Process Manufacturers Gain Greater Formula Flexibility, Reduce Material Costs and Increase Compliance Management through Enhanced Capabilities
ATLANTA - Jul 30, 2008 Infor today announced the latest release of Infor PLM Optiva, a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution for process manufacturers and retailers with private label products. Enhancements in the new release improve formula development, including editing, strengthen performance modeling and production simulation, provide greater flexibility and data analysis capabilities, enhance testing, and streamline quality and product label management processes.
''Innovation through new product development, wringing costs out of manufacturing and supply chains and the long-term evolution of core product brands are critical issues facing process manufacturers,'' said Rory Granros, director, Industry and Product Marketing, process industries & PLM, Infor. ''To help navigate these business challenges, many enhancements to Infor PLM Optiva are designed to accelerate innovation while elevating quality, lowering costs and managing global compliance demands.''
A new Advanced Formula Editor, a key enhancement to Infor PLM Optiva, enables manufacturers to visually model multiple formulas and versions, rapidly assess ideal iterations and identify associated risks. Developers can also quickly generate a series of formulas and simulate the corresponding impact, which can reduce the cycle of trial and error linked with traditional formula development. This functionality can provide significant cost savings and decrease the time required to bring new products to market while enhancing product quality. The new editor also enables the creation of sub-formulas, such as for flavor mixes, which helps to improve batch quality and consistency and protects intellectual property when outsourcing manufacturing. New formula management capabilities have also been added to the Testing module, which can minimize errors and increase product safety.
Industry analyst firm Gartner stated in a February 2008 research note, ''PLM for Process Manufacturers Provides a Competitive Edge in Global Markets'', ''[Process manufacturers] are driven to invest, because most of their products are viewed as commodities under severe price pressure. Therefore, they must develop new products that command greater margins, while simultaneously reducing costs through greater efficiency, particularly for their flagship commodity products. They recognize that PLM enables them to manage recipes and formulations more efficiently, while simultaneously addressing regulatory issues and making supply chain collaboration more efficient in multiple markets.''
Infor PLM Optiva now provides an enhanced Analysis module to simulate product design in manufacturing, which can help identify areas of potential concern earlier and minimize the time needed to make corrections or implement expensive fixes later in the supply chain. For example, a soup manufacturer could review its existing formulation and determine what impact a low sodium version would have on cost and quality. The Analysis module also provides insight into production costs, capabilities and yields, helping companies generate a more accurate analysis of business performance. The expanded analytical capabilities can also significantly increase a manufacturer's ability to substantiate claims made on product labels, further reducing costs and increasing regulatory compliance.
Other compliance-related enhancements come through greater integration of
the Intelligent Authoring application from Atrion International, a provider of product compliance solutions for multi-national companies. This capability will help streamline regulatory-focused product analysis and can automate the creation of globally compliant, multi-language documents, minimizing compliance expenses and compliance backlogs associated with increased product launches and regulations.
Additionally, a new Label Development module increases label accuracy and streamlines the creation of product labels, based on formula calculations, testing and analysis. This enhanced label management ability, incorporating multiple formulas or SKUs, can help manufacturers reduce lead times, costs and the complexity of label administration.
For more information on Infor's PLM product line for food and beverage manufacturers, please visit http://www.infor.com/solutions/plm/industries/fb/.
About Infor
Infor delivers business-specific software to enterprising organizations. With experience built in, Infor's solutions enable businesses of all sizes to be more enterprising and adapt to the rapid changes of a global marketplace. With more than 70,000 customers, Infor is changing what businesses expect from an enterprise software provider. For additional information, visit www.infor.com.
