Top Banner
In the face of relentless margin pressures, consumer and package goods companies are realizing their ability to compete depends heavily on their IT capabilities. The flexibility, speed, and growth they need hinges on an IT transformation that can create a sustainable business advantage. Achieving IT-enabled growth in the CPG industry Viewpoint paper success through IT transformation. A TT AIN
16

Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

May 07, 2015

Download

Business

Will Ruiz

In the face of relentless margin pressures,
consumer and package goods companies
are realizing their ability to compete depends
heavily on their IT capabilities. The flexibility,
speed, and growth they need hinges on an
IT transformation that can create a sustainable
business advantage.
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Page 1: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

In the face of relentless margin pressures, consumer and package goods companies are realizing their ability to compete depends heavily on their IT capabilities. The flexibility,

speed, and growth they need hinges on an IT transformation that can create a sustainable

business advantage.

Achieving IT-enabled growth in the CPG industry

Viewpoint paper

success through IT transformation.

ATTAIN

Page 2: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

Table of contents

Meeting strategic goals in challenging times ................1Inflexibility and unneeded complexity .........................1IT as a key enabler of transformation plans: What are food manufacturers doing today? ................3Winning in the marketplace: What should companies do in the future to ensure success? ..............5Conclusion ........................................................... 11About the author ................................................... 13

Page 3: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

1

The world’s leading consumer and packaged goods companies are focused on sustainable, profitable growth. To become nimbler and more efficient—and support their growth plans—they’re pursuing IT transformation. This paper examines these companies’ tactics and suggests how other firms in the industry can emulate this model to ensure their own success.

Meeting strategic goals in challenging timesOpen the current annual report of a major global food manufacturer and you will find its strategic intent is typically focused on these things: improving customer demand, investing in and managing global brands, developing and introducing new products, and driving the operational excellence required to fund those growth initiatives. Figure 1 provides an overview of such strategic goals for most of the top global consumer and packaged goods (CPG) companies.

Moreover, achieving their strategic goals must take place in a world where:•Consumer tastes and living patterns continue to

change, driving a focus on health and ease-of-consumption features for new products.

•Transportation and raw material costs are rising or unpredictable.

•Growth continues to come mainly through multiple mergers and acquisitions, as well as expansion into emerging markets.

•Customers (retailers) continue to consolidate, have more power, and are more demanding than ever.

•The regulatory environment continues to change (for example, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, traceability, and new label requirements).

Inflexibility and unneeded complexityConsumer needs and wants—as well as the business environment—are changing at an accelerated pace. One could argue that the ability to react quickly to market demands is a key enabler to a company achieving its growth goals. Based on this hypothesis, a CPG company’s greatest hindrances appear to be inflexibility and overly complex business systems.

•Build superior consumer brand value

•Organize around consumers, customers, and geographic markets

•Focus on predictive consumer insight (based on integrated market intelligence)

•Build shopper demand through superior customer collaboration

•Leverage acquisitions and divestitures to focus on core brands

•Transform and focus the product portfolio

•Expand global reach and leverage global scale

•Drive out costs and assets

•Deliver societal and environmental benefits

•Strengthen employee and organizational excellence

Figure 1Sample CPG company strategic goals1

1 Sources: 2009 annual reports and websites for Kraft, Sara Lee, General Mills, ConAgra, Hershey, Kellogg, Unilever, Nestle, and Groupe Danone; HP analysis

Page 4: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

2

Kraft Foods, Inc.1980—1989•General Foods Corporation acquires Oscar Mayer & Co.

•Nabisco, Inc. merges with Standard Brands (founded in 1929) to become Nabisco Brands.

•General Foods Corporation is acquired by Philip Morris Companies Inc.

•R.J. Reynolds merges with Nabisco Brands creating the largest consumer goods company in the United States.

•Kraft, Inc. is acquired by Philip Morris Companies.

•The food products divisions of Philip Morris—General Foods and Kraft—are joined (Kraft General Foods).

1990—1999•Kraft General Foods acquires Jacobs Suchard, making the

company number one in the European roast and ground coffee market and a leader in confectionery.

•Kraft General Foods acquires the United States and Canadian ready-to-eat cereal business from RJR Nabisco.

•Kraft General Foods is reorganized and renamed Kraft Foods, Inc.

