Your business is food
Our business is growth and transformation
What is your challenge?
Your challenge may be due to a complex structure across multiple sites and international locations.
It may be the result of a complicated product or multiple projects.
It may be the need to provide specialist skills and resource within the commercial parameters.
It may be to identify routes to scale up, manufacture and market.
Or you may be unable to identify the root of the problem.
Our expertise is bridging the gap between your technical, commercial and leadership teams.
We bring personal experience from within the R&D function and at board level, allowing us to understand and engage all sides and deliver a robust, credible and commercially viable solution.
The result is a development operation that is fit for the present and prepared for the future.
Transformation
Our work has taken us around the world, from Algeria to China via Europe and the USA.
We have extensive experience of a multitude of cultures, products, business structures and processes which we apply to every project.
Case Studies
The biggest focus in this sector is new product development, underpinned by the long term position of the brand.
Media coverage of the health and obesity conversation – frequently accompanied by pack shots of crisps – challenged the brand health of Walkers crisps. This created a business need for the product to be adapted, without jeopardising the market position, sales or the brand’s strategy of product innovation.
Ensuring the R&D, sales, marketing and management functions were working in alignment, the issue was addressed though product innovation – reducing the salt content and moving to sunflower oil. Alongside the R&D transformation, we worked with all business functions to generate engagement and support. The result was a benefit to the health of the public, the brand and the bottom line.
In this area, the challenge is often to design an R&D organisation that can deliver on immediate customer needs while also identifying and responding to longer term food and market trends. In addition, research programmes need to be in place and NPD must keep pace with demand.
This requires all business functions to be future-proofed in ability, resource and skills.
At Devro, we approached this challenge by taking an organisational overview and established what changes were needed to organisation, capability and process. At the same time, we built a Research organisation which could focus on key competitive threats as well as market opportunities.
An example was putting into place a specialist team which had the requisite skills to develop products specifically for the Asian market, where deep fat frying is both a focus and a challenge.
In this sector, focus is on short term turnaround, getting a business fit for purpose and ensuring technical credibility with key clients.
At Whitworths, we transformed the technical function through a strategic approach across recruitment, training, procurement, process and product.
The changes made were both major and minor, but the result was a technical function that was capable of meeting the required standards and a supply chain that was capable of servicing the major grocery retailers.
You benefit from our experience
You get quicker, more robust results because we bring extensive experience to every project.
Cultural Diversity
Our work in China, USA, Europe and the UK means we understand different cultural needs and challenges
Decisive
Able to take a strategic view from a neutral standpoint, we identify issues and recommend the course of action quickly
Strategic and long-term
Our work experience extends from R&D/NPD to HR, procurement, sales and marketing so our approach is strategic and company wide, never siloed
Robust
Sometimes, tough calls have to be made and we know how to make them, with minimum disruption and maximum effect
Commercially led
We take a realistic view of technical developments, keeping the P&L as our primary focus
Mobile
Often, the issues can only be identified by being in situ so we travel whenever needed.
Testimonials
“I worked with John for almost 5 years… In that time, he completely transformed the research and development function, bringing structure, direction and togetherness to a large multinational, intercontinental team.”
“John always makes time for doing the ‘right’ thing, rather than the ‘easy’ thing for an organisation. I learnt …about the importance of consistency in a change management environment. I would recommend John without hesitation”
“John completely transformed the structure, processes, and priorities within the R&D function. He provided a clear vision of how the function could be restructured to deliver on the company priorities and then made that a reality. This was a major undertaking in a relatively traditional company and required a results-driven mentality and considerably tenacity.”
“He brought about great, positive, change…something that needed commitment and tenacity to break a decades old mentality and approach”
Contact us
Please send us a message using the form below:
John is a proud Scot, a passionate rugby fan and an expert in food industry R&D. He makes difficult decisions with ease, addresses issues with rigour as well as humour and is absolutely focussed on getting the most out of people in order to deliver the maximum to the business.
Call John McAughtrie (Founder) +44 7368 317964
Email direct to john@piperkennett.co.uk
