Currently operating in the Ho.re.ca and Retail, Vending and Serving channels, for four generations Quarta Caffè has been carrying on with commitment and determination the work it began over sixty years ago. The company processes more than 70,000 bags of green coffee each year in a rich assortment of blends and carefully follows developments in the industrial landscape to ensure continuous improvement of its processes. In fact, the company boasts a state-of-the-art production technology park: coffee roasting, i.e., all processing steps, are carried out through a fully computerized state-of-the-art plant.
THE NEEDS
A single integrated system from which to work and draw information.
Fourth Coffee, before choosing Eurosystem as its information systems partner, was using three different tools to manage business processes: a software for accounting, one for the operations area, and finally Microsoft® Excel to monitor data from the production department. “The software we most used and had was customized and well tailored to us, but it was not enough to keep up with the technological evolution,” explains Tiziana Guacci, IT Systems Analyst at Quarta Caffè. The previous software tended to remain obsolete, and it was no longer possible to make further developments and updates, rely on the data analysis tools available, and, from a fiscal standpoint, be able to adapt to the times and especially the inherent regulations.”
“We looked for a product that could best understand the needs of a coffee roasting company: Freeway® Skyline is a vertical management system that was created specifically for companies in the sector and has proven to have the necessary features to meet our needs.” Tiziana GuacciIT Systems Analyst – Quarta Caffè SpA
THE IMPROVEMENTS
New support for the board’s strategic decisions.
“In addition to computerizing purchase orders already in the start-up phase,” explains Elio Bottero, Eurosystem Project Consultant, “we have enabled timely management of equipment on loan for use, so that their location and history can be traced at any time. All events of delivery and collection of the equipment on loan are ‘captured’ by the information system and automatically determine the generation or closure of the contract, without manual intervention by the user.” Another feature implemented was the timely management of assets: Freeway® Skyline makes it possible to automatically generate the asset master data and the corresponding historical cost movement for each piece of equipment that has entered the company and is destined for the loan-to-use channel. No less important is the implementation of authorization workflows related to requests for action on customers (financing, early discounts).The automated flow allows the management of approvals, reviews, authorizations based on the user’s role. The obvious benefits relate to rationalization and automation of business processes, reduction of costs and time of carrying out activities, improvement of speed of response to customers, monitoring of activities themselves, increased identification of possible innovations for the organization of work.
THE NEWS FOR PRODUCTION
Effective communication between department and company.
Before the entry of Eurosystem, the production manager had no access to the management software. Now this area of the company has also been implemented in the system: already in the department it is possible to impute data from the production software into Freeway® Skyline, so as to have the correct warehouse stock in real time. The total visibility of the information, within the management software, has allowed for intensified control of production and especially of the raw stocks: in fact, managers know when a batch finishes or if it closes earlier than expected. Also now visible is the accounting of what is traveling and what is on the farm, for better management of coffee pickup, previously recorded extra-system through Microsoft® Excel or e-mail. “So the goal of having an integrated system is progressing, because we have been able to integrate the production process with consumption and withdrawals present within Freeway® Skyline,” says Engineer Angela Anzilli, Production Manager at Fourth Coffee.
“The company is joined by us Eurosystem project consultants to be able to continuously improve the level of customization in Freeway® Skyline.” Elio Bottero, Project Consultant at Eurosystem SpA
“Collaboration among colleagues has also improved and we have become a true team: having to do certain tasks, at certain times, has created rules that we all adhere to and has tangibly defined roles, through proper profiling.” Angela Anzilli, Production Manager of Quarta Caffè SpA