2000—2009•Kraft Foods’ parent company Philip Morris Companies

Inc. acquires Nabisco Holdings, a world leader in cookies, crackers, and snacks. The Nabisco brands are integrated into Kraft Foods’ business worldwide.

•Kraft acquires United Biscuits Iberia, reclaiming rights to the Nabisco name in EMEA.

•Kraft Foods completed its acquisition of Groupe Danone’s global biscuit business.

2010•Kraft Foods aquires Cadbury

Sara Lee Corporation1980—1989•Consolidated Foods Corporation purchases Productos

Cruz Verde.

•Standard Meat Company is purchased.

• Jimmy Dean Meats and Nicholas Kiwi Limited are acquired.

•Consolidated Foods changes its name to Sara Lee Corporation.

•Bil Mar Foods is acquired.

•Adams-Millis Corporation is acquired.

1990—1999•Henson-Kickernick, Inc., manufacturer of high-quality

foundations and daywear, is acquired.

•Playtex Apparel, Inc., Rinbros, and Mallorca are acquired.

•BP Nutrition’s Consumer Foods Group, Giltex Hosiery, and Bessin Corporation are acquired.

•SmithKline Beecham’s European bath and body care brands are acquired.

•Skin care and sweetener brands of Bayer AG are acquired.

•French meats company Aoste, Italian intimate apparel manufacturer Lovable Italiana S.p.A., and Brossard France S.A., a French manufacturer of bakery products, are acquired.

•Acquisitions of Wechsler Coffee, Chock full o’Nuts and Continental Coffee.

2000—2009•Sara Lee acquires Hills Bros., MJB, and Chase &

Sanborn, the retail coffee brands from Nestlé USA. The company also acquires U.K.-based Courtaulds Textiles and its intimate brands Gossard and Berlei.

•Sara Lee acquires the number-one coffee company in Brazil, Café Pilão, and the leading company in women’s underwear in Argentina, Sol y Oro.

•Sara Lee acquires St. Louis-based The Earthgrains Company.

2 Sources: Websites for Kraft Foods and Sara Lee

3 Source: HP analysis

Decades of growth through mergers and acquisitions (see Figure 2) have left many CPG companies with: •Hard-wired infrastructure silos•Layered and outdated operating systems•Redundant application environments (portfolios of

several hundred or even thousands of applications are not uncommon)3

•Multiple customer databases•Multiple supply chains•Inefficient sales, marketing, and promotion processes

Poor acquisition integration strategies and execution have led to an inability to:•Respond to changing customer needs quickly•Manage global brands efficiently•Harness new and existing data, as well as customer

and consumer insight•Handle the oncoming data explosion (such as RFID

data in the supply chain)•Enter new markets efficiently

Figure 2Select acquisition activities at two major CPG companies2

Page 5: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

3

IT environment inflexibility and the corresponding business process complexity brought on by decades of acquisitions—as well as the lack of discipline in integrating operations—are indeed a major obstacle to companies achieving their goals. And it appears that CPG companies are not in a hurry to rectify the situation. Data from a Forrester survey published in 2009 indicates that 37% of the CPG companies surveyed planned to spend “more” or “much more” on applications upgrades, but only 25% planned to spend more on replacing their legacy applications.5

Figure 3 provides an example of what an applications landscape may look like at a CPG company after numerous mergers and acquisitions and after running its divisions as autonomous entities.

IT as a key enabler of transformation plans: What are food manufacturers doing today?If you look across all the major initiatives being planned or executed at the top global food manufacturing companies, you will see a consistent pattern in their transformation plans. Nearly all plan to do the following:•Increase the level of investment behind brands•Leverage global scale•Offer promising innovation•Consolidate the sales force and organize

around customers•Increase global efficiency (reduce the cost structure)•Standardize systems and infrastructure on a

global basis

Figure 3Sample current applications landscape at a CPG company4

SAP

Old VersionSAP

JDE

Old VersionJDE

Lawson

Siebel

Manugistics,i2Other/Homegrown(that is Prism, and so forth)

PeopleSoftRed Prairie

Other Manufacturers

Financial SharedServices

Beverages

Foods

Snacks

Snacks

Foods

Direct-to-consumers

Beverages

Glo

bal

EMEA

Nor

th A

mer

ica

Divisions—Process Areas Sales Order Management Planning Supply Chain andManufacturing Finance HR

4 Source: HP analysis

5 “Industry Essential: Consumer Packaged Goods Industry,” Forrester, December 2009

Page 6: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

4

In fact, as part of their transformation plans, many CPG companies are looking to totally revamp and simplify their application portfolio, as well as reorganize IT. These companies know they cannot run an efficient global business or manage global brands without also transforming IT. The costs for such a global IT transformation can be high, but

the anticipated business benefits can translate into a significant return on investment for companies embarking on such a journey.

