Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/491350
36 STiR tea & coffee industry international Major updates are available from most equipment manufacturers this spring as trade show season gets into full swing. Whether a sorter purchase is intended for a coffee grower, a miller, or a roaster, the decision involves a significant capital expense. Knowing certain operational details makes it easy to evaluate which sorter fits the business case. uying even the smallest and least expen- sive optical sorter is a significant invest- ment. No matter what type of coffee busi- ness you are supplying it is important to enter the market with a thoughtful business case for acquir- ing one. Hacienda La Esmeralda garnered fame for set- ting a record for highest price coffee at auction in 2006 and then went on to obliterate that record the following year. Behind that story, however, is another. In 2006, George Howell took delivery of a bag from that farm that contained a defective black bean. Price Peterson, owner of Hacienda La Esmeralda in Panama explained, "There was probably one black bean out of 5 million beans in that bag but it was right on top." The farm had been sorting beans by density for years. Peterson's son decided to invest that entire year's profit in an optical sorter choosing a trichromatic Xeltron, Model 3000 R-S3, with the goal of never letting "blacks" slip through to cli- ents again. Rio Rafael, regional sales manager for Bühler Sortex The high-quality/high-price business case is a solid one. However, equally strong cases exist for coffee producers and mills dealing in lower grades too. Outside influences Larger economic factors play a part as well. When the c-market price is high, no one thinks about au- tomation. Rio Rafael, regional sales manager for Bühler Sortex, recounted why: "One commodity producer explained to me:'I could sweep product up off the floor and sell it for $3 per pound.'" With prices near all-time lows, however, more coffee suppliers start thinking about finding effi- ciencies or developing secondary markets. Selling rejects for a fraction of the lowest price is tough to do but beats the alternative. Rafael proposed this logic for building a new business case: "If you've got one pound of good in every 10 pounds of reject material, you're throw- ing away $1 on every bag that goes out." Cooperatives, mills, and farms producing suf- ficient output for automation are wise to consider that logic. Rafael asserted, "If you're processing hundreds of thousands of bags per year, you're lit- erally throwing money away." Build the case Big or small, taking time to articulate the following business criteria is a must for anyone shopping for an optical sorter: * Capacity needs – How much volume does the business handle? What percentage of that cof- fee will be sorted? * Costs of power – What is the cost of electric- ity? Do prices fluctuate according to season? What implications does this have for ongoing costs of operating a sorter? * Expected output quality – Is the highest level of quality the only concern? For example, will the company develop different profiles for different markets: "single origin specialty" versus "single serve blends" versus "solubles"? * Current sorting baseline – How is coffee sorted today? How long does the process take? * Expected new efficiencies – Given the sort- ing baseline, what efficiencies are needed to justify the investment in new equipment? By Jenny Neill Sifting Cents Before You Buy Know Your Business B