Section: Special Report – Food Design. Title: Crystallizing challenges. Written by: Juan Pablo Medina R. Design & Development Manager at Agrana Fruit Mexico.
In such versatile and demanding business as the food industry, you can find the ideal way to meet the challenges demanded by the market, if the design is aligned to the customers’ needs. The challenge is to transform an idea into a concept, a concept into a prototype and a prototype into a new product, suitable for distribution and according to consumer preferences. Juan Pablo Medina R. (*)
(*) Design & Development Manager at Agrana Fruit Mexico. Behind every new product launch available in the shelves of supermarkets, TV ads, radio, social media, etc., there are plenty prior activities in the design and development of new products department of every company that only few consumers are aware. Therefore developing and transforming an idea to a product on the market place, takes hours of dedication of multidisciplinary and multi-company teams aiming to meet market demands. Nowadays, developers of food products must have the aim of creating unique experiences to please the senses, fulfilling certain technical features. In the industrial market, the new product ideas can arise from different sources: 1. Unsatisfied need communicated by consumers. 2. Detection of unsatisfied consumers’ need. 3. From a specific interest of the management committees of companies. (Business vision, strategies, etc.). 4. New technical alternatives. 5. As response of competitors’ actions. 6. Continuous improvement. 7. Socio-political factors, climate change, etc. Once identified the needs to fulfill, a new project can be started by following the steps of the administrative process: Planning: Define goals, objectives, strategies and plans. Organization: Define resources (material / human), the structure and administration of the stages of the work plan. Direction: Motivation, leadership, effective communication and proper individual and collective performance are required for an efficient project management.
Controlling: The standards to follow, the metrics or indicators of success/failure and improvement actions to be implemented. • Goals • Objectives • Strategies • Plans
• Standards • Indicators • Improvement actions
• Resources • Structure • Phases or stages Planning
Organization
Controlling
Direction • Leadership • Communication • Teamwork
Outline I. Administrative Process applied to NPD (1) The NPD professionals in the food industry must consider the economic & technical feasibility, timing & death lines, and meet consumer expectations in terms of health, convenience, indulgence, naturalness and sustainability; and the Administrative Process aids to achieve those purposes. There are multiple models to design and develop products, but they all have the same intention: to satisfy a need following certain standards, looking after profitability of the new product and seeking to remain in the market place as long as possible; until a change in the consumers’ demands lead us to a reformulation or to a new product. Creativity and innovation are not against process alignment; process will lead the way for developing longlasting products, in consumer preferences, with a clear definition of the need that is intended to be satisfied, and with a strong value-added. NPD departments are an important part of the engine of the strategies, visions and innovations in the agricultural-industrial sector. At present the professionals involved in product design & development are becoming more dynamic. They are facing new challenges, like new technologies, global trends, etc.; requiring them to be more receptive to unsatisfied needs among industrial clients and final consumers, as well as creating strategic alliances in order to crystallize challenges and deliver lasting integral solutions to the value chain in the food industry. (1) Agrana Fruit México (2014). Adaptation with information available on Business Guides, from the Mexican Ministry of Economy. Available on: https://www.inadem.gob.mx/