Figure 4 provides an overview of key initiatives at some of the top global food manufacturers. Global standardized systems, infrastructure, and data are part of every single company’s strategic transformation plans.

Company Kraft Foods, Inc.

Sara Lee (SL) Corp.

General Mills, Inc.

ConAgra Foods Inc.

Kellogg Company

Unilever Nestle Groupe Danone

‘09 Revenue $40.4B $12.9B $14.7B $12.7B $12.6B $57.1B $104.1B $21.5B

Major food product categories

Beverages

Cheese

Foodservice

Convenient meals

Grocery

Snacks and cereals

Beverages

Baker

Meats

Cereal

Meals

Baking products

Biscuits and snacks

Yogurt

Bakery

Shelf-stable, frozen, and refrigerated products

Food ingredients

Cereal

Snacks

Frozen and specialty

Beverages

Dressings

Cooking products

Ice cream

Frozen foods

Beverages

Milk prods., ice cream

Prepared dishes and cooking aids

Confectionery and biscuits

Foodservice

Beverages

Fresh dairy products

Biscuits and cereal products

Overview of key/major strategies/ initiatives

Invest in brands

Rewire organization for growth

Execute acquisitions/ divestiture strategies

Reframe categories

Rebuild new product pipeline

Exploit sales capabilities

Drive down costs and maintain quality

Implement SAP globally

Focus resources in core catagories and geographies

Expand in high-growth developing markets

Exit non-core businesses

Reduce costs, improve efficiency, simplify

Create a high- performance culture

Execute improvement of NA businesses, then grow

Implement SAP, BPO

Product innovation

Channel expansion

International expansion

Brand building investment

Margin expansion

Pricing architecture

Joint customer planning

Category management

Demand-driven supply chain

Complexity reduction

Plant optimization

SAP value extraction

Grow and expand core categories

Pursue select growth opportunities

Invest in brand-building

Innovate and renovate

Cost control (overhead discipline)

Continuous efficiency improvement

Leverage aquisitions

Focus on consumers and customers

Roll out customer insight and innovation center

Win with brands and innovation

Grow everywhere

Leverage M&A

Complete One Unilever Program

Win through continuous improvement

Drive toward a performance culture

Maximize marketing effectiveness

Innovation and renovation

Focus on nutrition, health, and wellness

Operational efficiency

Focus on emerging markets

Leverage GLOBE and standardized systems

Leverage bolt-on M&A

Focus on fast-growing catagories

Offer promising innovations

Bring health through food to the largest number of people

Increasing global productivity

Focus on fast growing markets

Leverage acquisitions

Leverage SAP globally

Long-term growth est.

5+% ~ 4% Analyst Est.

“Low single-digit growth”

3%—4% “Low-digit growth”

~ 3%—5% “constant growth”

4+% 5+%

Figure 4Overview of key initiatives at major global food manufacturers6

6 Sources: 2009 annual reports and websites for Kraft, Sara Lee, General Mills, ConAgra, Kellogg, Unilever, Nestle, and Groupe Danone; analyst data; HP analysis

Page 7: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

5

Figure 5A path to long-term market success through business agility7

H

HL

Speed

Leve

rage

Agile state• Centralized data management• Simplified end-to-end business processes• Highly scalable, secure network• Application renewal skills• Surge-capable capacity• Enabling integration platform• High leveragability of IT investment• IT program and process management skills• Increased high-value development investment

Current state• Poor M&A integration• Redundant application environments• Hard-wired infrastructure silos• Layered and outdated operating systems• High-cost environment (low leveragability of IT investment) • Low services• Lack of IT innovation

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4

Growth

Productivity

Quality

Customersatisfaction

Benefits Over TimeManage as a multi-y

ear program

7 Source: HP analysis

Winning in the marketplace: What should companies do in the future to ensure success?Nearly all top food manufacturing companies compete in the same product categories, have similar business strategies, and are planning to grow in the low- to mid-single-digit percentage rates. What can they do to accelerate their transformation efforts (while minimizing risk) and forge ahead of the competition?

