Adding protein to product development

To help develop and manage its product portfolio, The Solae Company, a soy food products business, has implemented Accolade from Sopheon.

Solae chose the solution to help automate Stage-Gate, the widely used product development methodology. According to Sopheon, Solae wanted "a disciplined process for capturing, evaluating and managing product and project ideas." Solae also was drawn to the software's ability to provide centralized, real-time visibility to project details and automated what-if analysis, Sopheon says, as a way to improve the speed and quality of portfolio decision making.

Jonathan McIntyre, VP of research and development at The Solae Company, says, "Solae has worked hard to earn its reputation for innovation leadership. But true innovation is inherently risky. It involves reaching beyond the boundaries of what your customers are able to tell you and anticipating what they are going to need, sometimes before they even know it.

"A principle reason that [we] chose to adopt the system is that it brings consistent rigor to our examination of the business risks and opportunities associated with each project entering our product development pipeline. Accolade is a tool that fits into our larger process for risk management, reducing the chance of investing in products that the market won't value."

Formed from an alliance of DuPont and Bunge, The Solae Company researches and develops soy ingredients for food products.