“Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” – Steve Jobs
From static management and web cleaning technologies to energy-efficient compressed air technology, our solutions help customers boost productivity, safety, quality, and profitability. Our ‘Engineered to Perfection’ series spotlights the people who make our well-engineered solutions possible.
This month, meet Eleni Fotopoulou – Head of Product Management
Product management at Meech is all about connection – between ideas and outcomes, between engineering ambition and customer need.
“The most important part of my role is to be responsible for guiding the success of the product – our portfolio of products,” says Eleni Fotopoulou. “An important part of this is being the conductor between the cross‑functional teams such as engineering, marketing, and sales.”
Eleni joined Meech just over seven years ago, bringing experience from a much larger FTSE 250 organisation.
“I wanted to move to a smaller organisation where I can take more ownership and see the results of my work more immediately,” she explains. “From the first interview, it was very clear to me that Meech was in a stage of rapid growth.”
Starting as a Product Manager, Eleni later moved into her current role leading a small team responsible for Meech’s product portfolio.
“My role is very wide,” Eleni explains. “It covers tactical activities such as answering product queries and questions, and more strategic elements to do with setting the product strategy and the lifecycle of products. It’s very broad, so there are no boring days in what we do. It’s all very dynamic, especially when Meech is growing so fast.”
Her day might involve working with engineering on R&D progress, supporting sales teams with pricing and product questions, or helping marketing teams make sure they have the right information to communicate Meech’s solutions clearly.
“We have a lot of new products in the pipeline – almost every month we are launching something new,” she says.
Many of those new developments are shaped by changes in manufacturing, particularly the shift towards sustainability.
As manufacturers switch to recyclable materials, keeping those materials clean during production becomes more challenging – and more critical. This is where Meech technology comes in – for example, the VacClean: “a very robust solution that supports packaging businesses on their sustainability goals,” Eleni explains.
By removing dust, fibres and other contaminants from the surface of moving films and substrates, VacClean helps stabilise production as materials become more sensitive to contamination. The system combines vacuum‑based contact cleaning with static control, preventing particles from reattaching to the web ahead of critical stages such as printing, coating or laminating.
“Apart from the obvious product quality benefits, there is a massive productivity benefit for businesses,” she says. “They are able to produce this material that is recyclable with a lot of added features and material properties.”
When contamination is controlled, production lines stop less frequently, improving efficiency and reducing waste.
Beyond individual products, Eleni has also focused on improving how Meech decides which ideas to pursue in the first place.
“I recently worked on improving our new product development process in Meech,” she says. “As the business grows, we wanted to create a more strategic process that would support the ambitious goals the company has.”
The updated process brings data, structure and strategic thinking into decision‑making.
“We don’t want to spend a year developing something that won’t deliver value,” she says. “This process helps us move faster, reduce risk and bring better‑quality products to market.”
Several of Meech’s newer innovations have come through that process, moving from idea to launch in a matter of months.
For Eleni, Meech’s strength lies not just in its technology, but in how closely engineering stays connected to customers.
“Our engineers and production team are not only highly qualified but also truly care about quality,” she says. “They have regular contact with customers, attend exhibitions, and know what’s going on in the industry.”
That insight feeds directly into better product design.
“This means they design products with features that are useful for customers,” she adds.
“People would be surprised by the industries we work in and the big name brands we supply,” Eleni says. “One day I was watching Formula One, and spotted a Meech air amplifier being used to cool down the driver. You wouldn’t think a medium-sized company in Oxfordshire would be involved with all these big companies – it’s very impressive.”