Enhancement of Product Development with Right PLM Solution for CPG Industries

Abstract

CPG or FMCG are goods that are used and consumed by an average consumer on a daily basis at every stage of

his/her life and includes goods as simple as a toothpaste or as complex as a variety of cleaning products (Fast-

Moving Consumer Goods, 2015). While the profit margins of most of these goods are quite narrow, the fact that

large quantities of them are sold across a massive distribution nexus, accounts for the fact that this industry is valued

at US$ trillion in North America alone today (Breaking down Consumer Packaged Goods, 2015).

Due to the nature of these products, they get consumed very frequently and their shelf life is also much shorter than

that of other products such as furniture, etc. Despite the fact that these products are seemingly elementary, they

obviously play a very essential role in a consumer's life and manufacturers are often left with very little insight into

the consumer's behaviour patterns and expectations in order to able to develop the right product and also help it

reach the end user at the right time (Consumer Packaged Goods, 2015). This limited insight and the short shelf life,

coupled with the fact that this industry is swimming with competition makes it very difficult for manufacturers in

making their customers reach out for their product. It is but natural, that in this scenario, the efficacy of the product

and the overall innovation that the manufacturer exhibits will edge him/her forward in the competition. In order to

get this edge, several CPG manufacturers are adopting PLM solutions for the entire lifecycle of their product, from

start to finish.

1. Consumer Packaged Goods2. Fast-moving Consumer Goods3. Product Lifecycle Management

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Contents

Abstract 1Table of Contents 2Getting the Best out of Product Development with PLM 3Case Study 3Conclusion 4References 5About the Company 6

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Getting the Best out of Product Development with PLM

Case Study

Given the onslaught of severe competition in the CPG space, manufacturers are forced to re-examine several aspects of their processes, including, their ability to identify new markets, the efficacy of their distribution cycles, the logistics and marketing value chain, the design of their product, their operational efficiencies, the use of the right technologies, real-time access to data, analytics and customer insights, meeting compliance, meeting environmental regulations and, of course, faster time-to-market and giving a value product to the end user. With the advent of digital technologies and PLM solutions penetrating the arena, many manufacturers are now seeing the value that they could derive from it.

One such manufacturer turned around the way their customers viewed them, by changing a simple design on the packaging of their product. They were able to increase the appeal of their product and enhance the customer experience by using cutting edge product designing solutions from PLM. This manufacturer produces breakfast cereals among other perishables and the severe competition in the market had put their overall marketing and sales strategies out of spin. While they adopted PLM into every aspect of their product development, they also reached out to 3D design solutions to reinvent their packaging into an interactive 3D game that made their customers coming back for more. PLM changed the game for them, by facilitating the storage of all packaging and artwork specifications in a digital format, which helped them easily review and make the necessary changes before launching the product in its new avatar.

PLM helped them to innovate their package designing in a quicker and more efficient manner by using modelling and simulation, create a higher brand visibility for their product, launch their product with a very precise marketing plan and reach out to more happy customers.

Apart from increasing the product appeal and scoring highly on their customer satisfaction matrix, they also achieved the following advantages. They could:

l Automatically create a stronger branding for their product

l Test their ideas and designs in a virtual environment and also use templates and workflows to systemise the process

l Create a single source of truth that all internal and external employees, vendors, developers, etc. could easily access, which in turn enhanced collaborative working in an expedited environment

l Store all customer insights, product information and data and use it for future innovation

l Maintain a clear vision and traceability right from ideation to manufacturing to go-to-market to end-of-life

l Reduce cost and time of designing, testing, as well as product development costs, etc.Reduce the chances of product recall or changes

l Create a calibrated process for procurement across locations, by maintaining a repository of materials along with their specifications

l Create a standard check for compliances and other regulations

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l Enhance the ability to reuse expertise and information for quicker new product development

l Create a centralized manufacturing process with all relevant data, ideas and process workflow being accessed

from one point

l Enhance the collaborative working between all the teams

l Increase the success rate of their new product launches

l Reduce the cost of innovation

An industry study reveals that CPG manufacturers can vastly benefit from adopting PLM by achieving a 25 to 35%

reduction in time in their design cycles and almost 20% reduction in product costs (Infosys Product Lifecycle

Management, 2011). Several big CPG manufacturers are performing a lifecycle assessment for their product

manufacturing capabilities and after realizing that they can benefit from better program management, resource

management, data management, rationalization of materials, management of change, easier mitigation of risks,

easier systems integration, collaborative working, enhanced innovation, better management of the supply chain

and eventually improved brand visibility even in the face of competition, they are beginning to adopt PLM solutions

to turn around their business.

Conclusion

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References

Breaking down Consumer Packaged Goods. (2015). Retrieved from www.investopedia.comhttp://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cpg.asp

Consumer Packaged Goods. (2015). Retrieved from Infosys:http://www.infosys.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods

Fast-Moving Consumer Goods. (2015, October 29). Retrieved from Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast-moving_consumer_goods

Infosys Product Lifecycle Management. (2011). Retrieved fromhttp://www.infosys.com/industries/consumer-packaged-goods/Documents/product-lifecycle-management.pdf.

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