Developing a new stir-fry sauce
Prototype development
After the brief was received in August 2002, a project team was set up. The team consisted of representatives from the Marketing, Product Development, Packaging Development, Supply, Quality Assurance, Production And Finance Departments with support from senior management and other stakeholders.
As with any of the company's new products, a product development technologist conducted a feasibility study. This involved discussing the proposed project with the packaging technologist, the production and quality assurance teams, the ingredient and packaging supply team, the finance team, and detailing all the issues from these groups and any technical issues from a product development perspective. A draft timeline was drawn up. The study was circulated to the project team and available for senior management to review.
Particular issues raised at this time included: the size and shape of the pouch – it would be new form of packaging for the production area; achieving the required concentration of flavour while still having sauce that could be filled easily; matching of the sauces to the frozen vegetable range; and achieving cost targets. During the development phase all these issues had to be addressed.
Initial recipes were developed and made up into prototypes. These prototype recipes were then used to create interim costings to ensure the product would be commercially viable. At this point, the timeline was confirmed and senior management gave approval to go ahead with the full development of the products.
Product and process design were done in the development laboratory on a small scale, with product made in batches of 2-5 litres. Process design included, the preparation of ingredients, order of addition, heating method, specification development, method of sterilisation and shelf life testing. The two main issues that arose during this stage were balancing the intensity of flavour with cost and the need to find ingredients suitable for the pH of the product and the process methods. When the products and their costs were acceptable to the marketing team, when product specifications had been drafted, and the manufacturing process had been designed and agreed on by the production team, the project was ready to go to factory trial stage.
