Food and beverage manufacturers need to take a fresh approach to how they do business. Why? Increasing consumer demand for greater product innovation and transparency, ever-increasing quality and compliance pressures, tighter profit margins, new channel opportunities, and a dynamic workforce are just some of the factors that are shifting market dynamics.

New Food Magazine hosted an Infor Webinar on how Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) can improve innovation.

During this webinar Keurig Dr Pepper provided a great customer case, where Bob Wimpfheimer told us how they needed a software solution that could help develop new products quickly, produce these products using the best possible formulas, and maintain full compliance with all regulatory requirements.

Additionally, the Webinar highlighted several areas where companies can find business evidence to justify their interest in PLM, here listed as questions:

Michael A. Lea is a 25-year technology veteran who has demonstrated strong consultative sales management and leadership qualifications, and continues to remain a thought-leader about advanced software and business solutions designed to meet the diverse and rapidly evolving business demands of his clients

He has held various positions of increasing responsibility such as Senior Technical Sales Consultant for Infor, VP of Sales & Business Development for Coolearth Technologies, and most recently as a Consultative Sales Executive for Bora Enterprises.

A. The priority and goal for any process manufacturer is to have complete lot tracking and traceability. This is commonly referred to as the “genealogy” of all raw materials, resources, and assets that enter a facility, and remain within the four walls of the facility until it passes through the facility as a final product or goods.

Real-time, accurate data and visibility are a necessity. The OTC (Order-to-Cash) systems and solutions must be closed-loop and work in conjunction and seamlessly from customer order/demand through the PTP (Plan-to-Produce), the manufacturing process (including vendors, suppliers, and co-packers) and then finally shipping, distribution and logistics.

As a consultant I’m frequently asked what is the main pitfall towards achieving transparency and traceability? This is a hard question and a huge consideration for manufacturers as each situation is different and unique. It’s one of the first things we address in our strategic consultation.

The business objective of the project is to help them get to market faster and with a unified view of data and processes and serve its customers at a higher level of service and quality of products.

A leading beauty care company that has been in growth mode and with active business collaborations for leading beauty brands selected Infor® CloudSuite™ PLM for Process (Optiva) for its Product Development and collaboration platform and ICCG, Inc. as its Implementation Partner for this strategic investment.

Infor CloudSuite PLM for Process maximizes the value of process manufacturers’ R&D teams and helps reduce the time spent performing key PLM processes, such as new product development and introduction, formula optimization, regulatory compliance, and project management.

“Bringing products to market to meet evolving customer demands is no longer enough. To grow revenue and remain competitive, manufacturers must shrink product development cycle times and get products to market faster, while at the same time, ensure regulatory compliance,” said Bala Anantharama, Senior Vice President at ICCG. “So when this company came to us needing to select and implement a proven and complete PLM solution designed for their specific product development needs, we knew Infor CloudSuite Process PLM would be a perfect fit.”