Analysis

Supply chain

In order to get the whole picture of the steps that need to be taken to bring a coffee product to the market, a supply chain analysis is done. A supply chain is the total process from raw materials to the consumer. In the supply chain analysis research is done among other things at the lead times, emissions, and suppliers. The analysis gives a broader picture of not just a product, but the way from raw material to product.

This supply chain analysis is done on the production process of coffee from bean to cup. The process reaches from Farmers through Processors, Exporters, Suppliers and Roasters to the final stage before customer consumption: Retail.

The largest part of emission of coffee can be contributed to the Farmers. It was found that the Farmers are responsible for roughly 60% of CO2 emissions. The Exporter on the other hand, has the longest lead time: 2-3 weeks.

Organisations like Fairtrade make sure that farmers get a fair share for their work. This means that the coffee becomes more expensive, but it improves living and working standards of farmers. This is something that should definitely be considered, thankfully Nespresso uses Fair trade coffee and has partnered up with Rainforest Alliance. (1)

The entire supply chain requires an extensive set of transportation modes. From ocean freighters to electric vans, and from barges to freight trains.

To improve the understanding of the supply chain, a set of slides was made to visualize the entire coffee supply chain.

The entire coffee supply chain is visualised with extra materials.

A more in depth analysis can be found in Appendix ‘’Supply chain extra.’’