Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
with PepsiCo, Kimberly-Clark, Land O’Lakes and J.M. Smucker Company
© Copyright Sopheon® plc. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
© Copyright Sopheon plc.
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
Born from a Sopheon-Kalypso knowledge-sharing summit, stakeholders from
both organizations shared a common insight that time and time again, firms
across the consumer goods industry were echoing a number of similar innovation
challenges. Every company we came in contact with – big or small, global or
local – stumbled when it came to effective, consistent execution and adoption of
innovation and new product development processes.
In partnership, we set forth to lead a discussion that could serve as an exchange
of knowledge between peers. As a result, the Consumer Goods Innovation
Exchange came to life. This virtual series of roundtable discussions features
knowledge-sharing, storytelling and Q&A among a number of leading consumer
firms – with direct input and questions from hundreds of registrants across over
20 countries shaping the direction of each discussion.
There were 3 events in the series covering different aspects of innovation
processes and execution that featured innovation professionals from PepsiCo,
Kimberly-Clark, Land O’Lakes and J.M. Smucker Company sharing their real-life
innovation journeys – from challenges to successes, and everything in between.
This eBook shares five practical steps you can leverage from their stories to start
down the path to improving innovation execution within your own organization.
Consumer
Goods
Leaders
Innovation
Professionals
NPD
Process
Owners
Authored by Bryan Seyfarth, Sopheon and Scott Siegel, Kalypso
© Copyright Sopheon® plc. All rights reserved worldwide.
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
1
One of the key insights in our first session came from Jim
Boucher, Senior Director of Supply Chain, Global
Integration and Innovation at PepsiCo.
In describing how they communicate the innovation
process, he illustrated how they proactively addressed
common misconceptions, helping people understand the
real benefits that would come with use of the process.
This includes identifying concerns that the process might
“slow us down” or “kill our entrepreneurial approach.” As
this unfolds, people begin to think through and realize the
tangible benefits that would come with the process, some
of which are highlighted on the right.
Help people answer “what’s in it for me?”
A critical effort to achieve buy-in and acceptance
of a new way of working.
© Copyright Sopheon® plc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Minimize Work on Unattractive
Projects
Define Realistic Schedules
that Teams Can Deliver On
Consider All Dimensions of
Feasibility Up-Front
Mutually Agree on an
Acceptable Level of Risk
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
2
A valuable insight came from Brian Vogt and Barbara Burns,
members of the Corporate Innovation Team at Kimberly-Clark.
Both described how they built buy-in by ensuring different
parts of their business could maintain a level of “local control”
over their process, even though “corporate” was requiring a
set of common standards, the innovation framework, across
the company.
They let local process owners participate in the definition
process, and provided local support for adoption by the
execution teams. By creating a global network to provide
support, you can help local process owners develop the skills
required to succeed.
Provide local ownership and a degree of flexibility to
business units, allowing diverse parts of the business
to adapt and have ‘freedom within a framework.’
© Copyright Sopheon® plc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Summary slide from Kimberly-Clark’s presentation highlighting the required
balance between their “corporate” and “local” process requirements.
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
3
During the second session, Tim Beattie, Director of R&D and Innovation Process at the J.M. Smucker Company,
shared his insight from being a part of an environment in which many companies had come together after several years
of brand acquisitions, each bringing with them their own version of a gated process.
Key to the strategy to drive standardization was to apply an automated solution to simplify the work and clearly
communicate standard work processes across the company.
In doing so, J.M. Smucker achieved alignment on the process and also discovered additional benefits along the way:
Visibility
Awareness
Development
Teams had a ‘roadmap’
to better see the work
ahead
Contributors saw how their
work affected functional
team members
Through consistent gate
reviews, team members
developed skills presenting
to senior leaders
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
4
During Kimberly-Clark’s presentation, they shared a powerful slide
(shown at right) depicting the measurable benefits achieved yearover-year from their transformation and dedication to innovation
execution.
Process execution often suffers as a result of data not being used in
a meaningful manner by innovation teams – both to drive decisionmaking and to demonstrate results. There are several ways you can
avoid letting incomplete and inaccurate data inhibit the effectiveness
of teams:
 Tally Forecasts – ensure roll-up of individual project metrics will
meet organizational goals.
 Conduct Portfolio Reviews – align pipeline efforts with strategy
and make effective prioritization decisions.
 Track & Report Milestones – share metrics, such as time to
market or time between gates
To achieve the desired level of organic growth (above), successful
adoption depends on avoiding the “missing data” portfolio
problems faced by many consumer firms.
 Require Critical Data – do not approve projects at Gate meetings
if they are missing critical data
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
5
In the consumer goods industry, branding and marketing
are key elements for successful innovation – often
contributing strongly to product launch success.
The same idea can be applied to launching a new NPD
process – it must be branded and positioned to key internal
customers in a manner that conveys the behaviors you
hope to drive.
This change management principle was something all of
our Innovation Exchange leaders agreed on – see some of
the specific tips they shared at right.
For illustrations of J.M. Smucker and KimberlyClark’s graphical and/or branded innovation process,
see slides 16 and 27 of the presentation:
“Driving Innovation Process Effectiveness”
© Copyright Sopheon® plc. All rights reserved worldwide.
Name the process using verbs or acronyms
aligned with innovation
Create a logo or graphic to differentiate
this from other business processes
Incorporate creative images (i.e. J.M.
Smuckers ‘Rocket’ for NPD launch)
Reinforce the ‘brand’ through messaging
and senior leadership
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
As illustrated in this eBook, process owners from across
the consumer goods industry often see many of the
same issues and challenges on a daily basis.
Whether you produce soft drinks, potato chips, peanut
butter, jelly or diapers – the fundamental innovation and
new product development process dynamics are the
same.
As your peers from PepsiCo, J.M. Smucker Company,
Land O’Lakes and Kimberly-Clark demonstrated, there is
much that consumer organizations can learn about
innovation by simply sharing common experiences.
We believe, and our customers of varying sizes in many
markets have proven, that these simple steps – from
‘selling’ the value of process to motivating people to drive
adoption, can be applied to the work of innovation
practitioners across the industry.
© Copyright Sopheon® plc. All rights reserved worldwide.
To learn more about key topics and guidance from innovation
professionals, the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange
Series videos are available for on-demand viewing:
 Driving Innovation Process Effectiveness – How to overcome
challenges in the execution & adoption of NPD processes
 Session 1: Kimberly Clark and PepsiCo
 Session 2: Kimberly Clark and J.M. Smucker Company
 Making Innovation Global – How to Support Standard
Innovation and NPD Processes Across the Organization
 Improving Decision-Making in Gate Meetings – The Right
Data, People and Processes to Deliver Value
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Five Keys for Innovation Process Execution and Adoption in Consumer Goods
Key Learnings from the Consumer Goods Innovation Exchange Series
Sopheon partners with customers to provide complete Enterprise Innovation
Performance solutions including software, expertise, and best practices to
achieve exceptional long-term revenue growth and profitability through
sustainable innovation.
Sopheon’s Accolade® solution provides unique, fully-integrated processes for
the entire innovation management and new product development lifecycle.
For the first time, businesses can access a single source of the truth across:
 Strategic Innovation Planning
 Roadmapping
 Idea and Concept Development
 Process and Project Management
 Portfolio Management and Optimization
 Resource Planning
Sopheon’s solutions have been implemented by over 200 customers with
over 60,000 users in over 50 countries.
Contact Sopheon for more information, feedback and comments.
© Copyright Sopheon® plc. All rights reserved worldwide.
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