Crafting a Virtual R&D Idea Center

By Douglas J. Peckenpaugh
Managing Editor

Regardless of the economy, product developers continually seek tools that will cut the timeand capitalrequired to bring a new or reformulated product to market. And in a time when the economy is less than vibrant, such concerns quickly jump to the forefront of R&Ds consciousness.

Streamlining product and menu development was directly top-of-mind when Sargento Foods, Plymouth, WI, decided to create its virtual R&D kitchen, the Sargento Idea Center, which launched earlier this summer.

The site walks visitors through various steps, like choosing a product category (cheese, sauce, blended drinks, fillings and stuffings, or dips), temperature state (frozen, shelf stable, refrigerated, etc.), form of ingredient (IQF, sauce, concentrate, etc.), product category, type of cheese, potential flavor inclusions, package shape, and the size of the package. When finished, visitors are prompted to create the virtually customized ingredient, and then a photo and complete details are listed. Then its time to contact a Sargento sales representative for further input and/or to request samples. Other options include sending the creation to a colleague, as well as saving and printing the details on the ingredient.

The intuitive aspect of this process is that, depending on each selection made, only the viable options for each field are displayed, culling any that wouldnt work. That way, visitors to the site dont waste their time considering ingredients that could only exist in the imagination.

Although visitors might have a specific ingredient in mind when they first arrive at the site, the potential selections that appear as they work their way through the ideation steps very well might bring new options to light, instigating new pathways to innovation. The end result is a unique take on R&D ideation that not only helps customers save time, but also spark the imagination.

One vision, myriad perspectives

Website developers from Quiet Light Communications, Rockford, IL, played a key role in creating the Idea Center. Also, Sargeontos own R&D people and sales representatives were directly involved with developing the site, notes Mike Gordy, president, Sargento Food Ingredients, illustrating what they would like to see on the site and providing feedback.

Sargento also went to its customers, such as Johnsonville Sausage, Sheboygan Falls, WI, for insight. Im one of the folks from Johnsonville that Sargento invited to come over and go through their website, play with it, and give them ideas on fine-tuning some of the logistics and the operations before they finalized it, says Rebecca Weeks Harter, senior scientist, Johnsonville. Key input included steps on how to help make the site more user-friendly and feedback on the wording used for various aspects of the site.

Weeks Harter thinks the site is valuable for R&D because it allows you to build on your ideas, which she discovered firsthand when recently using the site to create a sauce. They must have 20 or 30 different options for inclusions, like herbs, a few of which I would have never even thought of. After virtually developing a few sauces, she notes that she can then call her Sargento sales representative and ask to definitely see samples of a couple of the sauces, and also get some input on others that she created online to determine their viability in the context she was considering.

I think its a wonderful PR tool for Sargento, as well, says Weeks Harter, because Ive worked with them for two years and even though were located within 10 miles of each other, I had no idea that they even had some of the capabilities that they do, which you can learn about by playing around on the website.

Gordy notes that the site was designed as a launching pad. It isnt meant to be comprehensive. Rather, its a tool that helps instigate better, more-detailed dialogue up front between potential or existing customers and Sargento.

Weeks Harter was particularly impressed with the fact that the company brought in people from outside the website development team at Quiet Light and from Sargento itself to assist with the sites creation, and sees the site as highly beneficial to the industry. We could all stand to help each other out in this industry from time to time, she says.