Case Studies

From Fragmented to Unified: How a Food Manufacturer Modernized Its Stage Gate and PLM Operating Model

2 minute read

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: A growing food manufacturer needed a more consistent and scalable approach to commercialization across its business units. Catena Solutions assessed the organization’s Stage Gate processes, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) utilization, governance, data, and technology, identifying 50 improvement opportunities and approximately 2,000 hours of annual manual activity. The engagement established a unified future-state Stage Gate framework and prioritized roadmap to strengthen governance, improve data quality, optimize existing technology, and guide future ERP and PLM modernization.

Project at a Glance:

• 50 Improvement Opportunities: Identified across commercialization, governance, data, systems, processes, and organizational capabilities
• ~2,000 Hours of Annual Manual Activity: Identified from inventory counting and updating caused by disconnected systems
• 23 Quick Wins: Near-term, low-to-medium effort improvements prioritized for action
• 27 Longer-Term Actions: 6 structural enablers and 21 strategic priorities established
• Unified Stage Gate Framework: Future-state model developed to support more consistent commercialization from ideation through product sunsetting

The Challenge: Why Did the Manufacturer Need to Modernize Its Stage Gate & PLM Processes?

A growing food manufacturer lacked a unified approach to commercialization across its business units. Stage Gate execution, governance, data ownership, and cross-functional decision-making varied across the organization, while fragmented systems and manual data movement created duplication, administrative effort, and limited visibility.

The organization needed to better understand its current commercialization capabilities, optimize its existing PLM investment, and establish a practical path toward more consistent, efficient, and scalable execution.

The Solution: How Did Catena Build a Unified Stage Gate & PLM Operating Model?

Catena Solutions deployed two SMEs with expertise in commercialization, Stage Gate transformation, PLM optimization, data governance, and technology enablement.

The team conducted a comprehensive assessment of the organization’s commercialization ecosystem across people, process, policy, data, and technology.

This included:

• Conducting stakeholder interviews and cross-functional workshops
• Observing current Stage Gate and commercialization processes
• Reviewing data flows, ownership, and governance practices
• Assessing PLM utilization and the broader technology landscape
• Benchmarking current capabilities against leading practices
• Identifying gaps and improvement opportunities across commercialization, governance, data, systems, processes, and organizational capabilities
• Designing a unified future-state Stage Gate framework
• Prioritizing recommendations into quick wins, structural enablers, and longer-term strategic actions

The Benefit: What Did the Stage Gate & PLM Assessment Uncover?

Catena identified 50 improvement opportunities, including 26 rated as high impact, as well as approximately 2,000 hours of annual manual inventory activity caused by disconnected systems.

The assessment also found that significant value could potentially be captured by strengthening governance, improving data quality and integration, and increasing adoption of existing capabilities rather than immediately replacing technology.

The engagement delivered:

• 25–50% tool reduction potential: Opportunities to streamline PLM-related systems and tools
• 23 quick wins: Low-to-medium effort improvements prioritized for near-term action
• 27 longer-term actions: 6 structural enablers and 21 strategic priorities organized into clear execution pathways
• Future-state Stage Gate framework: A standardized model spanning ideation, launch, post-launch evaluation, and product sunsetting
• PLM & data recommendations: Guidance for improving PLM utilization, technology capabilities, and master data ownership
• Modernization roadmap: Clear priorities to inform future ERP and PLM decisions