Untold billions of dollars are spent annually by consumer goods companies to develop marketable brand preferences that will entice consumers. The benefits of new products and line extensions have become the financial justification for spending that capital on building brand equity. Yet despite these investments, brand erosion has become the norm, with consumers far less \"brand loyal\" than ever before.
Additionally, private label and competitive products have taken a huge step in recent years, offering consumers viable, quality alternatives at lower cost. As such, it becomes paramount for leading consumer products companies to develop unique new products and line extensions much more quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively, all the while protecting their intellectual property (IP). New product innovation, therefore, becomes an increasingly important focus.","alternateLabel":"Research","teaserImage":{"id":875,"url":"https://assets1.consumergoods.com/styles/secondary_articles_short/s3/CGT-UGS-MS-0507.jpg?itok=B4NJXvl8","width":100,"alt":null,"height":136},"sponsored":false,"businessTopic":[],"company":[],"contentType":[]},{"title":"The PLM Advantage in the Food & Beverage Industry","id":15495,"bundle":"whitepaper","url":"/plm-advantage-food-beverage-industry","date":"2007-02-19T00:00:00","author":{"email":"devteam@ashday.com","uname":"ash_root","firstName":"Root","lastName":"Man","bio":null,"title":null,"picture":null,"phone":null,"contactForm":true},"summary":"In the competitive and highly regulated Food & Beverage industry, product lifecycle manage","body":"In the competitive and highly regulated Food & Beverage industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) can provide a competitive edge that makes the difference between product success and failure.
Food & Beverage companies are faced with many ongoing challenges that threaten their ability to compete, such as:
Low growth and margin pressures resulting from aggressive competition;
Complex and ever-changing regulations imposed by government agencies;
Lack of transparency and traceability caused by complex supply chains and product structures;
New demands originating from customers to improve productivity and reduce cost to serve;
Renewed concerns coming from consumers in the areas of nutrition and food safety.
This white paper discusses Microsoft's ability to make CG companies People-Ready Businesses, with solutions in four key areas: Plant Operations and Lean Manufacturing; New Product Development and Product Lifecycle Management; Customer Centricity; and Supply Chain Management. Several case studies show how solutions from Microsoft and its partners are enabling people at CG companies to solve their real-world business challenges.