Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Information Systems in the Global Economy
Food Giant General Mills Relies on Management Information
Systems to Maintain Product Specifications
General Mills markets many well-known food brands including Betty Crocker, Pillsbury,
Green Giant, Yoplait, Häagen-Dazs, and Cheerios. One of the company's greatest chal-
lenges is consistently providing high quality in every product it produces, packages, and
delivers around the world, while adhering to strict regulations imposed by various gov-
ernments. Management information systems (MISs) allow General Mills to do just that.
General Mills stores the specifications for each of its products in a huge database. The
data includes specifications for ingredients, formulas, processing, and packaging. In total,
the company stores over 22,000 product specifications, which are released to all of its
manufacturing sites on a regular schedule. Over the course of a year, the company makes
over 10,000 modifications to product specifications.
The process of modifying specifications is much more complicated than it sounds.
Many specifications are shared across multiple products. For example, if General Mills
changes a design feature of its cereal box, it affects the specifications for dozens of prod-
ucts. If Germany changes its regulations regarding the use of partially hydrogenated oils,
the change could affect the ingredients, formulas, and processing specifications of dozens
of products.
Because of the interrelated nature of General Mills' product specifications and the size
of its database, one change to specifications might require several hours of design work
followed by a lengthy review and approval process. What the company needed was an MIS
that could automate the process of updating specifications and undo changes as necessary
to return to the previously approved specifications.
General Mills worked with IS professionals from an outside MIS development company
to design “mass-change and undo” functionality for their product specifications system.
The MIS professionals worked with General Mills employees in the United States and
abroad to fully understand the nature of the challenge. After rigorous testing and user
training, the new features were integrated into the existing system with impressive
results. The first modification to a product affected 332 related specifications in the
database. Prior to the system improvement, the change would have required over 5,000
keystrokes and more than one day's work to implement. With the new system, the change
took six keystrokes and five minutes.
Not only does the new system save a significant amount of time, but it reduces errors.
Reducing keystrokes from 5,000 to five obviously reduces data entry errors. The system
also reduces logical errors; by requiring changes to be made in a specific order following
instructions provided in the software, operators are much less likely to overlook important
considerations when changing specifications.
The development of General Mills' new mass-change and undo system gives the com-
pany an advantage in the highly competitive and closely regulated food industry. When
market conditions change due to new regulations or public opinion, the first company to
adjust and bring the changes to market achieves a competitive advantage. General Mills
now has a much greater chance of being the first to introduce products that customers
want. Management information systems and decision support systems give businesses in
all industries a path to success through more efficient and effective operations.
