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Every product development story starts with an inspiration, an observation something can be improved, that there is an unmet need.ÌýThe story of cascatelli, a new pasta shape begins with recognizing spaghetti sucks.ÌýThe surface area of spaghetti noodles is low relative to the volume of the noodles.ÌýSauce simply cannot adhere well.ÌýThe mouth feel of the noodles suffers.ÌýThere isn’t much noodle to resist your bite.ÌýBelieving there was a better way powered Dan Pashman’s quest to develop and commercialize a new pasta shape.Ìý

The cascatelli story is a story worth hearing for anyone doing development and scale-up in chemicals and materials.ÌýCreating a new pasta addresses a market where incumbents exist, as is most commonly the case with chemicals and materials.ÌýScale loomed large, as is commonly the case with chemicals and materials. It is a story documented in an interesting series of . The story of cascatelli describes many of the common challenges and many of the characters inhabiting many new product development stories.Ìý

Dan, the passionate inventor in this story, does a very smart thing.ÌýBefore trying to invent an improvement to spaghetti, he delves into the competitive landscape.ÌýEven smarter, as he evaluates the competition, he develops three unambiguous metrics to guide comparison.ÌýForkability, sauceability and toothsinkability form the basis for assessing the competitive landscape and, ultimately, to guide invention.ÌýForkability is a measure of the ease of getting the pasta shape onto a fork and keeping it there.ÌýSauceability measures how the shape retains sauce.ÌýMeasuring how satisfying the pasta is to sink your teeth into is toothsinkability.Ìý 

Study of competing pasta shapes convinces Dan he’s onto something.ÌýThe reason there are so many pasta shapes is the incumbent shapes all are deficient when measured against the metrics.ÌýThree clear metrics enable systematic comparison of existing pasta shapes.ÌýThe metrics are also amazingly useful in describing the unmet need in a clear and unambiguous way, important for recruitment of others to the quest.Ìý

Testing the idea with experts is where Dan smartly heads next.ÌýIt is during this phase a common character in product development stories emerges, the nay-sayer.ÌýHe approaches experts at the Durum Wheat Quality and Pasta Processing Laboratory, also known as The Pasta Lab, at North Dakota State University in Fargo.ÌýThey question the quest.ÌýMaureen Fant, a pasta historian, said she would not encourage anyone to invent a new pasta shape.ÌýChris Maldari, Vice President at , one of the largest manufacturers of pasta dies, pulls no punches.ÌýHe illuminates challenges in not only coming up with an improved shape, but also in the cost and complexity of getting it made.Ìý“I can’t tell you that you’re going to get anywhere with this ideaâ€� Chris tells Dan.Ìý  

Dan, true to the passionate inventor archetype, refuses to take no for an answer.ÌýHe finds a way.ÌýThe die gets made and, after some adjustments, is able to make exactly the shape Dan desires, long noodles with a thicker region at the center delivering forkability and toothsinkability.ÌýSauce clings to frilly edges to deliver saucability.Ìý 

Die in hand, Dan now faced the challenge of scale-up.ÌýEarly in my career, I was taught this adage about scale-up: Good, fast or cheap.ÌýPick no more than two.ÌýIt is recognition trade-offs are inevitable.Ìý Dan desired to make a long, flat pasta.ÌýTechnical challenges force reconsidering the shape due to economics.ÌýProblems boxing long frilly pasta means large boxes and high cost.ÌýDan pivots to a short pasta.ÌýHe compromises.Ìý 

Scaling production is part of the story I found particularly illuminating.ÌýI’ve spent countless hours describing the Ìý¾±²ÔÌý.ÌýThe importance of scale in pasta wasn’t immediately evident to me, but economics and consolidation drove pasta production to larger and larger scales.ÌýDan first encountered consolidation with the pasta die.ÌýD.ÌýMaldari & Sons joined up with De Mari Pasta Dies, their major competitor, in 2018.ÌýThere was only one choice for die production, thanks to consolidation.ÌýScale drove consolidation in pasta production.Ìý

Pasta seems like something where scale wouldn’t matter, small local producers should be viable.ÌýSmall, regional pasta makers were bought up and shut down as larger and larger factories gained economies of scale, benefitting from improved production and supply chain economics.ÌýA typical pasta train is over 85 million pounds per year, 10,000 pounds per hour.ÌýLines of that scale just can’t economically shift to make the total 5,000 pound run Dan desired.ÌýScale and consolidation impact other commodity food items.Ìý.Ìý.Ìý.ÌýAll are seeing the number of production facilities decrease even as the overall markets increase.ÌýExactly the trends seen in chemicals.Ìý 

Dan’s identification of a compelling need, evaluation of competing technology, consultation with experts, and willingness to collaborate is a great roadmap for product development.ÌýThe characters who populate his story are common to many product development stories.ÌýThe technical expert curmudgeon that turns into a champion, the technical enabler, and, of course, the passionate inventor.ÌýHe unexpectedly encountered something quite common in the chemical industry, the challenge of scale.ÌýIn overcoming scale-up and other obstacles, the story of cascatelli is one worth hearing for anyone doing development in chemicals and materials.