The symptoms
The clearest sign is that two people give you two different documents when you ask for the same product's specification. You rarely notice the gap in daily work. It shows up when something changes or when someone outside the business asks a question:
- One raw material has a different name or allergen statement depending on which plant you ask.
- A supplier change takes weeks to assess because nobody can list the finished products that use the ingredient.
- Label artwork goes to print from a file nobody can trace to an approved version.
- A retailer's regulatory questionnaire gets answered from email threads and memory.
- Quality and R&D each keep their own copy and reconcile them by hand before every audit.
These problems arise because specifications were created where the work happened, in whatever format was closest, and nobody owned the structure across sites.
A local template here
A local template is a form that one plant or category team built for its own products, and it's the first place harmonisation breaks down. It worked well for the people who made it. Over the years they added fields whenever auditors or customers asked for them. So two templates for the same product type now use different field names and units for the same data. One site records allergens in a single field, while another splits "contains" and "may contain." Put the field lists of two templates side by side before you merge anything. If they don't match field for field, every record will need mapping before it can move.
A spreadsheet there
Spreadsheet specifications contain logic nobody has written down, which makes them harder to move than templates. Years ago a technologist built the workbook to calculate nutrition values or ingredient percentages, and those formulas still feed labels today. The file sits on a shared drive with no approval trail. The copy actually in use is one saved to someone's desktop. For each workbook, find the person who maintains it and ask which of its outputs leave the business. Any calculation that ends up on a label has to be rebuilt as a regulatory and labelling calculation in the new platform. Check the rebuilt version against the spreadsheet's results before you retire the old file.
An acquired system
An acquired system is the hardest source to fold in, because it's already governed and its users trust it. It comes with its own data model and codes. People actually follow its approval workflow. Sometimes it's better than the parent company's own setup, and the sensible move is to adopt parts of it. Compare the two systems field by field and status by status. Then decide which structure wins for each part of the specification and write down why, because the acquired team will ask.
Auditing what exists
An audit finds every file and system that holds a specification. For each one, it records the fields the source carries and the people who approve what's in it. The audit produces a large spreadsheet of its own, which is fine because it's temporary.
Where specifications are held
Start with people instead of folders. Ask each site's quality and R&D leads where they'd look for a specification if a customer called today. Their answers turn up the desktop copies and email attachments that a drive scan misses. Record each source with its owner and the number of active products it covers.
Which fields each source carries
Put the field list of every source into one grid, with sources as columns and fields as rows. Mark which fields are mandatory and which feed a calculation. The grid quickly shows where two sources mean the same thing under different names, and where one name covers two meanings.
Who approves each specification
Write down who signs off a specification at each site, and in what order. You'll find that one plant needs quality approval before release while another lets R&D release on its own. Record these differences as they are. You'll correct them later, when you agree decision rights.
Structure surviving category differences
A specification structure survives category differences when it has a common core that every product shares, plus conditional fields that appear only where a category needs them. A separate template for each category or plant is how the problem started in the first place. The core holds each product's identity and composition, with allergen information recorded alongside the composition. It also records shelf life and approval status. A beverage adds fill volume and carbonation. A beauty care product adds its INCI list (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients).
How big the core can be depends on how broad the portfolio is. A company that makes only food can carry a large core. A company that also makes home care or specialty chemicals needs a thinner core and more conditional fields.
Start from what the product lifecycle management (PLM) platform does out of the box. Add a field or a condition only when there's a real business reason for it. If you catch a conflict in the design blueprint, it costs you a meeting. If the same conflict turns up during user acceptance testing (UAT), it costs rework and a delayed go-live.
Migration sequencing
Migrate active products first and clean them against the agreed structure. Leave history for later. Active products drive today's labels and audits, so they have to be right on the first day the platform is live. Clean each record before it moves: merge duplicates and convert units to one standard. Products still in development are a judgement call. If a launch is close, migrate the product. If it's at an early stage, recreating it in the new structure is faster. Discontinued products can wait for a later wave or stay read-only in the old source. Check every wave with analytics, not spot checks. Compare record counts per source, and compare calculated values such as nutrition against the old results.
How we consolidate specifications
Teams consolidate product specifications in six steps, and the order matters more than the software. C+P Consulting works through this sequence with manufacturers across categories such as confectionery and specialty chemicals:
- Audit every source to document its fields and approvers.
- Design one structure with a common core and conditional fields.
- Agree decision rights and approval order before anything is configured, so that each site knows who may change a specification and who releases it.
- Configure standard first in short iterations. Specification writers then run their own products through the configured platform in early conference-room pilots.
- Migrate active products first, cleaned and checked with analytics.
- Train users and run hypercare before the handover to a steady-state team.
At C+P Consulting, the same people design the process and do the technical build. That matters because a handover between a process consultant and a separate build team is where design intent gets lost. With one team, the design that was signed off is the one the platform runs.
One global confectionery manufacturer needed a single source of truth for specifications and formulations across its plants, and it had no earlier system to build on. Its business users validated the design in conference-room pilots before configuration began. The platform went live on time against plan as the company's one source of truth for specifications.
What changes for specification writers
The biggest change for specification writers is that they fill in one structure, and the platform asks only for the fields their category needs.
| Task | Before harmonisation | After harmonisation |
|---|---|---|
| New specification | Copy the closest old file and edit it | Pick the category and get the core plus its conditional fields |
| Current version | Ask colleagues and compare file dates | Open the one released record |
| Supplier change | Search drives and inboxes for the ingredient | Run a where-used query |
| Label values | Spreadsheet formulas kept by one person | Calculated in the platform from the specification |
| Approval | Email sign-off, order differs by site | Workflow in the agreed approval order |
Measure success by adoption. Training uses the writers' own products. Hypercare keeps support close in the weeks after launch, which is when old habits come back. C+P Consulting keeps its team in place through that period and then hands over to a steady-state team that keeps improving the structure. Watch whether writers still keep private copies. A private copy is the first sign the old sprawl is growing back.
How to get started
Pick one product family that is made at two or more sites, and audit it before anything else. A family made at a single site hides the conflicts that specification harmonisation has to resolve, so the audit would tell you little. The two-site version shows you whether you need a new structure, a migration plan or both, and it shows you before any budget is committed. C+P Consulting helps consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers implement PLM for specification management and get their teams to use it. If your specifications are spread across templates and spreadsheets, or across systems you've inherited, talk to us about your programme.
FAQ
Conflicting documents for the same product are the clearest sign. Check whether sites record different allergen statements or whether label artwork can be traced to an approved specification. Private copies also indicate that people aren't relying on one released record.
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