As the momentum for clean energy builds, Greene Tweed has been rolling out innovative solutions to get the infrastructure and equipment ready to produce, store, and transport the new clean fuels. These high-performance elastomers, thermoplastics, composites, and engineered components have been designed to handle the extreme temperatures, pressures, and other harsh conditions found in the most critical applications across the alternative energy supply chain.

An early champion of sustainability, Philippe Allienne, Business Development Manager at Greene Tweed, has played a key role in getting these solutions to the customers faster. He began his clean energy journey with Hydrogen and that’s when he introduced the tiger team approach that followed Agile methodology and has played a key role in accelerating and guiding product development to serve the Hydrogen economy.

Recognizing his outstanding achievement, Greene Tweed honored him with our prestigious Innovation Award, which spotlights and rewards exceptional efforts to push the boundaries of innovation and collaboration. Soon after he received the award, we sat down with Philippe to learn what it takes to accelerate customers’ clean energy journey.

Congratulations on the Innovation Award honoring your efforts to accelerate solutions serving the Hydrogen economy. Please tell us more about the new approach.

I think this award is a good illustration that Greene Tweed does not accept the status quo and is open to new ideas.  

When we started to work on the hydrogen market, it was obvious that many of these applications were quite challenging, that some of them had no solutions, and that we could be well-positioned to address some of these pain points with differentiated products. Unfortunately, several of these products were not commercialized yet.  

Recognizing the fast-moving innovation in the hydrogen market, we tested a new model to facilitate lighting speed innovation that could keep pace with some of the most innovative startups and growth companies. The demands of this market required us to think differently, and the Tiger Team became our answer! 

What inspired you to try Tiger Teams and Agile Scrum methodology? 

Inspired by the rapid pace of hydrogen innovation exhibited by our customers, I was motivated to leverage my training to devise a more efficient approach to innovation for Greene Tweed. When I did my MBA several years ago, I had learned about many different processes used to develop new products, besides the “good old fashion” NPD process that we use. I was very excited by the Agile Scrum methodology and did my MBA dissertation on this topic. For me, this methodology was a no-brainer as it enables us to develop products quicker using an iterative process. But its implementation was not obvious as it requires a change in mentality and dedicated resources. So, it wasn’t easy to do without a good reason.  

I was thrilled when I realized that Hydrogen could be the perfect avenue to try this Agile methodology and with help from Beth Sassano, Director of Strategy and Business Development; Glenn Doell, former Senior Manager of Advanced Technology Group (ATG); and Kerry Drake, Technology Manager of ATG, we were able to convince our Leadership Team to invest in this Tiger team pilot.  The project is now a year old and thriving, demonstrating that our focus on faster speed to innovation is working.

Is it working? How would you describe its impact on the organization? 

That is already a fantastic achievement because, as you know, resources were limited in FY24. I am also very pleased to see that these hydrogen opportunities helped Glenn and Kerry to get their High-Performance Plastic Strategy approved and resourced. Kerry and his team did a fantastic job to develop a unique cross-linking capability, that was unfortunately under-resourced for years. This Tiger Team will help to execute their Plastic Strategy quicker, unlock the full potential of this amazing cross-linking platform, and bring new differentiated products and capabilities to the market. This is very exciting!