New products get to market only after a great deal of research and collaboration. For many companies, the cost of this endeavor in time, money, and lost opportunity is too high. To reduce this cost, greater efficiency must be brought to new product development processes.

Some common issues are:

  • ISOLATED TECHNOLOGY - Different data resides in different systems that aren't linked, so information sharing is slow and error-prone. Often, disparate information stores aren't synchronized so users are never sure which version is most accurate.
  • INEFFICIENT COLLABORATION - Without an environment for collaboration, project delays are inevitable. Collaboration tools often incorporate complex interfaces which lock-out all but specialists, limiting valuable input from suppliers and customers.
  • MANUAL PROCESS MANAGEMENT - Managing complex processes manually often results in steps being missed, people going uninformed, and decisions being made with incomplete information. Tracking and auditing manual processes is difficult which can significantly impact both customer and market credibility.
  • LIMITED VISIBILITY - NPD portfolio management is a challenge without a strategic view of all active projects. Without such visibility, less strategic projects consume scarce resources while more promising efforts suffer.

Dramatic improvement in NPD process efficiency is possible when the following strategies are applied:

  1. Establish a central knowledge base to manage all NPD related information.
  2. Use role-based interfaces and templates to make it easy for non-specialists and external stakeholders to access NPD information and collaborate in the development process.
  3. Use automation to manage processes to maximize process efficiency and effectiveness.
  4. Implement executive dashboards, which track and monitor development projects, to develop best practices and shorten future NPD cycles.

The benefits of taking this approach include:

  • REDUCED NPD CYCLE TIME - Products get to market faster and achieve higher margins and revenue.
  • INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY - More time is spent on product innovation and less on administration.
  • PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT - With a complete view of all projects and processes, better and faster decisions can be made, including cancellation of non-strategic projects.
  • IMPROVED PROCESS EFFICIENCY - Standardized processes and process analysis increases efficiency and output quality while reducing errors and risk.

Lascom CPG was designed to substantially improve NPD processes. Lascom CPG stores all your NPD related knowledge, including ingredients, recipes, nutritional data, product specifications, as well as associated events and process information. Lascom CPG's automated workflow engine enables enterprise collaboration and maximizes process efficiency. Everyone from food scientists to non-specialists can productively share in the NPD process while management has an unparalleled opportunity to make fast, informed decisions.