Earlier this year Martin Tolliday joined P2i’s board of executives as Chief Product Officer. Having studied Automotive Technology, he brings over 25 years of experience from the Automotive, Motorsport and Defence industries to P2i.
What brought you to P2i?
MT: Having headed up the Electronics division at Cosworth for a number of years, back in 2015 P2i offered me a position to run the engineering group. Unfortunately I wasn’t here very long, but I stayed in contact with Ady and Stephen. Then in 2019, I decided to leave my post at Ricardo and return to P2i as the VP of Products. There’s a great group of people here, but I saw the opportunity in P2i for growth and it really felt like something I hadn’t completed on my first tour. I really wanted to be part of helping P2i achieve its true potential.
Returning after four years away must give you a unique perspective?
MT: Yes. Some things are still the same: The same challenges with developing a complex product, a lot of the people are the same, and a lot of the customers are similar. Over the first 8 months of my return, it became apparent that P2i had grown considerably since I was last here, with a bigger product portfolio. But unfortunately the processes hadn’t kept up with the growth. So we put a lot of effort into developing these processes and restructuring the business so it was more appropriate for where we want to take the business in terms of growth and product development. This is when Ady decided to offer me the position of Chief Product Officer.
So what sets P2i’s products apart?
MT: The performance, the quality, the repeatability and the way we operate with our customers. P2i work in partnership with our customers to make sure they get the best possible service and quality of product.
What’s on the roadmap for P2i’s products?
MT: P2i will have a product portfolio that has clear blue water between us and the competition. And that means taking on larger customers and expanding into different market sectors, such as automotive and other consumer electronics.
There will be new hardware platforms in which we will process customer’s equipment, focusing on ease of installation, process quality and repeatability. And there will be new chemical platforms to ensure we stay ahead of any regulatory requirements, as well as to continually try and improve the overall quality and delivery of our coating.
It’s very important to stay in tune with any regulations and any regulations that are being considered. The focus has to be continuing to make sure we are ahead of the curve before any regulations are released.
Any final thoughts?
MT: I am excited about my role at P2i. The difference with myself having run companies of the same size or bigger, is understanding not only from an engineering prospective but also from a commercial perspective. It helps bring a different dimension that is not normally brought with someone in this position. When I joined P2i I was looking for it to be the last company I work for. There’s some great young talent here and it’s important that we develop that as they will be next generation.