Synercore Food Holdings held a “Get Real” Workshop as part of their inaugural award for “The most commercially viable new product development project” at the recent fourth year students’ New Product Development Day held at the Department of Food Science at Stellenbosch University. The concept of the “Get Real” workshop was developed internally by Synercore, identifying the gap between scientific study and the subsequent commercial reality ‘shock’ food science students face when first entering a commercial environment.
Under the experienced leadership of Darryl Clayton, Director African Food Industries, facilitating the workshop, various commercial and technical experts from the Synercore group gave informative lectures within their area of competency and expertise. They were:
Alex Zabbia – THE FORMULATORS TOOLBOX
Dr Nikki Hogan – FROM GENESIS TO LAUNCH
Darryl Clayton – UPSCALING PRODUCT FORMULATIONS – A reality check
Wayne Patton – MANUFACTURING & PROCUREMENT
Buks van Rooyen – SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT / CONSUMER EXCELLENCE
Darryl Clayton – COSTING: THE DEATH OF ALL INNOVATION?
The event was held at a conference venue close to Paarl in the Western Cape and was a relaxed and informal discussion on commercialisation pitfalls culminating in a group lunch.
(Pictured above: The Amaasing Team listening and questioning the experts)
A general discussion was had at the end of the workshop and all students and Dr. Maricel Krügel, lecturer of the NPD course at the Food Science Department, agreed that the information shared, highlighted the realities of commercialisation and the many obstacles faced within a commercial environment. The students also stated the workshop would be of value to all Food Science Students and would be beneficial at the start of the year before the students commence with their projects.
Individual feedback from the Amaasing team highlighted the experienced gained through this interactive workshop:
- “An informative workshop, that provided a well-rounded and interesting introduction to NPD. An eye-opening insight to the field of Food Science.” Caroline Bursey
- “I think the course was excellent. I would suggest that a similar course is done with the students prior to them coming up with their product concepts. The course focuses on the entire route of the product from concept to customer and it was quite overwhelming t see the whole process when our course mainly focused on formulation. I think emphasis should be placed on the role the food scientist plays in this process. And then also equipping the students on how to strategically take all of the factors in the entire route into consideration when formulating.” Nicole Jenneker
- “The presenters were all passionate and eager, it made the presentation fun and it kept me focused on what was being said.” Chante Clarke
- “This workshop gave valuable insight into the technical and commercial aspects that have to be considered when assessing product feasibility.” Alicia
- “Each individual, who spoke about something different relating to the food industry, really inspired me, and opened my eyes to the endless opportunities as a food scientist.” Micaela
- “Everything that was covered I the course was valuable. I would not remove anything.” “An amazing reminder of aspects you forget to consider.” Jani Bisschoff
- “The formulators toolbox section with Alex was amazing. It was really a treat hearing him speak, especially since we had a dairy product. Upscaling and procurement were also very important topics we don’t really address. It was so enlightening hearing about the practical implications of the products we design.” Nicole Jennekar
Overall the event was a tremendous success and no doubt it will be become a regular event in years to come.