Bringing new products to life in the F&B (food and beverage) and CPG (consumer packaged goods) world is a journey filled with promise … and pitfalls. While there are immense opportunities for growth and differentiation, the obstacles that stand in the way of innovation demand bold problem-solving and a willingness to challenge the status quo.
Innovation teams are under mounting pressure to streamline the work they do (and how they do it), whether these burdens are caused by fragmented supplier relationships, demands for greater efficiency, or the need to comply with new regulations.
“When the trade winds shift, food and beverage companies are exposed to everything,” says Paul Bradley, senior director of product marketing at TraceGains. “Right now, so many facets of this incredibly interconnected industry are shifting at the same time: tariffs, sustainability demands, inflation, supply chain disruption, raw material pricing.” The results of this volatility, he says, are ever more stringent requirements surrounding what a successful product looks like. Taste, cost, and nutrition matter, but they’re no longer the only considerations. Teams must balance these factors to move products from source to shelf.
External Factors Raise the Bar on Risk
Risk is nothing new to F&B and CPG brands. Doing something different always involves a certain level of risk. What if the product doesn’t resonate with consumers? Will it stand out on crowded shelves? But this uncertainty is multiplied when external risk factors are piling up all around you.
Right now, brands must look for ways to reduce risk and operational uncertainty. The best way to do that, says Bradley, is to build resilient sourcing strategies.
“Finding, qualifying, and onboarding new suppliers, and then making those relationships work, has always been a challenge, but it’s now something companies have to not only manage but also be great at,” he explains. “To do this, there’s a steep curve to climb.”
Sourcing Success Requires Leaving Spreadsheets Behind
Improving sourcing tactics begins with embracing digitization. Get contracts out of your filing cabinets and off your desktops and servers and into a centralized, unified platform that standardizes your data. With a digital foundation, information flows freely, and you have a common way to capture and communicate requirements.
“This removes a huge point of friction from your operations,” says Bradley. “It makes it easier to collaborate, innovate, and solve problems quickly.”
What value does a unified platform bring to sourcing? It unites teams and information.
Innovation and new product development are inherently cross-functional, calling for collaboration across several internal teams, as well as with external partners (suppliers and manufacturing providers). A unified digital platform is a place where all these stakeholders can exchange information seamlessly to reduce the inefficiencies and wasted time that occur during communication, coordination, and handoff.
Take ingredient specification for food formulation, for example. Specs cover everything from technical attributes and allergens to country of origin, and they impact every stage of new product development: sourcing, recipe development, manufacturing, quality control, and delivery to store shelves.
While it’s possible to manage this information using PDFs or printouts (and many brands still do), increasing complexity and the need for rapid adaptation will soon render this approach ineffective. Instead, having a single, well-managed digital specification that acts as a single source of truth can move seamlessly through every step of the process.
Processes that have functioned independently for decades, such as R&D, product development, and packaging design, must now come together. Although they’re separate teams with different processes, their actions impact one another — and the outcome. Take recalls, for instance. “Their No. 1 cause remains allergen issues: usually an incorrect or missing allergen declaration on the packaging,” says Bradley. “That shouldn’t happen, and it wouldn’t happen if all these teams were in sync.”
How Unified Platforms Foster Faster Time to Market
Because a unified platform enables collaboration and standardization at a new level, it also brings many new opportunities to the table.
Brands can be more agile and quickly adapt to change, whether that means launching new products to meet shifting customer demands or reformulating existing products due to ingredient shortages or bans.
This level of adaptability translates to faster time to market, even in a rapidly changing environment. It allows you to take your ideas from concept to store shelf more efficiently and with fewer delays between handoffs.
By adopting a unified digital platform to help address challenges at every stage of new product development, F&B manufacturers can outpace the chaos and turn disruption into their competitive advantage.
Learn more about digital sourcing strategies at TraceGains.com.
