How Suntory Global Spirits brings products to life using a fully connected portfolio management solution.
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Suntory Global Spirits is a leader in premium spirits, with an ambition to become the "World’s Most Admired Premium Spirits Company."
The company is guided by the values of growing for good (practicing good corporate citizenship and social responsibility while growing as a company and as individuals), Yatte Minahare (a spirit to take on big challenges), and giving back to society.
Suntory Global Spirits is known for its craftsmanship of leading brands, including:
TEQUILAS
Build and manage a flexible and scalable product launch process that optimizes success rates.
The CPG industry is constantly adapting to the changing market landscape as a result of shifting consumer trends and other macroeconomic factors. That’s why for Suntory Global Spirits, one of the most important internal evolutions has been its approach to process design—automation-first and the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) mindset.
This mindset, combined with the flexibility of its project portfolio management (PPM) solution from Planisware, allows Suntory Global Spirits to make incremental enhancements and tweaks with minimal investment, ensuring it continuously develops the products consumers want.
Projects typically come from two places: The long-term innovation roadmap of each brand, or ‘just-in-time’ opportunities Suntory Global Spirits identifies based on consumer trends. In either case, projects enter the commercialization pipeline and are managed based on their complexity and timing requirements for the launch. Project execution is governed through “Stage Gates,” where each innovation is evaluated for financial and executional viability and risks.
MISSION
SOLUTION
Planisware Enterprise brings data visibility and process consistency to cross-functional work.
Clear visibility into cross-functional work is essential for managing a robust innovation pipeline. Suntory Global Spirits has clear brand priorities, both globally and across key markets. “We use this to guide the way we prioritize our innovation pipeline,” explains Duncan. “In our implementation, users assigned to a task within a priority project will see a clear visual indicator identifying that work as part of a priority project.”
This enables a clear distinction between work in priority and non-priority projects. During system training, all users are instructed to address tasks marked as priority first. Completing these tasks ahead of schedule introduces float into the project schedule, reducing overall timing risks.
“Our core standards and deliverables remain consistent across all initiatives. This strategy minimizes the complexity arising from inconsistent processes or requirements,” says Duncan.
Suntory Global Spirits is positioned for sustainable launch process consistency, scalability, and success.
By managing the innovation portfolio and standardized process templates in Planisware instead of scattered spreadsheets and slide decks, data collection and reporting time has gone from taking weeks to minutes—and this benefits everyone, especially business leaders.
Innovations play an important role in enhancing the reputation of its core brands, so Suntory Global Spirits focuses a lot on this process. The company is saving months of lost productivity and tens of thousands of dollars by being empowered to handle 90% of configuration work internally.
Additional business benefits include higher launch success rates through more efficient use of resources, faster decision-making, and a focus on high-priority projects with low risks or issues (e.g., Stage Gate approvers can review projects immediately upon submission, allowing low-risk projects to move forward asynchronously and ahead of schedule).
65%
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10,000+
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Across industry data, 60% of project managers (PMs) run 2 to 5 projects and only 11% run 6 to 10 projects at the same time. However, PMs within Suntory Global Brands manage on average up to 5X that many projects concurrently.
OUTCOMES
A fully connected portfolio management solution to help make your vision a reality.
For CPGs, aligning a strategic direction with the associated execution activities provides visibility into any area of the New Product Development (NPD) process.
Whether it is a global view of innovation projects or a regional view, corporate decision makers can remain agile to address market issues and pivot as necessary to develop innovation strategies for the consumer of the future.
Learn more
Book a meeting
OVERVIEW
Executive interview with Vincent Batteur, Head of Sales, North America, Planisware
SPONSORED BY
With a matrixed and globally distributed organization, Suntory Global Spirits intentionally creates consistent business processes that often evolve through the PDCA mindset. This is why having a scalable process and automation-first mindset within the PPM is a critical part of success to:
Ensure the product development plan can be adapted on the fly to meet dynamic consumer expectations.
Deliver clear visibility into cross-functional work across the innovation pipeline.
“Standardization forms the cornerstone of automation and scalability," according to Nick Duncan, who leads the R&D Technology as part of the R&D Systems & Transformations Team at Suntory Global Spirits. “Business processes are intentionally crafted to be as universally applicable as possible, ensuring that methodologies for producing essential innovation data remain consistent throughout the organization.”
What’s more, the company maps critical business processes as project templates in the PPM tool. Project Managers select suitable templates and assign specific work packages and tasks directly to responsible individuals. This system enables the team to easily track assignments, deadlines, and priorities across multiple projects—all in one place, and outside of email inboxes—representing every critical business process from ideation to manufacturing in project schedules.
In fact, Duncan reports approximately eight business days saved per gate on average. “Over the lifecycle of a project, that can work out to over a month of time savings compared to the typical Gate Meeting methodology.”
"Planisware is an incredibly flexible platform; what might take months and tens of thousands of dollars in other business systems can often be done in an afternoon by an admin embedded in the business,” says Duncan. “Planisware has been a great partner by empowering us to truly own our implementation and freeing up our team to focus on developing commercially viable innovations that meet consumer trends.”
CPGs benefit from:
One version of the truth
Real-time analytics
Agile & Gated methodologies
Strategic Portfolio Management
Visibility and transparency into execution activities across the entire global enterprise
Scalability across a global footprint
Sustainability incorporated into the innovation process
Product portfolio investments prioritized
GINS
PREMIUM WHISKIES
JAPANESE WHISKIES
SCOTCHES
Ready-To-Drink (RTD) Cocktails
OUTCOMES
Suntory Global Spirits is positioned for sustainable launch process consistency, scalability, and success.
