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Food Product Development Practice in Medium-Sized Food Processing Companies
Food Product Development Practice in Medium-Sized Food Processing Companies
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Food Product Development Practice in Medium-Sized Food Processing Companies

Food Product Development Practice in Medium-Sized Food Processing Companies

Food Product development practice in medium-sized food processing companies is about developing a product that meets or exceeds the expectations of the customer, while meeting cost and schedule constraints within tight manufacturing environments. Product development practice in medium-sized food processing companies typically involves the integration of new technologies, such as automation systems, rethinking processes, or change management to increase processing efficiency and productivity. The overall goal of product development practice in medium-sized food processing companies is to improve service, products, and overall customer satisfaction while reducing financial waste. The need for product development practice is increasing due to industry consolidation and of course increasing competition. Medium-sized companies are dealing with a wide variety of issues and concerns, from building a customer base, to sustaining customer trust, to maintaining long-term positive cash flow.

Product development processes can include many different activities. The first step may entail an analysis of the current process, what works and what doesn't, in addition to looking at the competition. Next, the company will create a shortlist of possible process improvement initiatives, evaluate them based on their potential impact on profitability and process innovation, and determine how best to implement them. Finally, a business case is created to assess the implementation's impact on key metrics. The results of the case will guide which activities should be included, how soon they should be started, and how budgeting and financial resources will be utilized.

Lean Innovation is a concept that emphasizes on engineering processes as a primary driver of value creation. Lean emphasizes reducing waste by eliminating non-value added steps, such as collecting paperwork or spending valuable time negotiating with suppliers. This approach focuses on the most critical innovation processes, such as process improvement, and allows for the early identification of problems and the development of strategies for addressing those problems, before they become costly problems. Although Lean focuses on eliminating non-value add activities, it also allows for the evaluation of value adding activities.

Another product development practice in food processing companies is Scalable Manufacturing. With this practice, companies are able to scale up their process improvement activities when necessary, depending on their available funding and internal capacity. The key benefits of scalability include:

* Process optimization can be done by optimizing one or two processes. * Improvements can be done in one or two processes without interrupting production. * Improvements can be done at lower levels throughout the manufacturing process (i.e., before and after processing). * Improvements in one or two processes can be translated into multiple process improvements at higher levels (i.e., by using downstream processes to make the improvements). * A company does not have to maintain a separate product improvement team. * If a company observes a trend of decreasing profits, even though sales have been increasing steadily for a period of time, then they may want to consider making changes to their process instead of waiting to see if profits improve.

Food Product development is an important and necessary process improvement activity for any manufacturing company. It involves identifying, evaluating, and implementing changes that will lead to increased profitability. When developing products, companies must ensure that they have a clear process vision and aligned goals, providing clear steps to implement process improvement solutions.