If IT is indeed a key enabler of global transformation programs, it stands to reason that companies that can reach a flexible and agile state first will have a competitive advantage over those that can’t transform their IT capabilities fast enough (see Figure 5).

CPG manufacturers can employ a number of strategic initiatives to accelerate achieving an agile state and to free up resources to focus on growth initiatives. Some of these were highlighted in a research report by CIO Magazine called “The Benefits of Agile IT.” As

Page 8: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

6

part of this report, the winners of the 2004 CIO 100 award—including CIOs, CTOs, and VPs in charge of IT—were invited to take a survey on their management practices in creating an agile IT department. Figure 6 summarizes the survey results.

Leaders pursued an agile IT state to increase growth and revenue opportunities (43% of respondents), reduce response time to market pressures (15%), and reduce the corporation’s cost basis (13%).

The value in deploying a standard applications base to enable agility was also supported recently by a Gartner research paper, “Balancing Cost, Risk, and Growth.” In this paper, Gartner suggests that “bloated” applications portfolios are a drain on corporations and need to be overhauled.9

Most of the espoused strategic practices that are described in both studies can be categorized under two areas within the HP portfolio:•Applications modernization•Applications development and maintenance,

business process, and infrastructure outsourcing

Applications modernization Applications modernization services provide a way to maximize the value contained within legacy applications while moving them quickly and efficiently to modern platforms. Implementations typically include applications rationalization, application hosting, applications development, applications outsourcing, and enterprise integration, as well as midrange hosting and enterprise server consolidation elements.

8 “The Benefits of Agile IT,” Lorraine Cosgrove Ware, CIO Magazine, August 2004

9 “Balancing Cost, Risk, and Growth: The 2009 Gartner Symposium Analyst Keynote,” Gartner, December 2009

Figure 6Effective practices in building IT agility8

3.95 4.00 4.05 4.10 4.15 4.20 4.25 4.30 4.35

Deployment of Companywide Standard Software Base

Establishing Central Control and Accountablility of IT Costs

Stressing Repeatable Process for Project Management

Developing a Flexible Software Architecture

Having a Standardized Development Platform

Maintaining a Fluid Balance of Payroll Employees,Contract Employees, and Consultants/Outsourcers

Maintaining a Flat Organizational Hierarchy

Use of Flexible, Short-Term Provider Contracts

Page 9: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

7

Figure 7 outlines the HP Applications Modernization Framework.

One note of caution, however, on rationalizing your applications portfolio: It may sound like a straightforward, rigorous, fact-based approach to making portfolio decisions, taking into account an application’s strategic value and operational impact. But it can mean much more than that. Rationalization and modernization decisions can affect how business processes are executed in parts of your organization. This element of change is in addition to another

fact: Multiple stakeholders—business, applications, infrastructure, legal, and audit organizations—must buy into, as well as sign off on, retiring any software solution (and related infrastructure, if appropriate).

Managing the rationalization process effectively requires accurate data, well-documented, rigorous processes, clear policies and procedures, and a healthy dose of organizational change-management practices. If functions such as infrastructure or applications management are performed by multiple service providers, the need for processes and clear communication goes up exponentially.

Figure 7The HP Applications Modernization Framework10

Inventory/Understanding Programming/Transformation Apps Management

Assessmentscope

Metrics/benchmarksROI/TCO reduction

Applicationsmanagement plan

Applicationsrationalization

road map

Assessmentresults

Applications Portfolio Management

RelearnRefactorRehostReinterfaceRearchitectReplace

Projectmanagement

Applicationsportfolioassessment

Apps ManagementApps HostingApps Development(Enhancements)

Consumer Goods Company Process and Business Framework

Future State Consumer Goods Company Applications Landscape 

As is To be

Assess Modernize Manage

Man

agem

ent

Mod

erni

zatio

n

Ass

essm

ent

Mod

erni

zatio

nRo

ad M

ap

Mod

erni

zed

Portf

olio

10 Source: HP

Page 10: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

8

When done well, applications modernization can deliver tangible value. Based on work performed in this area for multiple clients, HP estimates that improvements of 30% to 65% can be achieved by moving toward an agile enterprise environment. Figure 8 provides an overview of how applications modernization can optimize a CPG company’s IT expenditure profile. It also shows the potential savings that can be achieved in the various application areas.

