During a product development, food and beverage companies face various internal and external challenges. From shorter time-to-market, through a growing number of regulations and fast-evolving technologies to higher consumer expectations, every department faces its own challenges, ultimately impacting the whole product life cycle. Therefore, it is crucial to appropriately tackle those challenges to streamline a product launch. A dedicated solution is a PLM — food software — helping you simplify and speed up your product development.
How PLM Food Software Can Help You Remain Competitive, Innovative
First, it is important to understand what exactly PLM software is. PLM is short for Product Lifecycle Management, and it is defined as a solution allowing businesses to manage product information and streamline product development throughout the entire product life cycle. PLM software facilitates the development of your products right from the creation of a marketing brief to a product’s disposal. This technology also supports other steps, including formulation, compliance, collaboration with partners and suppliers, and project management. PLM covers all the product life cycle stages; it is an important food software for any food and beverage manufacturers. This IT tool offers crucial benefits — it speeds up product time-to-market, enhances team productivity and screens the associated risks:
- Speed up time-to-market and product innovation
- Control and optimize New Product Development process
- Manage all your product portfolio with a unique solution
- Master product development with centralized data and documents
- Improve team productivity
- Access the most up-to-date information and data
- Facilitate collaboration and communication with partners (e.g.: suppliers, ads agencies, etc.)
- Improve international collaboration
- Increase product quality
- Enforce food traceability (products and raw materials)
- Ensure product compliance with regulations in force
- Control product quality and safety
In other words, a PLM helps you answer and deal with questions like how to calculate food cost for a recipe, or how to guarantee the specifications of a finished product. Ultimately, using IT tools specifically tailored for the food and beverage industry will positively impact your company’s operations, and more specifically, it will dramatically accelerate your product development.
What Does A PLM Food Software Mean In Term Of Features?
Features can vary from one provider to another. Even though, they are all offering a PLM software, they have their own unique value proposition, hence the differences in term of features. However, the most complete Product Lifecycle Management software usually offers the basic following features:
- Dematerialize documents — turn information into exploitable data
- Automation and optimization of business processes
- Communication tool, such as supplier portal, to improve collaboration
- Monitoring tools to track projects’ progress
- Secured single source of information — unique database
- Formulation tool — create recipes
It is also important to verify the industry expertise of a company. PLM software is used in different sectors, from discrete manufacturing to fashion; therefore, you should always verify that the solution of a PLM provider is specifically based on the food and beverage practices. It is important to ensure that the provider understands and knows how to answer challenges specific to your industry.
About Lascom
For nearly 30 years, Lascom Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) software has supported the Food & Beverage manufacturers and retailers with their product development. Lascom solution offers a modular software that facilitates decision-making, streamlines new product development and speeds up time-to-market, while enhancing collaboration across each department, from marketing, R&D, quality to compliance. Lascom is the essential partner for the Food & Beverage industry. www.lascom.com
