Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker

Process FlowChart

Shells
Shells –– Discarded
Discarded
2 Weeks Supply Approx 65kgs/250kgs
Approx 65kgs/250kgs
Labelled
Labelled
96% Bins
Bins
Winnower
Roaster Cooling
Bean Cleaner recovered (onsite)
(onsite) Racks
Capacity 450kgs/hr
250 kgs/1.25 hrs 15mins
Beans 200 kg/ 15 mins
Curr Use – 25okgs/batch
100kg
s bags Labelled
Labelled
Bins
Bins
Warehous
Warehous
ee

+ Other
“Nibs
ingredients
”
Tempering
Packaging Capacity 200kgs/hr Conche – refine, mix Melangeur
Curr use – 140kgs/hr and aerate the choc “Nibs”
35% at SB 115 kgs/batch for
Chocolate
1400kgs/Conche (2) Vacuum 1.25hrs
65% at 3rd Party Molding Liquor
40-60 Hours Piping
140kgs/hr Storage
Storage tanks
tanks

*Quality Control at every level – Raw Beans, fermented beans, roasted beans, WIP Chocolate, final product

Capacity Analysis on Current Production Capability

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker Page 1

 divide 30 days divide 1400kg (30days x 24hr/50hr) x 2800kg (30days x 16hr/1.25hr) x 115kg

*Assume SBC produces only 62% semi sweet chocolate that requires 50 hours conche processing and hours of operation is not changed. Ball mill is
not yet introduced. Using only existing 2 conches and Melangeur to produce 62% semi-sweet product, the existing 2 conches produce a bottleneck
and SBC will experience capacity shortfall and is not able to accept any increase in demand of product.

Capacity Analysis on New Production Capability – Introduction of Ball Mill and Addition of 1 Melangeur

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 divide 30 days divide 1400kg (30days x 19hr/10hr) x 2800kg (30days x 16hr/1.25hr) x 230kg

**Ball Mill is introduced. Assumes Ball Mill can process more than 1400kgs and max capacity of the ball mill daily is not exceeded. Ball mill processing
time takes 5 hours. Per conche processing time is reduced from 50 hours to 10 hours with introduction of the ball mill. But existing 1 Melangeur
becomes a bottleneck with the introduction of the ball mill. 1 more unit of Melangeur has to be added to meet increase in demand. With 2 units, the
Melangeur will still produce a bottleneck when demand increases to 150%, assuming hours of operation remains unchanged.

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SBC Processing and Equipment - Facts and Figures

Batch Size Batch Processing Operation hours Max Cap per Max Cap/day^ Max Cap/month^
Time per day batch

Bean Cleaner 200kg 15 min 8 hr 200 kg 6400kg 192000kg

Roaster 250kg 75 min + 15 min 8 hr n.a. 1333kg 39990kg

cooling

Winnower 250kg 33 min 8 hr 450kg/hr 3600kg 108000kg

Melangeur x 2 115kg 1.25hr 16 hr n.a. 2944kg* 88320kg*

Conche 1/Conche 2 1400kg 50 hr 24 hr 1400kg 5320kg# 159600kg#

Ball Mill > 1400kg 5 hr 5 hr n.a. > 1400kg > 42000kg

Tempering 140kg/hr 60 min 16 hr 200kg/hr 2240kg 67200kg

Molding 140kg/hr 20 min 16 hr 140kg/hr 2240kg 67200kg

^based on current operation hours. i.e. assume no change in hours of operation.

* addition of 1 more Melangeur considered.

#
new conche processing time after introduction of Ball Mill is considered.

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Case: Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker (SBC)

SBC is a high-end chocolate maker that meets the expectations of its consumers with high
quality chocolates. SBC’s founders, Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger, were
committed to serve its customers the “chocolate of highest quality possible from the finest
cocao beans available”.

Jim Harris, the chief operating officer, was daunted by the challenge of meeting current
demands for SBC’s chocolates using the current production facilities, while maintaining its
quality. Harris also feared that SBC may be deemed as “uncooperative, unresponsive” by its
retailers/consumers if they do not increase capacity to match the demand.

The process analysis shows that the bottlenecks in production clearly lie with the conches.
With the current production facility SBC can only meet its current demand as they do not
have any scalability. The proposal of adding the ball mill is therefore highly recommended as
it has been tested to maintain the high quality and reduces the throughput time
significantly. The scalability is achieved by handling more than 1400 kgs per batch and
reducing the grinding time from 50 hours to 10 hours. Furthermore the product with sugar
content benefits from the shortened time as the ball-mill decreases the amount of flavour
degradation which was the case with the use of conches.

However, as the analysis suggests, addition of the ball-mill alone will not resolve the
production vows. The benefits of the ball-mill will be significant only if the roasting i.e.
melangeur capacity will also need to be increased. The addition of one additional melaugeur
will still not be able to meet demand surges of 150% from the current level. The decision of
investing in the melangeur should be based on cost-benefit analysis as this does help meet
demand rises of over 100% from the current levels.

Other areas of the process that can be improved are below, however each will have to be
analyised individually for its costs and benefits.

1. Outsourcing packaging to 3rd party – SBC remains sceptical over the quality of the
products and thus has housed 35% of the packaging. However with the increased
production, this would be an additional burden. SBC can always have exclusivity from
its packers for providing high volumes and thus implement its high quality control
measures. Furthermore, it could influence packers to set up facility close to their
production site, to be able to directly transfer liquid chocolate to packers to temper
and mould.

2. SBC uses an old 1920s Melangeur, a replica of the machines first used in the 1800s.
Technology advancements since then could definitely provide more scalability. Like
in the case of the ball-mill, SBC should consider replacing its old machinery only
when they are satisfied with the quality of output produced by the new machines.

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker

 This coupled with the increased capacity of the ball-mill could ease SBCs production
capacity vows.

3. The analysis included here considers only 62% sweetened chocolate, however for
better decision making SBC should analyse all the different chocolates it produces,
which would provide a much clearer understanding of SBCs production needs.

The increases production capacity may also have its downfalls. As SBC caters to the
premium segment, market conditions play a huge role in its consumption pattern. SBC
should also look into building flexibility in their production to allow for lower production
during economic turmoils to avoid inventory build up. Lastly, as clearly stated, the founders
along with skilled operators were the best judges of the flavour of the chocolates which no
mechanical measurement could provide. However for business continuity purposes i.e.
when these “experienced” tasters are no longer present, SBC should have to device more
mechanical and automated ways of measuring the quality of chocolates using the properties
that differentiate one for the other.

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker