SAP-Driven NPD Solutions for Streamlined Manufacturing

The Impact of Innovation Management on New Product Development for a Glass Manufacturing Company

A prominent glass manufacturing company in India was found to be facing numerous setbacks in the understanding and management of New Product Development (NPD) processes. Though the firm is engaged in sales of its products beyond 50 nations, it found it very hard to control inefficiencies, very long cycles, and poor intra-departmental relations. The company’s manual NPD approach was no longer adequate considering the ever-increasing market needs and technological changes.

In response to such challenges, they engaged SAP and Protiviti to assist them in the NPD redesign project. Protiviti took charge of the implementation of integrated SAP system which helped in achieving standardisation of processes, and communications, and provided the project managers with dashboards for real-time tracking of activities. Due to the automated system, effective control over projects was possible along with shortening of the lead time and enhanced control across all the functions.

The changes were radical. The firm experienced a 30% decrease in lead times for new products, enhanced operations, allowed for cost-cutting and an increase in the number of projects undertaken without increasing the manpower. This advancement enabled the manufacturer to be on par in the highly competitive global environment.

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