Applications development and maintenance outsourcing These services give companies the choice and flexibility to outsource the maintenance of a portion of or the complete applications portfolio. Companies

can also leverage the right mix of best-in-class, best-shore applications development capabilities of outside service providers.

HP Applications Maintenance Services can help clients assess, align, transition, and transform to a managed environment. Our services-based, fixed-price model is predictable, cost-effective, and adjustable to changing business needs.

Applications development services leverage a service provider’s flexible global delivery model and skilled applications professionals to accelerate time to market. They also help an organization balance cost and risk in delivering business solutions.

Figure 8Optimizing the IT architecture through applications modernization11

Applicationsmaintenance

GRIDLOCK

IT infrastructureInfrastructure

Applicationsmaintenance

New applications

Newapplications

Time

Allocated Budget

Ann

ual I

T bu

dget

Ann

ual I

T bu

dget

Time

Savings can be reapplied to

additional value-enabling IT

Potential Savings

Development 30%-50%

50%-65%

40%-50%

10%-20%

50%eliminated

Maintenance

New applicationsimplementation

Redundantapplications

End-userproductivity

Typical ITexpenditure profile

Optimized ITexpenditure profile

11 Sources: Gartner and HP analysis

Page 11: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

9

HP’s Applications Management Services, for example, can help an enterprise achieve these things:12

•Reduce applications maintenance costs by 15% to 40% •Gain additional operating efficiencies, enabled by

HP’s services-based operating model and suite of business technology optimization software

•Improve applications performance, supported by automation tools, backed by service level agreements, and linked to key business performance indicators

•Reduce risk through the use of best-in-class change-management practices

•Gain consistent, high-quality services using methods, processes, and tools based on industry standards such as PMI PMBOK, SEI CMMI®, ISO, and ITIL

•Have access to the right resources, when and where they are needed

Business process outsourcing Business process outsourcing (BPO) services integrate the people, processes, and technologies needed to provide a complete outsourcing solution. This can help companies achieve maximum efficiencies and improve their competitive agility. BPO increases an enterprise’s

ability to maneuver. It also provides greater productivity, cost control, and responsiveness, and enhances stakeholder value. Typical outsourced areas include administrative and transaction services, customer relationship management, finance and accounting, human resources, and supply management.

In human resources outsourcing, for example, leveraged staff, technology, and capacity management through HP’s service delivery centers can help reduce HR administration spend by 30% to 70%.13 This is in addition to providing reengineered processes to best-practice HR models.

IT infrastructure outsourcing IT infrastructure outsourcing (also referred as ITO) services provide partial or comprehensive management of an enterprise’s total IT infrastructure. These services are designed to meet the scalable needs of CPG manufacturers with simple to highly complex IT environments. ITO services typically include one or more of the following: data center services, workplace services, and network services, as well as security, compliance, and continuity services.

12 Source: HP analysis 13 HP analysis

Page 12: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

10

As shown in Figure 9, ITO can save companies from 20% to 30% of IT infrastructure costs.

The estimated cost savings are one of the reasons why 90% of the IT executives polled by CIO Magazine outsource some of their IT labor (see Figure 10) and

are devoting a measurable portion of their budget to it. Recent data from Forrester shows that CPG companies plan to spend more than 40% of their IT services budget on outsourcing activities (applications management and infrastructure outsourcing services).16

Figure 9Leveraging ITO to invest in growth initiatives14

Figure 10Use of outsourcing by CIOs (number of respondents)15

14 AMR Research, Consumer Products Industry IT Spending Profile, 2004–2005; HP analysis

15 “The Benefits of Agile IT,” Lorraine Cosgrove Ware, CIO Magazine, August 2004; executives polled were the winners of the 2004 CIO 100 award, including CIOs, CTOs, and IT VPs

• Develop a close working relationship with the service provider, optimize internal processes, rationalize applications, and outsource.• Potential cost savings through IT outsourcing are 20% to 30% of infrastructure costs (infrastructure costs assumed at 40% to 50% of IT spend).

• Invest savings and freed-up resources in portfolio of growth opportunities (top business initiatives; business agility).• Address mandates and regulatory compliance.• Leverage access to leading-edge technology and industry resources from your outsourcing partner. 

