More 'breakthrough thinking' needed or Heinz will become a has-been, cautions Miller

Heinz must fundamentally change its approach to innovation or risk being sidelined in categories it has dominated for decades, its UK president has warned.

Jane Miller, who took the helm of Heinz UK & Ireland last May, said it should be generating 15% of its growth from new products; the actual figure was more like 2%.

"That just isn't good enough. We've been lagging as a company in terms of bringing breakthrough thinking to our customers, in terms of products, and particularly in packaging."

While some of the best ideas were written on the back of a fag packet and brought to market within weeks, successful innovation generally took far longer to pull off, said Miller.

"You don't have to launch something every quarter and see it pay out within the year. We have a system called Viper [which helps companies channel resources into products with the most potential]. But if you don't have the ideas in the first place, systems like this don't make any difference."

Innovation managers were now in each core business, she said, and, rather than having separate pots of money for product development, NPD cash was now all in one pot, with the best ideas attracting the money.

l Heinz has received provisional clearance from the Competition Commission for a £470m acquisition of HP Foods. The company, which declined to comment on plans for HP's Enfield HQ, where more than 100 staff work, would receive the official findings on April 11, said Miller.