Prodiet’s Digital Transformation with Centric PLM Eliminates Spreadsheets

For a company that directly impacts people’s quality of life, every change made related to the ideation, development and production of products is crucial not only for the company’s  future, but also their consumers. That’s why Prodiet decided to digitally transform with Centric Software®’s PLM (Product Lifecycle Management).

Luciana Dutra, Research & Development and Regulatory Affairs Manager at Prodiet, tells us how this partnership is enabling the company to improve its products, processes and continue to modernize over time.

Innovation to Deliver Safe Products

Prodiet Medical Nutrition was founded in 2007 to research, develop and commercialize formulas to deliver health and well-being to those with specific nutritional needs. This includes enteral nutrition, infant nutrition, supplements and more—all products that require careful control during development.

The company has grown continuously due to its culture of innovation and customer-centered approach, with a unique and complete product portfolio. The team challenges itself daily to identify the latest in ingredients, packaging and efficiency.

Digital Transformation to Overcome Challenges

Since innovation is a pillar of Prodiet, the company decided to modernize its process to optimize formula management, centralize data and ensure security throughout the product development process.

One of the first steps was to eliminate the use of conventional spreadsheets as a product development tool, which created constraints including:

• A disorganized approval flow
• Errors due to outdated spreadsheets
• Extensive time spent on version control

As the R&D and regulatory affairs manager explains, “Our formulas are really complex and so is the lifecycle management of these products. We used to manage everything with spreadsheets; each product had about ten spreadsheets and each spreadsheet had 15 tabs. We even had a good management system of those spreadsheets with very organized version control. But still, it was an error-prone situation. Sometimes one person on the team used one version of the spreadsheet and someone else was using another, so it ended up being too easy to make mistakes, which we could only identify later down the road.”

Faced with these challenges, the team and Prodiet’s CEO decided to make the dream of having R&D software a reality. The R&D and regulatory affairs manager says, “Our CEO helped us create a document that detailed everything we would need from a solution.”

Getting the Dream (and Processes) Off the Ground

Simply adopting robust software was not enough; it was essential that the solution could also meet Prodiet’s specific requirements. The R&D and regulatory affairs manager explains, “Using that requirements document, we found that Centric PLM™ met most of our demands. And for the rest, Centric was willing to take the time to understand what we needed and make adjustments in the configuration of the solution to meet our essential PLM functionality.” 

Centric PLM is a ready-to-use solution, based on industry best practices and is highly configurable, leading to a quick adaptation to meet the different needs of each customer.

“Assessing the company’s needs is an excellent first step for a successful transformation,” says the PLM lead specialist at Centric Software. “Prodiet’s requirements document was very complete and guided the whole process—we were really glad. Whenever we receive a thorough document like that, we think, ‘these people know what they want’.”

Adding Speed to the Recipe

The implementation took only 4 months due to the fact that the Centric team had studied how Prodiet’s products and processes worked in-depth and configured the system to the particularities of their business. This was done through Agile Deployment and phasing the project by priority.

As a result, Prodiet no longer needs to use spreadsheets as a product development tool, which has boosted the productivity of the entire team. A staff member, for example, doesn’t need to worry about or spend hours modifying each spreadsheet and its tabs. Rather, people can focus on improving and innovating the products themselves. “We don’t use spreadsheets anymore!” the R&D and regulatory affairs manager states.

She cites the practical example of including the words “added sugars” on labels, which was cumbersome to do prior to the implementation of Centric PLM. Now, Centric PLM does the work. 

“The gains are immeasurable. Before the Centric PLM implementation, it would have been necessary to update each spreadsheet for each product. Now we only need to update the raw material and all related products are automatically updated,” says the R&D and regulatory affairs manager and adds, “This change would otherwise take months!”

Centric PLM is a complete solution and can be used by third-party suppliers and manufacturers. Prodiet develops the formula and communicates with its partners, always providing up-to-date information to maintain quality and safety standards.

Referring to the solution’s interface, the R&D and regulatory affairs manager says, “The layout is friendly and intuitive, so it is easy to use; we don’t need much training.” This lowers barriers to software adoption, mitigates errors and has already made the team more productive in a short period of time.

Innovation Now and in the Future

In addition to no longer using conventional spreadsheets, Prodiet has more control, security and, above all, openness to innovate and continue to evolve technologically thanks to its partnership with Centric Software.

In the end, Centric PLM enables not only R&D, but also the scientific and regulatory teams. There is a relationship between Centric PLM and quality control, for example, where it allows you to manage the validity of certificates (including those coming from suppliers) and to review documents.

Centric frequently releases new versions, features and improvements that contribute to Prodiet’s development. Like Prodiet, Centric has continuous innovation as a strategy and pillar of the business. By choosing Centric Software, Prodiet is able to focus on innovation, support its growth and remain a leader in its market.