbury High School Ludlow Sixth Form College Open University
Known for	Gtech AirRAM cordless upright vacuum cleaner
Website	Gtech AirRam

Nick Grey (born 12 July 1968) is a British designer and inventor. He is best known for founding British design company Gtech (Grey Technology Ltd), and he designed and developed the world’s first domestic power sweeper, the Gtech SW01, which sold 22 million units worldwide by 2011. In 2012, Gtech launched the AirRAM - a completely new kind of vacuum cleaner. The AirRAM is designed to be a high performance, cordless vacuum cleaner, but it is energy efficient, bagless, rechargeable and lightweight. The AirRAM has unique design features, including an app which counts calories burned during use, and a bagless system which compresses dust into bales. With this patent, Grey made one of the biggest changes to vacuum cleaner technology in 20 years - removing traditional, mains-hungry tube suction, and replacing it with a more efficient compression system. The AirRAM was rated 10/10 in a Daily Mail review titled “Is this the best vacuum cleaner ever?”

Early Life & Education

Grey was born in Bromsgrove on July 12 1968 and attended Aston Fields Primary School until the age of seven. In 1976, his family moved to Roscommon, Ireland, as Grey’s father founded an investment casting company. Three years later, in 1979, the company was sold and the family moved back to Worcestershire, where Grey attended Tenbury High School. Here, Grey began to nurture his interest in design, specifically around mechanics and engines. He later went on to study at Ludlow Sixth Form College.

Grey, and Gtech, are still based in Worcestershire.

Career

Grey began his career as a salesman, selling vacuum cleaners and bathrooms, but his interest in engineering and design saw him quickly move into floorcare design and development behind-the-scenes.

Working at VAX (First Designs)

Grey started working as a laboratory technician at Vax on November 30 1989. He set up tests for design engineers and kept the workshop clean, but his passion was for design, and in 1991, Grey made a new prototype of a Vax model with a pump.

The prototype was presented to the Vax board and Grey was promoted to the position of design engineer as a result.

His prototype was eventually turned into the Vax Powa 4000, a carpet cleaner that became Britain’s best-selling vacuum cleaner at the time.

Grey progressed to design manager, becoming a senior manager and Head of Product Development by the time the company was sold to TTi Inc in 1995.

During this period, he completed an Open University degree in Engineering and Management, for which he received a BSc 2.1 Hons.

His final project at Vax was the AVC (Advanced Vacuum Cleaner), a mains-powered, upright vacuum cleaner.

Gtech

In 2001, Grey resigned from Vax to found design company Gtech (short for Grey Technology Limited) from his home in Crowle, Worcestershire.

He used his £20,000 savings to develop the world’s first cordless powered sweeper, the Gtech SW01. Unlike vacuum cleaners, sweepers clean by physically sweeping dust off a floor surface. By 2011, the Gtech SW01 family of power sweepers had sold more than 22 million units.

As well as being the world’s first domestic power sweeper, the Gtech SW01 featured several patented design features – including a powerful brush-bar with a powered side brush, removable front cover for stair cleaning, features to collect large debris effectively, a special strip to clean hard floors and a steering system which would later be mimicked by most upright vacuum cleaner makers. The product could run for an hour, compared to the usual 12 minute runtime of cordless products of the time.

In 2004, Gtech introduced a range of lightweight, cordless garden tools. The HT04 hedge trimmer incorporated a quick-release head system, allowing the product to trim hedges, cut through branches and remove moss from patios.

In 2009, a new Bissell cleaner, designed by Gtech, was voted as one of ten winners in the annual VIP Awards, held by Good Housekeeping USA. The product was later launched in the UK under the Gtech brand.

AirRAM

In April 2012, Gtech launched the AirRAM cordless vacuum cleaner at a press event in the Science Museum, London, attended by the British press including the Daily Mail, Daily Express, and the Daily Telegraph.

The Science Museum was chosen as the venue to underpin the technological and design advances of the AirRAM. By removing long tubes and compacting the dirt into bales next to the brush bar, the AirRAM delivers mains cleaning power without the need for the cord of a traditional mains vacuum cleaner. The AirRAM is also bagless - compressing dirt and dust into bales, not bags, which can be dropped into a bin without the mess of a cyclone. or the need for a bag.

Its rechargeable Lithium battery powers a 22.2V motor, which consumies just 100W, whilst delivering powerful cleaning results. In The Engineer magazine the AirRAM scored 60.4 for carpet cleaning efficiency based on an independent test to IEC 60312-1-5.3. A traditional 2000w mains vacuum scored 40 on the same test.

The AirRAM is lighter and more energy efficient than traditional vacuum cleaners. Gtech claims using the AirRAM will deliver energy savings of up to £200 over five years compared to a 2400W vacuum when used for 20 minutes per day at 14p per KWh, helping to pay back the cost price of the vacuum cleaner itself.

The product received widespread acclaim, with the Daily Mail scoring it 10/10 in a review and questioning “Is this the best vacuum cleaner ever?”

The AirRAM was also put through its paces by Which? and gained the seal of Approval from the Good Housekeeping Institute in July 2012.

As of April 2013, Gtech consisted of a team of 40 engineering, design, finance and customer service personnel.

Media

As a well-known product designer, and figurehead of a multi-million pound British company, Grey is regularly featured in the national British press as a spokesman for British enterprise, business and design.

He has been interviewed in the Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Sunday Times, Radio 5 Live’s Show me the Money, and his local press, the Worcester News and BBC Radio Worcester.