CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

18 March 2009

Implementation Investments

Bostik Deploys Sopheon’s Accolade® System to Enhance Product Innovation Results

Sopheon announced that Bostik SA, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of adhesives and sealants, has implemented Sopheon’s Accolade system to support advancement of the company’s product innovation processes. The deployment provides access to the Sopheon software by cross-functional teams and business leaders responsible for product development and commercialization throughout Bostik’s worldwide operations.

Bostik’s history is a testimony to the business value of product innovation. Founded in 1889, the company began as a manufacturer of adhesives and polish for leather work and shoemaking. In the ensuing years, its product lines grew and became more diversified. For instance, a strategic focus on finding new applications for its chemical know-how led to the invention of hot-melt adhesives. The technology was used initially during World War II to hold parachute dummies together. Today, Bostik’s adhesives are used for everything from sealing cereal boxes and gluing disposable diapers to bonding hulls to decks on leisure boats. The contribution of new products to Bostik’s sales shows a pattern of consistent year-over-year increases.

“Innovation is the engine that drives sustainable, profitable growth,” said Bruno Charriere, corporate innovation director for Bostik. “We have stepped up our investment in product innovation with the objectives of growing faster and strengthening our competitive position through increased differentiation. With Sopheon’s solution, we have end-to-end visibility and management across our product ideation, selection, development and commercialization processes. The software gives us the consistent data we need for sound product innovation decisions. We view Accolade as a critical enabler of our efforts to ensure that we invest our resources in the right product opportunities, and bring those products to market at the right time.”

Bostik’s choice of Accolade was based on such advantages as the solution’s ease-of-use and simple configurability, and its strong alignment with the Stage-Gate® product development methodology that had already been introduced within the company. Executives benefit from comprehensive views of product portfolios that inform go/kill decisions about products in the pipeline and help to keep resources focused on the most commercially promising projects. The system’s reporting capabilities are used to make certain that project activity is aligned with financial and strategic business targets and linked to the company’s operating plans. The software also facilitates shared learning and knowledge reuse among the company’s cross-functional product development teams, helping them to avoid redundant work effort.

Bostik’s implementation of Accolade includes the software’s idea management and screening module, which facilitates the generation, capture and assessment of new product ideas. Bostik also intends to take advantage of Accolade’s capacity to integrate with Microsoft® Office technology, a step that will give product development teams and executives the ability to access and share project-related information from enterprise-wide systems and use that data to make faster, better portfolio management decisions.

Sopheon partner and affiliate Sopheon France was responsible for the sale of Accolade to Bostik. It supported implementation of the software and subsequently maintains it. Patrice Duponchel, founding manager of Sopheon France, said, “As one of the top global manufacturers in France, Bostik is a skilled practitioner in the area of product innovation. And their business results have long shown it. A central thrust of Bostik’s approach to product life cycle management is to find methods and tools that can add sophistication to their innovation processes by driving decisions that improve growth and profitability. Accolade is unsurpassed in its capacity to support the range of operational and business decision-making associated with product innovation. It is well-matched to the strategic goals of Bostik’s continuing commitment to innovation-driven success.”

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