Top 10: New Product Development & Introduction
| 1. SAP Unlike water through its faucets, information did not always flow smoothly at bathroom fittings manufacturer Hansgrohe AG. The conversion of designs into a marketready products was often accompanied by a flood of paperwork. Hansgrohe has a reputation as a pioneer in designing luxurious bathroom fittings, but it can't compete on design alone. Products must also be attractive in price and quality. The company sought to improve data flow using mySAP PLM as the core of its new-product-development IT infrastructure. The solution now streamlines the flow of information throughout the process chain. Thanks to mySAP PLM, Hansgrohe is now experiencing faster time-to-market, lower costs and higher- product development quality. Hansgrohe opted to support the implementation with help from SAP consulting services. "We opted for SAP consultants because their familiarity with the products and technologies would ensure the best possible knowledge transfer," says Klaus Buchholz, information servives manager for Hansgrohe. "MySAP PLM helps us develop more new models in less time to meet the high-innovation demands of our markets." 2. MICROSOFT As Heinz knows all too well, in the food industry, information about raw ingredients is critical. The manufacturer, best known for its condiments, has No. 1 and No. 2 brands in more than 50 countries. "We must respond to the complexities of the global food supply chain in many different ways," explains Philip Heil, global program manager at H. J. Heinz Company. To enhance its ability to track ingredients throughout its global organization, Heinz turned to Microsoft. Through a partnership with Agile Software, Microsoft delivered a savory solution to Heinz. "The partnership between Microsoft and Agile enables those two companies together to provide what Heinz needs. |
This has enabled us to go truly global with a PLM application, and to do so in a flexible, scaleable way," says Heil. "Our organization now has a multi-tiered, multi-module platform across the entire global Heinz organization and it is multilingual, supporting European and Asian languages. Thanks largely to the standardization, we can now more easily keep current and ahead of the trends," Heil concludes.
3. ORACLE
Each year, new products make up nearly 25 percent of Welch's Foods' portfolio. To continue stomping on its competition, Welch's needed to respond nimbly in its everchanging marketplace. The company also sought to enhance rapid decision-making about product mix, production and marketing to match its offerings to market trends. Welch's chose Oracle's E-Business Suite for a unified IT infrastructure, integrated business processes and enterprise-wide visibility. Once the company had selected Oracle, an internal team of business-process owners identified five core business processes -- one of which was PLM -- and streamlined PLM functions, eliminating redundancies and other inefficiencies. "Our new Oracle environment presents a platform for future growth, including the creation of a service-oriented architecture that will enable us to work seamlessly with customers and suppliers," says Larry Rencken, vice president and chief information officer at Welch's. "In the future, our Oracle implementation will allow us to... better understand the level and location of our inventory."
Each year, new products make up nearly 25 percent of Welch's Foods' portfolio. To continue stomping on its competition, Welch's needed to respond nimbly in its everchanging marketplace. The company also sought to enhance rapid decision-making about product mix, production and marketing to match its offerings to market trends. Welch's chose Oracle's E-Business Suite for a unified IT infrastructure, integrated business processes and enterprise-wide visibility. Once the company had selected Oracle, an internal team of business-process owners identified five core business processes -- one of which was PLM -- and streamlined PLM functions, eliminating redundancies and other inefficiencies. "Our new Oracle environment presents a platform for future growth, including the creation of a service-oriented architecture that will enable us to work seamlessly with customers and suppliers," says Larry Rencken, vice president and chief information officer at Welch's. "In the future, our Oracle implementation will allow us to... better understand the level and location of our inventory."
BREAKOUT WINNERS
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
"We've been deeply impressed with the quality of the UGS staff and found the company to be an excellent business partner. We've jointly shared design and development responsibilities in a number of applications and feel that both P&G and UGS have come out ahead in these ventures," says Keith Caserta, Ph.D., associate director and head of healthcare R&D information and decision solutions, The Procter & Gamble Company.
"We've been deeply impressed with the quality of the UGS staff and found the company to be an excellent business partner. We've jointly shared design and development responsibilities in a number of applications and feel that both P&G and UGS have come out ahead in these ventures," says Keith Caserta, Ph.D., associate director and head of healthcare R&D information and decision solutions, The Procter & Gamble Company.
1. UGS
2. Agile
3. Infor
2. Agile
3. Infor
SMALL/MIDSIZE BUSINESS
"With Microsoft...we have a solution that can grow...It all comes down to getting fast, accurate information. This solution helps us get information at our fingertips much faster than before. The inquiry screens are very powerful. You can do multi-parameter selections filtering on a single inquiry screen," says Jason Rimokh, executive vice president at handbag manufacturer Signal Products.
"With Microsoft...we have a solution that can grow...It all comes down to getting fast, accurate information. This solution helps us get information at our fingertips much faster than before. The inquiry screens are very powerful. You can do multi-parameter selections filtering on a single inquiry screen," says Jason Rimokh, executive vice president at handbag manufacturer Signal Products.
1. Microsoft
2. IBM
3. Agile
2. IBM
3. Agile
CG