Jasper Coffee Case Study

Key Challenges

• Need for a platform for growth
• Control batch and lot tracking
• Real Time data for operations
• Support for mobile sales staff

Project Objectives

• Use of a Business Blueprint
• Involvement and buy-in of all
  staff
• Strict enforcement of Change
  Management
• No parallel running

Solution & Services

• ERP Solution
• Business and implementation
  consultancy from Inecom

Applications

• Full financials
• Multicurrency purchasing
• MRP
• Raw material and finished
  goods inventory with batch
  and lot tracking

Key Benefits

• Immediate availability of sales
  and financial information
• Tight control of Raw Material
  and Finished Goods
• Alerts to intercept and trigger
  actions which are either due or
  potentially late.

Web Address

• www.jaspercoffee.com 

As Jasper Director Wells Trenfield  says: “Our business growth has
overflowed our cup with drops of data and bits of reports. As such,
our inability to capture them in a form for us to make sensible use of, was frustrating. With Business
One, we can now capture this
errant information and staff can finally rely on the integration of reports so that we can now knowledgably move forward in our business growth with
confidence.”

The Company

A group of people passionate about coffee has turned their passion into a highly successful business, Jasper Coffee, which was established in 1989. With commitment to quality throughout every step of purchasing, manufacturing and distribution, they have grown rapidly to become a premier Australian roaster and blender.

Their roastery in Collingwood, Victoria, produces a range of exotic single estate beans sourced from more than 19 countries around the globe, and the finished products reach the public via distributors, cafés, retailers and their own retail outlets. At Collingwood, Jasper also runs Barista training courses so that everybody in the distribution and retail chain acquires a high-level of expertise in the preparation and appreciation of espresso-based coffee drinks.

The need for an IT platform to support their growth

The growth in their business has been triggered by three Australian lifestyle drivers. The café/coffee culture is booming, consumers are looking for quality and boutique solutions without premium prices, and consumers have become socially responsible looking for “Fair Trade” where a fair price is paid in developing countries for primary products – including coffee. (Jasper Coffee is a founding member of the Australian and New Zealand Fair Trade Association. )

The company went to the market to source an ERP solution, which would underpin their processes and would be scalable as they grew. In particular, they sought an integrated product, with manufacturing functionality which supported batch and lot tracking (essential in the food industry), multicurrency to simplify purchasing across the globe, CRM to support their mobile sales staff, and service management for the coffee machines which they provide to their retail outlets. SAP’s Business One ticked all these boxes – and to provide the project consultancy, they contracted Inecom to work alongside Jasper Coffee’s Project Manager, Mahad Hussein.

The Project

Three months after the software had been loaded, Jasper were running live, with 300 recipes built and production orders flowing, all data converted from the previous system, 100 invoices produced daily, consistent financial data and analysis produced, and sales staff with laptops and Blackberrys linked remotely via a VPN into the central system.

Mahad Hussein puts the delivery of this impressive schedule down to a combination of Inecom’s business and technical skills and involving all stakeholders ( whether senior management, clerical or production staff ) into brief workshops to agree and sign-off each business process. The Business Blueprint which was used and the Change Management which he implemented was key. There was a minimal need to rework each phase of the implementation – and every staff member had bought into how Business One could make them more effective.

Results are already flowing in many areas, from Business One functionality such as slicing and dicing figures to provide real-time financial and sales positions, raw material and finished goods control with alerts to trigger pre-defined actions, detailed drill-down into purchasing data to assist Fair Trade auditors.

Moving Ahead

In the next months, Jasper has already planned to:

• Implement delivery schedules for all new customers, with triggers and work plans for Customer Service staff
• Build a Call Centre to support the maintenance and repair of coffee machines
• Fine-tune the analysis outputs
• Combine sales forecasting with purchase orders to generate MRP schedules.