IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Sharing Solutions: How local approaches enable global success

Setting sail for the coffee business of tomorrow: On course to the first ERP rollout for NGUS

Depicting NKG’s growth in Asia: Insights from Mira Yudhawati and Emily Chua

Smart design for a sustainable future: The Ibero Uganda mill project

Behind the scenes

Mail from NG Comms: A personal Update

Virtual Tour: Berindo Jaya

Faces and portraits

Interview with Thomas Silva

Interview with Marcelo de Paula Nogueira

On a Cupping with Maks Mazurkiewicz

A visit with Kayd Whalen

NKG Integrity Champion: Thumbs up for reliable colleagues

NKG Holding who is who: Introducing Legal Department

Breaking the coffee ceiling: Inspiring women at NKG

Out of the box

Three by Three Questions: EUDR challenges and implementation

Time to take action: Neumann Gruppe donates to the promotion of democracy

At a glance

Recap: What happened in half-year one / 2024

It's your turn

Quiz: Spot the Difference

Close-Up

Standardizing
individuality:
NKG Quality Control
System

Close-Up

Standardizing
individuality:
NKG Quality Control
System

NKG Quality Service, with the support of the IT development team in Mexico, developed a new way of speaking about coffee quality: the NKG Quality Control System enables easier communication by finding the balance between standardization and flexibility.

How can we define a common language to communicate about coffee quality and still give every company the flexibility to adapt the tool to their needs? With this question in mind, NKG Quality Service started their mission of a standardized NKG Quality Control System. The goal was to find an evaluation language useful for every quality lab that allows the automation of data capturing processes and reporting, avoids multiple entry of data, reduces the risk of errors, allows the exchange of information among companies, and saves costs by reducing the quantity of samples dispatched to other companies. Many NKG export and import companies provided valuable inputs to define the requirements for mainstream and specialty coffees. This information provided a solid base for the project.

With help from the IT development team in Mexico, they came up with a useful tool for everyone working in the quality control environment. We asked Gloria Pedroza, Head of Quality NKG Quality Service, to give us some further behind the scenes insights of this ambitious project and its development process.

“The tool is for all activities related to quality control. It will mainly be used by the quality department staff, quality managers, cuppers, lab assistant, but also traders.”

– Gloria Pedroza

When was the first moment you thought that the development of such a system was necessary?
Since 2000, we have organized regional Cuppers meetings with the aim of fine-tuning and standardizing the quality control procedures and evaluation protocols as well as sensory training to try to speak the same “language” and communicate about quality better. When we had the first NKG Quality workshop in 2016, we met cuppers from all NKG companies from all over the world in Hamburg. We quickly realized that the tools or software we had were not what we needed in the quality labs. Right afterwards, we started collecting information about the needs in the labs and elaborated a concept.
What was the funniest part and what the most interesting of the development?
The most interesting part was the multi-language user interface development and multi-language content management. And we had some funny moments as well. We had a few situations where we defined a feature and asked users for feedback. The development team in Mexico made the adjustments immediately after getting the feedback. And then – after many changes – we ended up with the original definition as being the best.
How did you experience the first usage of “your tool”?
It took some time to get used to the new way of registering sample information, but it was anyway exciting. We had a whole new menu with many features for the lab use, which were practical and clear – just as we intended.

NKG
Quality Control System

At the moment, the team is working on the responsiveness of the software to make it not only accessible with but also optimized for mobile devices, mainly tablets, as well. Another challenge is the creation of the interfaces between the different systems of the sister companies. Up to today, NKG Quality Control System is already implemented for the companies in Switzerland since the interface with the Swiss COMTRAS server was done first: InterAmerican Coffee Schweiz, 

NKG Quality Service, and NKG Tropical Farm Management. In a next step, the implementation with other companies who use COMTRAS is planned, which are e.g. Jobin, Bero Singapore and other European companies. And, of course, the integration of systems that do not have COMTRAS is also in the pipeline. Another project waiting is to improve existing features and to include statistical reports, e.g. cuppers performance and suppliers’ quality KPIs.

Which feature do you think is the coolest, the most special, and the most useful of the system?
The most special characteristic is flexibility: we created different modules and master data, namely our “LEGO bricks”, which can be moved around to build up a cupping lab tool that fits the needs of each company. This allows companies to customize evaluation protocols, register local quality requirements or classification methods, and report criteria, amongst others. The coolest feature is the creation of digital cupping sessions and the possibility to invite external cuppers, which was very helpful during the pandemic, because this feature allowed us to run virtual cupping sessions. Very useful is the generation of reports for sensory and physical analysis. Generating reports and editing/correcting information is now much easier. After saving the information, we can generate a detailed quality reports and fact sheets, which can be shared directly from the system via e-mail. Another useful feature is the e-mail distribution list to guarantee that everyone receives the information needed.
Are you planning on more features?
Yes, we are. We have a long wish list from the quality managers/users, e.g. different types of reports related to the sample management and quality information, and other customized features, like sample inventory management.
Besides optimizing your existing tool fully responsive, we know that you are working on an app – what would be the main advantage of having one?
The advantage of having an app is that users will have access to certain features using mobile devices and will be able to access and enter sample information and evaluation results quickly, from anywhere in the world. 😊
Picture of Julia Wichert

Julia Wichert

Further Articles

ECC & Nestlé: Years of cooperation, new joint possibilities

For more than 20 years, Nestlé has been one of the leading customers of Exportadora de Café California (ECC) in Mexico. Now, a new Nestlé plant built next to ECC enables further opportunities for future collaboration. With their competences from longstanding experience, ECC is one of the main suppliers of Nestlé in Mexico.

Read More »

Virtual Tour at NKG Stockler: State-of-the-art technologies enable joint cooperation in Brazil’s heart of coffee

In 2020, NKG Stockler moved their head offices from Santos to Varginha, Brazil, the so-called “heart of coffee”. Next to rebuilt warehouse units with latest technologies for production lines and inventory management, a brand-new office area had been completed shortly before the previous NKG Connected issue in December 2020 was published. At the beginning of the year, the team moved into the premises, which had been completed by then.

Read More »

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Neumann Gruppe GmbH
Coffee Plaza • Am Sandtorpark 4
20457 Hamburg • Germany 

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PRIVACY POLICY

Neumann Gruppe GmbH
Coffee Plaza
Am Sandtorpark 4
20457 Hamburg • Germany

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