Petfood Forum 2022

Sessions Speakers Exhibitors Products Press Releases Floor Plan Buzz

Petfood Essentials: Managing expectations, timelines and competing priorities (Room KCCC 2100 Rooms)

Leah Lambrakis, vice president, R&D, nutrition and scientific affairs for Simmons Pet Food, describes how the rapid growth of the pet food category continues to bring exciting opportunities for new products and innovative ideas to be accelerated toward the finish line. With product development lifecycles becoming shorter to keep up with our customers' innovation needs, it is critical to manage expectations surrounding launch timelines, project requirements, product claims and competing priorities. Staying focused and true to a robust new product development process, with a high degree of cross-functional collaboration, is key to the success of a new product launch. Lambrakis discusses the challenges companies face and the opportunities they offer when managing several customer and corporate projects, and best practices on how to stay on scope, on time and innovative when bringing a new product to market.