April 1st, 2024

Ajinomoto Brazil and Centric Software Join Forces in Order to Manage Raw Materials and Prototypes

Brazilian division of the multinational company seeks to streamline product development with Centric PLM

CAMPBELL, CALIFORNIA, Avril 2, 2024 – Centric Software®, market leader in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), proudly announces that Ajinomoto Brazil, known for amino acids and owner of popular brands such as SAZÓN^®, MID^® and VONO^®, has selected Centric PLM™. Centric Software provides the most innovative solutions to plan, design, develop, purchase, price and sell food, beverage and consumer products to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

Present in Brazil since 1956, Ajinomoto is a Japanese multinational and global leader in amino acids. The company offers quality products for consumers as well as ingredients for the food, cosmetics, sports, pharmaceutical, animal nutrition and agribusiness industries. The Ajinomoto group is present in 36 countries.

Quality and precision in execution are key elements of Ajinomoto Brazil’s product development process. Managing their product categories and raw materials while simultaneously developing products in a fast, efficient and precise manner had become a challenge. According to Tatiana Tavares, R&D manager at Ajinomoto Brazil, the process was quite laborious. “For example, if there was an update regarding some information from raw material suppliers, we would have to review spreadsheets, systems and documents. There was a lot of manual transcription of information, which increased the risk of errors.” she explains.

Faced with these circumstances, the company decided to look for a more integrated and efficient solution, which ended up being the Centric PLM platform. “We chose Centric because they were very quick, not only in providing assistance, but also in understanding our specific needs. From the beginning, the team was very engaged, making adjustments within the software and showing us possible solutions. We also feel the software is intuitive and easy to use. We talked to some current Centric customers, which helped us a lot in making our final decision,” says Tavares.

Ajinomoto Brazil has ambitious plans for the future due to the adaptability of Centric PLM, which will monitor and boost business growth. “For the next stages of the project, we hope to include other processes that can be optimized with the use of the software, which would ease our efforts in carrying out more activities,” notes Melissa Claus, R&D manager at Ajinomoto Brazil.

“We are thrilled with our association with Ajinomoto Brazil, whose commitment to innovation and continuous improvement aligns with our own,” says Chris Groves, CEO of Centric Software. “With more agile, efficient processes and quality products, the company is prepared to meet the future needs of the Brazilian and global markets.”

Learn more about Centric Software

Request a demo

About Ajinomoto Brazil (www.ajinomoto.com.br)

Present in Brazil since 1956, Ajinomoto is a Japanese multinational and global leader in amino acids. The company offers quality products for consumers as well as inputs for the food, cosmetics, sports, pharmaceutical, animal nutrition and agribusiness industries. The Ajinomoto group is currently present in 36 countries. At present, the Brazilian unit is the third most important of the Ajinomoto Group outside Japan, preceded only by Thailand and the United States. The company’s consumer-facing product line consists of theumami seasoning AJI-NO-MOTO^®, AJI-SAL®, Tempero SAZÓN^®, Caldo SAZÓN^®, SAZÓN^® Tempera & Prepara, HONDASHI^®, SABOR A MI® e SABOR A MI^® Receita de Casa, including the the individual soups VONO^®, VONO^® Proteína and the line of creamy and light VONO^®Chef. Also worth mentioning are MID^®and MID ZERO™ powdered soft drinks, TERRANO^®extra virgin olive oil, TERRANO® single varietal olive oil and the TERRANO® Veggie Burger line and the SATIS!^®Molho Shoyu, as well as aminoVITAL^®GOLD e aminoVITAL^®GOLD DRINK MIX, which are products made up of nine essential amino acids for the recovery of athletes and sports enthusiasts. In Brazil, the company also operates in the food service segment. With four factories located in the state of São Paulo, more precisely in the cities of Limeira, Laranjal Paulista, Valparaíso and Pederneiras, and the administrative headquarters in the capital, it employs around 3,000 people and serves both domestic and international markets. The Ajinomoto Group had global revenues of US$10 billion and domestic revenues of R$3.4 billion in fiscal year 2022. It is currently present in 36 countries, has 117 factories and around 34,000 employees worldwide. To find out more, visit www.ajinomoto.com.br .

Centric Software® (centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley, Centric Software provides the market-leading AI-enabled product lifecycle management platform for food & beverage manufacturers, grocery, brands and multi-category retailers. As experts in all fast-moving consumer goods, Centric Software delivers best-of-breed solutions to design, develop, source, comply, buy, make, package, assort, market and sell products. Centric Software solutions optimize the product portfolio, harmonize product offers and streamline product development by speeding time to market and innovation while enhancing quality control and ensuring regulatory compliance.

Centric PLM™ features integrated industry best practices and innovative, AI-enabled capabilities tailored specifically for food and beverage manufacturers, retailers and food service providers. Seamlessly manage the overall product lifecycle, from initial concept and formula development to packaging, quality, supplier collaboration, nutritional labeling, production, SKU rationalization and beyond. Results include up to a 50% improvement in productivity and a 60% decrease in time to market.
Centric Visual Boards™ are a visually oriented product portfolio optimization tool. A singular accessible workspace pulls in real-time data and imagery from multiple business systems. It is a new, visual way of working to ensure robust, consumer-right product offers, dramatically decreasing assortment development cycle time.
Centric PXM™ AI-powered Product Experience Management encompasses PIM, DAM, content syndication and Digital Shelf Analytics (DSA) to optimize the product commercialization lifecycle resulting in a transformed brand experience. Increase sales channels, boost sell through and drive margins.

Centric Software’s market-driven solutions have the highest user adoption rate, customer satisfaction rate and fastest time to value in the industry. Centric Software has received multiple industry awards and recognition, appearing regularly in world-leading analyst reports and research.