While R&D departments appear to be shrinking in size, companies are still counting on new product introductions and line extensions to increase profits.

As a result, time-pressed product developers are relying more on computers and comprehensive product development software packages to boost efficiency and effectiveness of virtually all aspects of formulation and process design.

Product development software packages for R&D departments come in various forms. Some offer databases of foods and ingredients, nutrition analyses and specification information. They can encompass inventory, production, purchasing, formulas and financial integration.

Time to Market

"Formula management software has dramatically reduced our R&D time to bring products to market. Our software also allows minor modifications to formulas to occur seamlessly," explains Sean Frielich, manager, R&D, Lykes-Pasco Inc., Dade City, Fla. His company, a juice manufacturer, utilizes formula management software from Advanced Software Designs, Chesterfield, Mo.

"In addition, we have achieved a level of consistency in our product development by having an integrated database of information for formula development, costing and integration into our ERP system," he adds.

Frielich runs up against several obstacles that a number of product developers face: time to bring a new product to market, efficiency in calculations and work and consistent product development. Product development software packages can help overcome these and more.

"Speed to market is vital for a food company, as they must aggressively innovate and launch new products in order to increase market competitiveness and consumer recognition," explains Ted Pliakos, account executive, Advanced Software Designs.

In addition to this, he also cites product proliferation as an additional challenge. "If we take a base year of 1985, many food companies had one standard product in a line. By 1998, these same products now have up to 30 lines, which may include items such as fat free, low cholesterol or all natural."

The ability to store and search through various formulas saves valuable time when creating new products or line extensions.

"Access to past experiments—both successes and failures—is the biggest time saver," says Henry Phelps, CEO, IMAS Corp., Elgin, Ill. "This we gleaned from the Consortium, a group of Fortune 500 companies that have joined together with IMAS to help guide the ongoing development of software."

Steven J. Meier, vice president of customer services for IMAS Corp., explains that their clients can use a single database as a repository for all formulas and products. "Using existing product specs to develop a new product decreases development time. In addition, having all referenced information readily accessible ultimately speeds up development," he says.

Availability of Information

Another major obstacle in product development is disintegrated islands of information. "Formulas are often kept in laboratory notebooks or isolated spreadsheets, and for all practical purposes, the knowledge embedded in them is lost. By creating a central database, existing formulas can be ‘mined’ for that new idea or breakthrough approach that will lead to a new product," observes Peter Shields, president and CEO of Formation Systems Inc., Westborough, Mass.

Capturing formulas, however, is the first step, he adds. "To really achieve maximum results, not only formulas, but also crucial product development data like marketing claims, test results and raw material and product specifications must be captured in one central system."

His company’s enterprise-focused product development software suite consolidates all development-related information in one location.

"As formulators modify a base formula, the system automatically performs all calculations and adjusts for batch size, ‘suggesting’ lower-cost replacement ingredients—all while automatically checking to ensure that the formula stays in spec with marketing’s price and performance specifications," says Rory Granros, director of product marketing for Formation Systems.

Equally important is shared information between R&D and manufacturing. As developers modify a base formula, the system automatically notifies them that an ingredient is not approved or is not allowed in a certain country. By raising a red flag early in the formulation process, expensive missteps can be avoided, adds Granros.

Efficiency and Consistency

An ice cream manufacturer had multiple software systems for its formulation, nutritional information and costing needs, explains Pliakos. Employees manually input formulas into the production system, spending time on non-productive housekeeping chores.

After implementing formula management software, the company had one database that held all information concerning resources and formulas. This integrated system automatically handles calculations for costing, nutritional labels and ingredient statements and can electronically transfer formulas to an ERP system. This eliminates the need to re-key duplicate information, leading to more efficient use of the product developers’ time, Pliakos notes.

Accuracy is another benefit of software, notes Randy Peck, president of BatchMaster Software Corp., Seal Beach, Calif. His company’s laboratory module reduces hours spent on tedious, error-prone calculations and accurately delivers useful information. Software such as BatchMaster’s lab module already has many calculations keyed in, such as equations for nutrient content.

Food scientists can take an existing formula, establish a target cost, and have the software adjust the quantity of specific ingredients in order to reach that cost. The software can also be used to achieve other targeted characteristics, such as viscosity or fat content.

Software for the Future

While comprehensive product development packages are already boosting R&D efficiencies, this software category still faces numerous challenges, including the standardization of specification information worldwide.

"Companies and their vendors will share database information and update their own information in a shared system. Standardization will lead to a major workload reduction in the mailing, faxing and multiple inputting of the same data," says Meier.

Peck adds that the future entails better integration among multiple software vendor products. "Ease of integration between products will change dramatically with new technologies," he explains. This would allow individual software products to talk to one another with relative ease and in real time.

LINDA MILO OHR, Technical Editor

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