Case Study: TFP Hydrogen Products

“Materials to Build a Greener World”

TFP Hydrogen Products is a business that in the words of its Managing Director David Hodgson makes “materials to build a greener world,” providing clients with what they need to make low carbon gas and electricity, as well as cleaner water and a shopping list of other cutting-edge technologies.

Based right here in Cornwall, the work carried out by TFP Hydrogen Products has the potential to help shape the future for the better. “By providing things that are the right price, the right durability, the right performance, means our customers can develop devices that are going to enhance people’s lives,” David says.

TFP Hydrogen Products started life as PV3 Technologies Limited before being acquired by TFP Group at the start of 2021.

Made in Cornwall, benefits felt worldwide

The science behind what TFP Hydrogen creates has widespread benefits across a number of manufacturing sectors, opening them up to a variety of clients from medical equipment manufacturers to makers of renewable energy storage.

TFP Hydrogen’s materials are made with durability, performance and fair pricing in mind, meaning equipment that lasts longer and generates less waste is now more easily accessible to industries all over the world.

Although this type of high-tech industry has not traditionally been associated with Cornwall in the past, TFP Hydrogen Products is just one of a growing number of technically advanced businesses choosing to call the county home, thanks in part to its ties to renewable energy sources and rich mineral and geothermal resources.

Working With Oxford Innovation

David initially approached Oxford Innovation looking for an external perspective on the organisational structure of his business, and while he had a firm understanding of what he hoped to achieve, wanted to sense check his thinking with someone outside of the business.

Although he was at first uncertain about whether business coaching could yield the results he was looking for, working together with Lead Coach Meredydd Jones, a reorganisation of the business took place that David was happy with.

“The coaching program seemed like a great opportunity to see if my cynicism around these programmes is really valid (…) I suppose I was looking for somebody to bring an external perspective to the business that could just challenge us in ways that we weren’t doing ourselves,” David explains. “The coaching support really helped me to reshape the structure of the business to make it more effective.”

That reorganisation, David says, may have helped the business look more credibly ready for expansion. This stood it in good stead when it was approached by TFP, and then merged into the group at the beginning of 2021.

Following on from the restructuring, Meredydd enlisted the support of OI coach Karen Biggs to help with the next hurdle faced by David and his team: finding a more efficient way to monitor projects.

“I’ve been really, really pleased with the work that Meredydd and Karen have done for us. Karen helped us out with a couple of very specific things, we wanted a way of managing or monitoring short term projects (…) she had some tools that she’d used, and she gave me and the team some coaching on those tools. That was a very tangible benefit.”

“They are coaches to help you really unpick what you need to do with your business, rather than to come in and tell you what to do. And I think they played that role really well.”

The expansion of the business into the TFP group has been a hugely important part of the journey for David Hodgson and the business he created. Now a part of the wider group, the innovation and expertise that made the business remarkable can continue to make a difference at a critical time for the environment.

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This programme is fully funded by the European Regional Development Fund 2014-2020.