Less = More for NPD
In this article, Cris Cosgrave, Sustainable Innovation Programme Manager and Bruno Lebourdais, Chief Supply Chain Officer write abouth how they have applied Less = More within the New Project Development.
The concept of Less = More was introduced in our company 2022 Business Plan at the beginning of this year. A core driver to Less = More is focusing on and initiating fewer projects that can be realistically completed. And why? To allow us to strengthen our foundations for future growth initiatives.
The theme of Less = More comes to life within the New Product Development (NPD) team. They are encouraged to think critically about creating more value out of doing less, complete what has been started and deliver every task or project on time with quality.
The NPD Project managers ensure that projects are not just led, coordinated and successfully delivered on time but are also aligned to strategic business priorities.
Working with the Global Brand Directors, the team establishes and collaboratively agrees with New Product Development Road Map. This is followed by Ideation sessions with key stakeholders. These consist of our Finance Partners, Commercial Leads, Brand Managers, Operations Support, Research & Development and Procurement. The process has significantly improved how projects progress from ideas to Exploratory Gate approval by our Innovation Board.
As a result, Projects in the New Product Development Road Map reflect what is essential, feasible and sustainable to our business.
Aside from Global Brand Business Plan Projects, the theme of Less = More also applies to our New Product Development (NPD) and Existing Product Development (EPD) Fast Track (FT) projects or NPD/ EPD FT.
Below is a visual flowchart of this process.
The team, together with Bruno, are looking at ways to improve our NPD Internal Processes to increase efficiency that we are hoping to implement soon.
The following outlines these suggested improvements.
Cris and Bruno would like to thank everyone for their feedback to ensure continous improvement and, everyone's full cooperation in following our NPD Processes.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to Cris or Bruno with any further questions.