Bühler and Kediri Indah grow together

Indonesian green bean trader Kediri Indah did not have any intention of entering the commercial market when it began roasting its own coffee in 2012. In fact, its first roaster, a Bühler RoastMaster (RM) 20, was included in a package when Kediri Indah purchased a Sortex sorting machine from the company. However, Kediri Indah Owner Andi Setiawan says he noticed a growing demand in Indonesia for quality coffee. “A majority of the coffee market in Indonesia is focused on three-in-one or instant coffee. But in the last few years, a lot of cafés have opened,” Setiawan says. “This is causing a transition from instant to a more sophisticated, gourmet coffee. We realised the potential of this market.”
Kediri Indah’s team used the RM20 to learn how to roast coffee. The small-scale roaster can roast up to 70 kilograms of green beans per hour. Setiawan says although he like the roasting principle, the small-scale roaster requires a significant amount of manual control over the roasting process. In 2014, Kediri Indah realised it needed to expand its processing capabilities to meet market demand. Setiawan looked into his options before deciding to stick with Bühler. “I compared Bühler to other machines on the market,” he says. “Most roasting technology used time as the basis to control the burner power, and shape the roasting profile. “I didn’t think that was a good idea for us. In our business, we roast a large quantity of coffee that comes from different places. These coffees often have different levels of moisture, which results in different roasting times.” Preferring Bühler’s temperature-based control, Setiawan contacted Bühler looking to purchase a second roaster. And Bühler’s recommend he upgrade to the larger RM60 unit. The RM60 can roast up to 240 kilograms an hour and has a maximum batch size of 70 kilograms. Although the roaster’s capacity is roughly three times that of the RM20, Setiawan explains that he can roast four times as much coffee with it due to the machine’s efficiency and reduced labour needed to operate it. “The RM60 is more of an industrial model [than the RM20],” Setiawan says. “When we decided to increase our capacity we also thought about the labour required. If we roasted the amount of coffee we do in the RM60 across two or three RM20 units it would require more individual operators. If there are multiple people roasting the coffee, you have more variables than if you have a single operator for the whole process.” Kediri Indah runs the RM60 for eight hours a day, producing up to 2.4 tonnes of roasted coffee across 28 to 49 batches. Setiawan anticipates these numbers to increase in the near future. “Even though the Indonesian economy is slow right now, our market keeps growing. We are pretty optimistic that when the economy recovers we’ll see a big jump in our customer base. We’d like to prepare first,” he says. To accommodate its growth since receiving the RM60 in 2015, Kediri Indah has ordered a RM120 from Bühler, which will be installed in March 2019.  The RM120 has a batch size of 120 kilograms and can roast up to 500 kilograms per hour. Setiawan says the new roaster will double Kediri Indah’s existing roasting capacity. If it’s used in conjunction with the RM20 and RM60, the company could even triple its output. Bühler Indonesia Sales Manager Ricko Gosiga says the company is proud to be a trusted patner of a company like Kediri Indah, helping grow its roasting capabilities. “It’s nice to have a customer like Kediri Indah, because they started and grow together with us. They began by using our cleaning and sorting equipment, and are now a successfull coffee roaster who continues to grow with Bühler,” he says. Bühler established an Indonesian office in 2012 in Jakarta, right around the time the company began working with Kediri Indah. Gosiga says using Kediri Indah as a reference site has assisted Bühler increase its presence in the region. “We are quite well known for our green bean cleaning equipment, but in terms of roasting we’re still raising our awareness in the market,” Gosiga says. Bühler Indonesia currently employs 70 people across three sites in Indonesia: a service centre for maintenance in Surabaya, and main office and Application centre in Jakarta where customers can experiment with advanced technology. Gosiga says the coffee laboratory at Bühler Indonesia’s application centre enables Bühler’s customers to carry out equipment trials, optimise processes, and develop new coffee products. The application centre is equipped with a RM20, grinder, and lab equipment for process and parameter analyses, which Gosiga says has generated interest in coffee roasting trials from many potential clients in Southeast Asia. Vianney d’Hostel, Bühler Group’s Regional Marketing Manager of South-East Asia, says the company’s Application centre is invaluable not only for coffee customers but also potential clients who are interested in its chocolate and bakery solution. “The application centre is a great tool for our existing customers who want to develop product diversification to complement their coffee business.” d’Hostel says. Access to this type of equipment is complementary to all Bühler customers in the area who would like to do trial and experiment. Setiawan is the perfect example of Bühler’s ability to grow its customers, and a loyal advocate of the brand for anyone looking for a new opportunity in the coffee industry. “[Bühler’s equipment and service] works pretty well for us so it will work for other people too,” he says. For more information, contact www.buhlergroup.com