Beverage system redesign

Company

PA Consulting

Client

Global Beverage Company (Confidential)

Role

Product Development Consultant

Year

2024 - 2025

A major European regulation was forcing our client to fundamentally rethink how the consumable side of their professional coffee machine system worked. As part of a multidisciplinary PA Consulting team, I took ownership of translating the legislation into product requirements, mapping the full customer journey across the new system, and driving the technical development of some key components. By the end of the project we had proof-of-concept prototypes that met all regulatory and operational requirements.

Context

Our client, a global beverage company, offers various types of coffee solutions to the hospitality and food service sector. Due to the upcoming European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR), the existing packaging for the consumed coffee needed to be redesigned to meet new legislative requirements while remaining fully compatible with the physical constraints of the machine and the way its users operate and service it. The quality of the coffee itself could not be compromised in any scenario.

Challenge

The regulation did not just require a packaging update. It forced a rethink of how the entire consumption side of the system worked. No off-the-shelf solution existed that satisfied all requirements, which meant an entirely new concept had to be developed. Beyond the legislative brief, the solution also had to meet strict criteria around hygiene, transportation, storage, and day-to-day usage across a wide range of hospitality settings. Getting any single element wrong had consequences for the rest of the system.

Contribution

Within a multidisciplinary team, I took ownership of several interconnected
workstreams across the project.

  • Translated the relevant parts of the PPWR into concrete system requirements and developed a digital compliance tool with client stakeholders that allowed the team to quickly check the impact of any design change.

  • Took ownership of the hygiene requirements workstream and built a current and future state customer journey map used to align stakeholders and validate changes across the system.

  • Led the sourcing and selection of a key technical component, evaluating options against the full set of functional, regulatory, and cost requirements.

Within a multidisciplinary team, I took ownership of several interconnected
workstreams across the project.

  • Translated the relevant parts of the PPWR into concrete system requirements and developed a digital compliance tool with client stakeholders that allowed the team to quickly check the impact of any design change.

  • Took ownership of the hygiene requirements workstream and built a current and future state customer journey map used to align stakeholders and validate changes across the system.

  • Led the sourcing and selection of a key technical component, evaluating options against the full set of functional, regulatory, and cost requirements.

Within a multidisciplinary team, I took ownership of several interconnected
workstreams across the project.

  • Translated the relevant parts of the PPWR into concrete system requirements and developed a digital compliance tool with client stakeholders that allowed the team to quickly check the impact of any design change.

  • Took ownership of the hygiene requirements workstream and built a current and future state customer journey map used to align stakeholders and validate changes across the system.

  • Led the sourcing and selection of a key technical component, evaluating options against the full set of functional, regulatory, and cost requirements.

Outcome

By the end of the project, the team had developed and tested proof-of-concept prototypes that met all regulatory requirements and satisfied the full range of system and usage-related criteria. The work demonstrated that a viable solution exists within the constraints set by the PPWR, the machine, and the client's operational requirements.