From Ingredient Request to Commercial Product: Why Your Ingredient Supplier Should Be Part of the Formulation Conversation

An ingredient supplier can add value before the final ingredient decision. See how sourcing expertise can help expand the options available to formulators.

Traditionally, ingredient suppliers enter the conversation after much of the formulation work has already been completed. A formulator identifies an ingredient. Purchasing sends out a request. Suppliers come back with pricing, minimum order quantities, lead times, and documentation.

Sometimes that process works perfectly.

But sometimes the most valuable time to speak with an ingredient supplier is before the final ingredient decision has been made.

At ASI International - Specialty Ingredients, we believe ingredient sourcing and formulation can benefit from being a more collaborative process.

When the Ingredient Looks Right on Paper but Doesn't Work in the Product

An ingredient can make perfect sense from a nutritional or functional standpoint and still create challenges when it enters a real formulation.

Perhaps it doesn't dissolve sufficiently in the intended beverage. Maybe it introduces an undesirable flavor, odor, or color. The required inclusion level could make the formulation too expensive. The desired specification may have an impractical minimum order quantity. Or the material may simply behave differently during manufacturing than expected.

When that happens, the solution isn't always to abandon the concept. It may be worth exploring a different specification, processing method, concentration, carrier, ingredient form, or alternative ingredient.

Your Supplier May Know Options You Haven't Considered

Ingredient manufacturers spend their time working with specific materials and processing technologies. Over 30 years, ASI has built relationships with manufacturers and supply partners across a wide range of ingredient categories, and we can bring those resources into a sourcing challenge.

When a customer explains what isn't working, our team can investigate whether another manufacturer offers a more appropriate version of the ingredient, or whether a different material might be worth evaluating. Sometimes there are commercially available options that simply aren't widely promoted. In other situations, a manufacturer may have technical capabilities that allow for modification or customization when projected volumes justify the development.

Formulation Support Doesn't Mean Formulating the Product for You

Our role is not to replace a customer's formulator, product developer, or R&D team.

Instead, ASI can serve as another resource during the development process. Our team can help investigate questions such as:

• Is another specification available?
• Is there a different form of the ingredient?
• Are there manufacturers offering better solubility or processing characteristics?
• Is there an alternative ingredient that could serve a similar formulation objective?
• Can the ingredient be customized at commercial quantities?
• Is there a more commercially practical option?
• What other ingredient technologies might be worth evaluating?

These conversations can help broaden the options available to the development team.

Think Beyond Today's Production Run

Ingredient selection also has to work commercially.

A material that performs well during development still has to transition into larger production quantities. That means accounting for availability, manufacturing capacity, minimum order quantities, lead times, quality requirements, and supply continuity.

Bringing the ingredient supplier into the conversation earlier can help identify some of these issues before a formulation reaches commercialization. This becomes particularly important when working with specialized ingredients, where there may only be a limited number of suitable manufacturers.

Start With the Challenge, Not Just the Ingredient

One of the most useful conversations a customer can have with ASI doesn't begin with:

"Can you quote this ingredient?"

It begins with:

"Here's what we're trying to make."

Tell us the application. Tell us the function you're trying to achieve. Tell us what you've already tried and what isn't working.

You may already have identified exactly the right ingredient, and our job may simply be to find the right source. But there may also be another specification, another manufacturer, or another ingredient approach worth considering.

For more than 30 years, ASI International - Specialty Ingredients has worked to connect customers with the ingredients and manufacturers behind successful products.

Sometimes that means supplying exactly what a customer requests. And sometimes it means helping them discover an option they didn't know was available.