By managing the innovation portfolio and standardized process templates in Planisware instead of scattered spreadsheets and slide decks, data collection and reporting time has gone from taking weeks to minutes—and this benefits everyone, especially business leaders.
Innovations play an important role in enhancing the reputation of its core brands, so Suntory Global Spirits focuses a lot on this process. The company is saving months of lost productivity and tens of thousands of dollars by being empowered to handle 90% of configuration work internally.
Additional business benefits include higher launch success rates through more efficient use of resources, faster decision-making, and a focus on high-priority projects with low risks or issues (e.g., Stage Gate approvers can review projects immediately upon submission, allowing low-risk projects to move forward asynchronously and ahead of schedule).
In fact, Duncan reports approximately eight business days saved per gate on average. “Over the lifecycle of a project, that can work out to over a month of time savings compared to the typical Gate Meeting methodology.”
"Planisware is an incredibly flexible platform; what might take months and tens of thousands of dollars in other business systems can often be done in an afternoon by an admin embedded in the business,” says Duncan. “Planisware has been a great partner by empowering us to truly own our implementation and freeing up our team to focus on developing commercially viable innovations that meet consumer trends.”
Across industry data, 60% of project managers (PMs) run 2 to 5 projects and only 11% run 6 to 10 projects at the same time. However, PMs within Suntory Global Brands manage on average up to 5X that many projects concurrently.
Suntory Global Spirits is a leader in premium spirits, with an ambition to become the "World’s Most Admired Premium Spirits Company."
The company is guided by the values of growing for good (practicing good corporate citizenship and social responsibility while growing as a company and as individuals), Yatte Minahare (a spirit to take on big challenges), and giving back to society.
Suntory Global Spirits is known for its craftsmanship of leading brands, including:
TEQUILAS
GINS
PREMIUM WHISKIES
JAPANESE WHISKIES
SCOTCHES
Ready-To-Drink (RTD) Cocktails
MISSION
“Standardization forms the cornerstone of automation and scalability," according to Nick Duncan, who leads the R&D Technology as part of the R&D Systems & Transformations Team at Suntory Global Spirits. “Business processes are intentionally crafted to be as universally applicable as possible, ensuring that methodologies for producing essential innovation data remain consistent throughout the organization.”
With a matrixed and globally distributed organization, Suntory Global Spirits intentionally creates consistent business processes that often evolve through the PDCA mindset. This is why having a scalable process and automation-first mindset within the PPM is a critical part of success to:
Ensure the product development plan can be adapted on the fly to meet dynamic consumer expectations.
Deliver clear visibility into cross-functional work across the innovation pipeline.
Build and manage a flexible and scalable product launch process that optimizes success rates.
The CPG industry is constantly adapting to the changing market landscape as a result of shifting consumer trends and other macroeconomic factors. That’s why for Suntory Global Spirits, one of the most important internal evolutions has been its approach to process design—automation-first and the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) mindset.
This mindset, combined with the flexibility of its project portfolio management (PPM) solution from Planisware, allows Suntory Global Spirits to make incremental enhancements and tweaks with minimal investment, ensuring it continuously develops the products consumers want.
Projects typically come from two places: The long-term innovation roadmap of each brand, or ‘just-in-time’ opportunities Suntory Global Spirits identifies based on consumer trends. In either case, projects enter the commercialization pipeline and are managed based on their complexity and timing requirements for the launch. Project execution is governed through “Stage Gates,” where each innovation is evaluated for financial and executional viability and risks.
Executive interview with Vincent Batteur, Head of Sales, North America, Planisware
SOLUTION
Planisware Enterprise brings data visibility and process consistency to cross-functional work.
Clear visibility into cross-functional work is essential for managing a robust innovation pipeline. Suntory Global Spirits has clear brand priorities, both globally and across key markets. “We use this to guide the way we prioritize our innovation pipeline,” explains Duncan. “In our implementation, users assigned to a task within a priority project will see a clear visual indicator identifying that work as part of a priority project.”
This enables a clear distinction between work in priority and non-priority projects. During system training, all users are instructed to address tasks marked as priority first. Completing these tasks ahead of schedule introduces float into the project schedule, reducing overall timing risks.
“Our core standards and deliverables remain consistent across all initiatives. This strategy minimizes the complexity arising from inconsistent processes or requirements,” says Duncan.
What’s more, the company maps critical business processes as project templates in the PPM tool. Project Managers select suitable templates and assign specific work packages and tasks directly to responsible individuals. This system enables the team to easily track assignments, deadlines, and priorities across multiple projects—all in one place, and outside of email inboxes—representing every critical business process from ideation to manufacturing in project schedules.
A fully connected portfolio management solution to help make your vision a reality.
For CPGs, aligning a strategic direction with the associated execution activities provides visibility into any area of the New Product Development (NPD) process.
Whether it is a global view of innovation projects or a regional view, corporate decision makers can remain agile to address market issues and pivot as necessary to develop innovation strategies for the consumer of the future.
Learn more
Book a meeting
Visibility and transparency into execution activities across the entire global enterprise
Scalability across a global footprint
Sustainability incorporated into the innovation process
Product portfolio investments prioritized
One version of the truth
Real-time analytics
Agile & Gated methodologies
Strategic Portfolio Management
CPGs benefit from:
OVERVIEW
How Suntory Global Spirits brings products to life using a fully connected portfolio management solution.
SPONSORED BY