Press Release
Specright Showcases AI-Powered Platform at Spec Summit 2026
Specright highlights intelligent Specification Data Management, Modern PLM capabilities, and groundbreaking AI innovations at the fifth annual Spec Summit in New Orleans.
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NEW ORLEANS, February 12, 2026 — Specright, the AI platform for specifications, packaging, and products, today announced groundbreaking product innovations and celebrated industry achievements at its annual Spec Summit. The three-day event brought together approximately 300 attendees from 100 leading companies across Food & Beverage, Cosmetics & Beauty, Consumer, Industrial and Packaging sectors, representing more than one trillion dollars in revenue.
Redefining Product Innovation with AI-First Specification Intelligence
In the opening keynote presentation, Specright CEO Mike Boese unveiled the company’s evolution from Specification Management leader to an AI-driven platform delivering Specification Intelligence — advanced capabilities that transform how companies design, produce, and scale sustainable products. The platform demonstration showcased how AI accelerates the complete product journey from ideation to store shelf, reducing time to lab by 70% and increasing cycle time by nearly 50%.
“AI can only deliver value when it’s built on complete, accurate product data,” said Boese. “Specright provides that foundation with intelligent Specification Data Management — connecting specs across the entire product lifecycle, from concept through commercialization. This spec-level data powers the insights companies need to innovate faster, ensure compliance, and unlock more sustainable product design.”
Major Product Innovations Unveiled
Specright announced a suite of AI-powered capabilities and PLM enhancements designed to transform product development:
AI-Powered Workbenches: Purpose-built digital environments for food scientists and product developers that accelerate innovation from concept to testing. The Food & Beverage workbench is in early access now, with additional CPG workbenches following mid-year. These workbenches leverage real-time AI feedback to enable rapid iteration on formulations and material substitutions.
Enhanced Formulation Capabilities: Building on Specright’s proven formulation capabilities, the platform now offers intelligent ingredient substitution, automated allergen tracking, and AI-powered nutritional label creation.
Compliance Insights: A dual-feature system within packaging specifications that proactively flags material bans and non-compliance risks across global markets and identifies Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) packaging material fee risks to help teams optimize packaging design.
Expanded EPR Reporting: In partnership with the Sustainable Packaging Data Council, Specright has released state-level EPR templates for Oregon, California, and Colorado. The platform now enables automated EPR reporting by matching sales data with specification data.
“AI is fundamentally changing how we approach product development,” said Jeff Panas, R&D Director at Sigma Foods. “We’re no longer constrained by traditional linear processes. With AI-powered formulation capabilities, we can explore thousands of ingredient combinations and scenarios in the time it used to take to test just a few. This isn’t incremental, it’s a tool that fundamentally changes the way product developers approach innovation and compliance.”
Celebrating Customer Innovation and Leadership
Customers were once again at the forefront of innovation at Spec Summit 2026. The annual Spec Awards recognized organizations and individuals leading with a spec-first approach, celebrating achievements in efficiency, enterprise transformation, innovation, sustainability, and platform excellence.
Among the honorees was tms, recognized for its exceptional work in modernizing information flows across complex retail and supply chain environments.
“As the global packaging partner to one of the world’s largest foodservice supply chains, managing specifications at scale is mission-critical,” said Anthony Knighten, VP of Technology at tms. “Specright enables us to transform fragmented data into trusted enterprise master data, supporting around 250 suppliers across our packaging supply chains. The platform doesn’t just help us comply with evolving requirements — it’s become a critical component of enablement for our teams worldwide.”
Customer Chair Kitty Dowgert, Sr. Specification Manager of Taylor Farms, guided attendees through sessions and shared insights on quantifying the ROI of Specification Management across distributed teams, highlighting how centralized spec data drives cost optimization and risk reduction.
“By transitioning from fragmented Excel spreadsheets and SharePoint to a unified platform integrated with our ERP, we’re achieving visibility that was simply impossible before,” said Dowgert. “This isn’t just about efficiency — it’s about building the foundation for strategic decision-making across our entire operation.”
Turning AI Ambition to Mission Critical Initiatives
Beyond Specright’s product innovation announcements, how to “make AI real” was a key theme attendees heard from experts across industry, technology, and consulting.
A panel on AI innovation across IT, R&D, and Packaging featured experts from Colgate-Palmolive, Adept Packaging, and Specright and explored how structured specification data fuels AI capabilities and can accelerate product development cycles while reducing supply chain risk.
“AI is becoming mission critical for product development by doing three things simultaneously,” said Panelist Shriram Venkataraman, Former R&D & Digital Transformation Leader at PepsiCo and current R&D consultant. “It’s dramatically reducing innovation cycle times by replacing iterative field testing with learning models. It’s democratizing knowledge across the entire organization. And critically, it’s creating a digital thread between R&D and supply chain that eliminates manual translations and errors, ensuring 100% compliance and traceability from concept to manufacturing.”
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About Specright
Specright is the AI platform for specifications, packaging and products. With the first intelligent Specification Data ManagementTM (SDM) platform and modern Product Lifecycle Management solutions to help companies make amazing, sustainable products faster and more efficiently than ever. Whether it’s packaging, raw materials, formulas, products, or machines, Specright helps companies digitize, map, and take action across their supply chain to reduce costs, increase profitability, and drive sustainability. Specright serves customers across industries, including packaging, food and beverage, consumer packaged goods, pharmaceutical, retail, industrials, and more. Recognized as a leader in Specification Management, PLM for F&B, AI, and EPR, Specright has also been named to the Deloitte Fast Technology 500 list in 2024, one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023, had three executives honored as Supply & Demand Chain Executive Pros to Know in 2023 and won Food Logistics’ 2022 Top Software & Technology Provider award. For more information, visit: www.specright.com.
Media Contact:
Laura Sams
VP, Marketing
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