The process of bringing new products to market for an FMCG company

Client: An FMCG manufacturer operating in multiple countries (NDA). The company’s strategic priority for the coming years is to simplify the creation and market launch of new products (NPD – New Product Development).

However, the company was struggling to do this quickly and smoothly. The merger process was coming to an end. Internal responsibilities were not clearly defined, and agreements often fell short. Additionally, the company operates in multiple markets, and the process was affected by local specifics and a lack of alignment between offices in each country.

What we did:

• We structured the process and incorporated best global practices. First, we conducted an audit and analyzed the stages a product goes through before reaching store shelves. This helped us understand how the process could be optimized and where time could be saved in the future. Additionally, we ensured the process could work in several variations: for local product launches, exports, and packaging changes. In all cases, the potential need for production modernization was considered. The decision was made to formalize only the most problematic areas of the NPD process, rather than the entire process (which contains approximately 1000 operations).

• We defined the optimal design of the NPD process.
  It became less costly, more transparent, and guaranteed the desired results.

• We unified the process for all countries.
  The processes within the company were not unified, which created issues for products being worked on by offices in different countries. Additionally, such processes were difficult to automate. We set up a unified process for all markets and prepared it for future automation.

• We worked through all subprocesses and formalized internal agreements (Service Level Agreements) between teams involved in product creation.
  This helped make the work faster, more transparent, and reduced errors. Moreover, the project helped the client raise and resolve many important issues within teams. This step also influenced the company’s structure. New positions were created, some employees were assigned new functions, tasks were redistributed among process participants, and inefficient ones were eliminated.

• We developed criteria for successful product launches and the rules for transferring responsibility from the product creation team to the operational team.

The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that the NPD process already existed in some form, but it differed depending on the region and department.
Changing the established way of working was challenging, and it often led to implicit resistance from employees. It was crucial to identify this resistance in time and assist leaders in smoothly implementing the changes.

Oleksii Gromyko, Managing Partner
“Project Management Bureau”

Results:

• Clear responsibilities were established.
  Departments and employees received clear rules for interacting with each other. Each participant understood who should provide what information in order to perform the next task. A general orchestration of actions emerged.

• The speed of product development and launch increased.
  The coordinated work of participants allowed meeting strict “from idea to launch” timelines while maintaining high quality and food certification standards.

• Decision points in the NPD process were defined.
  Management gained a transparent view of what happens at each stage of the NPD process. It is now clear what decisions are needed at each phase of new product development.

• The efficiency of launching new products increased.
  Clear success indicators for new product launches and criteria for transferring responsibility to the operational sales teams were established.