The Workbench also interfaces with Imas' specification software, Xspec, which tracks a company's ingredient, formulation and processing quality standards.
It was in the process of implementing Xspec at food companies that Imas first identified the need for PDW, says Steven Meier, vice president of Imas, which found that companies were using lab books or enterprise resource planning systems to do the project tracking job.
Speeding product development was also the impetus behind Xspec, Imas' specification software, which was installed at Imas' first client, Kraft Foods, late last year.