The recovery of new product development
In Westminster, Colorado. According to a survey of 287 industry executives from food and beverage companies worldwide, conducted by TraceGains, a networked ingredients marketplace service, new product development is getting back to normal in 2023 after taking a backseat to addressing and resolving significant supply chain disruptions in the previous few years. More specifically, this year’s plans to increase investment in new product development were stated by 64% of respondents.
While consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies launched fewer items in 2020 and 2021, TraceGains data indicates that this year has seen an increase in the creation of new products. Furthermore, 67% of respondents stated they intended to alter several formulations this year, and 33% stated they were required to alter between six and twenty formulas.
Gary Iles, senior vice president of marketing and business development, stated, “We’re always taking the pulse of the industry for new insights and our latest survey shows that in 2023 brands are taking proactive measures to remain competitive — whether that’s on the production side or R&D with new recipes.” More food and beverage companies are taking issues into their own hands rather than letting market conditions dictate how they do business. For CPGs that continue to prioritise their customers by launching new goods more quickly and affordably, the future is bright.
With over 55% of firms reporting they outsource more of their manufacturing than they did three years ago, contract manufacturing is becoming an option for certain manufacturers.
According to survey participants, contract manufacturing offers advantages such as expediting product placement, reducing expenses on facilities and equipment, and avoiding labour shortages by 13%.
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Personnel in quality, regulatory, food safety, other, R&D/innovation, supply chain, and operations were among the respondents to the survey categorised by roles. Roughly 86% of respondents claimed to be somewhat overworked. More than half of the respondents stated that they would prefer digital infrastructure transformation and automation tool addition above more conventional strategies like hiring more people and diversifying their suppliers.
Of those surveyed, 53% were in favour of additional job automation tools, including sharing and real-time risk-flapping. Of those surveyed, 47% indicated they would rather have more staff members, more dependable and diverse suppliers, and resources and tools to effectively manage audits.