With 38 years of experience and influence in the rotomolding sector, Martin Coles has made a career out of serving the niche market with much-needed material innovation.
Now Coles has been named to the Rotational Molding Hall of Fame by the Association of Rotational Molders. The induction ceremony will be held Sept. 26 at ARM's annual meeting and Rotoplas trade show.
Coles views joining the Hall of Fame as a group effort within the community with which he surrounds himself.
"I don't really see this as a personal accolade; I see it as something to do with the company Matrix Polymers," Coles said. "It has to do with the whole team that we have, working on all these projects. It's more of a recognition of what our company is achieving and doing for the industry."
After graduation, Coles worked for a big petrochemical company in London. That's where he was originally introduced to the rotomolding world.
In 1992, he founded Matrix Polymers, a material supplier focused on rotomolding in the United Kingdom, with Nick Henwood, another Hall of Famer from the class of 2022. The company that started in a spare bedroom now it has locations on three continents and more than 280 employees.
"We saw an opportunity. We felt there was not enough focus on rotational molding, particularly with big petrochemical companies, not really understanding enough about rotational molding and the challenges in the process that make actually the material very specific," Coles said.
The company develops grades specifically for use in rotational molding and does color compounding and pulverizing of materials. The company has about $165 million in annual sales.
Coles views the rotomolding industry as a more niche market and said the process is unique. The company was aimed at developing better materials and using the combined knowledge of Coles' and Henwood's pasts with polymers and rotational molding processes.
Matrix Polymers will continue to focus on improving the quality of the materials and then help the industry progress forward as it allows for a bigger range of products. The company is also starting to focus on sustainability.
"We live or die by the industry. We put all our resources into this," Coles said.
"That focus, that specialism, makes us unique and different. We're involved with seminars and training and teaching the industry; we're very actively supporting the industry around the world," he added.
Coles has presented at conferences in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and the United States. His presentations highlight and demonstrate new technology and progress in the industry.
He has contributed to each issue of RotoWorld magazine by writing his column "At Issue" for the past five years. He has tackled conversations about sustainability, energy conversion, recycling, plastic pollution and environmental impact.
Susan Gibson, the owner of RotoWorld who was also named to the Hall of Fame this year, approached Coles to contribute to the magazine.
Every article Coles writes, he tries to get the community discussing things that are meant to be highlighted and tackles the difficult and complicated topics. Coles, in his articles, recently has been focused on the concept of sustainability and covering some questions the industry has been having on the topic and promoting a move toward direct heating molds.
"This whole situation we have around sustainability, which I know is a massive concept, which covers everything, so many different areas, but actually it's forcing us to make changes and look at developing things which could actually really improve things, not just in terms of reducing CO2, but actually revolutionize the process," he said.
Since publishing with RotoWorld, Coles has received positive feedback from people in the industry and views this opportunity as a positive thing to be doing.
Moving into the future and the developments to come, Coles is focused on direct heating molds and how revolutionary that can be for the industry. He feels this change would lead to opportunities to use different materials and then result in new products.
"I think there's great future ahead, but ... I think everyone needs to be very aware, though, that we've got challenges that we as an industry have to face," Coles said.