Current state

Consumerpackaged goods

industry ITspend as %of revenue

2.45%

2.08% to 2.25%

Future state

ILLUSTRATIVE

IT spend equals the total capital & operational dollars budgeted/spent by IT for information technology to support the environment. This includes all hardware, networking, telecom, head count, software licenses/development, IT services, software infrastructure, and software maintenance. 

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

CIOs That Outsource Some Part of Their IT Labor

CIOs That Outsource Less Than a Quarter of Their Work Force

CIOs That Outsource More Than Half of Their Work Force

16 “Industry Essential: Consumer Packaged Goods Industry,” Forrester, December 2009

Page 13: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

11

But cost savings are not the only advantage. Equally important is the fact that IT outsourcing also enables companies to:•Free up resources and invest savings in a portfolio

of growth opportunities•Address mandates and regulatory compliance•Leverage access to leading-edge technology and

industry resources from their outsourcing and technology partners

ConclusionThis is a world characterized by relentless margin pressures. It is also one where the ability to manage global brands and harness customer and consumer data to support new product development—and

other business imperatives—heavily depends on a company’s IT capabilities. To address business pressures, the world’s top food manufacturing companies are pursuing similar strategies, although not all seem to be in the same phase of the required multiyear transformation.

It appears that the winners in this segment will be those companies that can implement their strategy the fastest. Companies that achieve an agile state will be able to devote a greater amount of resources on growth opportunities. The resulting business gains will come at the expense of slower manufacturers. It potentially can create a sustainable competitive business advantage, leading to superior shareholder value creation (see Figure 11).

Figure 11The road to competitive advantage—IT-enabled business agility17

Shareholder value creation

CEO’s IT agenda

Degr

ee o

f IT

spee

d an

d fle

xibi

lity

Goals Strategicobjective

• World-class IT capabilities• Minimized costs

• Transform the enterprise• Process/business improvement

“White space”Breakthrough innovation in IT-enabled new productsand services

Profitability and growthUsing IT as a business enabler

IT operational excellence

World-classvalue chain and

operations

World-class IT support for the

enterprise

• Competitive advantage (Differentiated Products and Services)

Innovation andindustry/segmenttransformation;Brand strength

17 “The Road to Business Value: Challenges of Managing the Business-Technology Environment in the 21st Century,” A.T. Kearney, 2003; HP analysis

Page 14: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

12

To increase their chances of winning this race and minimize risk while doing so, companies can turn to outside service providers for help. By making use of outsourcers’ capabilities in applications modernization, applications maintenance and development, as well as business process and IT outsourcing, CPG manufacturers can create the required speed, leverage, and flexibility to succeed in a challenging and fiercely competitive environment.

Choosing the right partner, however, can be a tricky proposition. No single service provider can maintain the rapid pace of change and innovation that the IT industry faces today. There are too many moving parts—too many vendors and solutions to assess, integrate, and manage.

HP’s unique end-to-end global capabilities and partnerships position us to provide the advantages of best-in-class, multivendor solutions. There is also the simplicity and accountability of a single point of contact that CPG companies should demand and look for. Leveraging the right service provider will enable companies that started late to leapfrog their competition.

Page 15: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

13

About the authorWill RuizWill Ruiz is the U.S. leader of HP’s Consumer Industries Consulting and Solutioning practice. He has more than 20 years of experience in the areas of new product development, manufacturing operations and strategy, IT strategy, and business process innovation. His background includes a broad range of operations and order-fulfillment engagements in the consumer packaged goods, wholesale distribution, quick-service restaurant, food retail, and manufacturing industries.

Before joining HP, Ruiz was a principal with IBM’s Business Innovation Services group. Previously, he was a manager with Ernst & Young’s Management Consulting Performance Improvement practice and a senior manufacturing engineer with Analog Devices.

Ruiz holds an M.B.A. (high honors), as well as a master of science degree in manufacturing engineering from Boston University. He also completed the Strategy Value Creation Programme at the London Business School.

Page 16: Achieving IT-Enabled Growth in the CPG Industry

This is an HP Indigo digital print.

© Copyright 2009-2010 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

4AA1-7830ENW, Created Month 2009; Updated June 2010, Rev. #

Share with colleagues