Optimizing Global Coffee Supply Chains with Dynamics AX: Real-Time SCM & Cost Control for Commodity Trading

Industry: Commodity Trading & Agri-Processing | Region: Global
Client Profile: The world’s largest commodity trading enterprise, managing complex agri-supply chains across 60+ countries. The case focused on their coffee trading business—a high-volume, low-margin segment with intricate sourcing and distribution requirements.

Executive Summary

The client’s coffee division lacked real-time visibility into inventory movement, cost control, and logistics performance.
BaffleSol configured a unified global Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Cost Management solution using Microsoft Dynamics AX.
The system enabled end-to-end tracking of raw materials, transportation, warehousing, and landed costs.
Client gained visibility, transparency, and real-time cost control for sourcing and logistics.
Due to success, the solution is now being replicated across their cotton, cocoa, and grain trading operations.

The Challenge

Despite being a market leader, the client faced significant operational challenges in its coffee supply chain:

• No Unified Inventory Visibility: Movement of raw materials across origins, warehouses, and ports wasn’t traceable in real time.
• Siloed Transportation Management: Logistics and freight processes were fragmented, lacking centralized planning and cost reconciliation.
• Reactive Demand Fulfillment: Lack of synchronization between stock positions and customer orders led to excess buffer stocks or missed deliveries.
• Cost Overruns: There was no mechanism to track cost per unit across legs of transport or enforce internal cost targets.

These gaps led to reduced working capital efficiency, missed margin targets, and poor customer service alignment.

The Solution: Global SCM & Cost Management with Microsoft Dynamics AX

BaffleSol designed and implemented a globalized, modular solution for SCM and landed cost control, with the following components:

1. End-to-End Material Movement Tracking

• Configured advanced warehouse management to track every lot and shipment across suppliers, consolidation hubs, and destination ports.
• Built UOM conversions and quality parameter tracking for coffee grades and shrinkage factors.

2. Centralized Transportation and Freight Management

• Integrated freight scheduling, shipping documents, and port-level inventory updates.
• Enabled visibility across multi-modal logistics including inland, sea, and bonded warehouses.

3. Inventory Optimization Engine

• Aligned inventory thresholds with demand forecasts using custom business rules and AI-driven reorder points.
• Provided dashboards for procurement vs. consumption trends by location.

4. Cost Control Enablement

• Designed a framework for real-time landed cost visibility, including freight, insurance, duties, and wastage.
• Mapped each cost element to the item master and enabled budget variance tracking.
• Deployed user-specific dashboards for finance and logistics teams to monitor deviations.

Business Outcomes and Impact

The implementation delivered measurable benefits within the first 3 quarters:

✅ Improved working capital efficiency through optimized inventory
✅ Enhanced logistics control with cost transparency
✅ 30% faster delivery responsiveness to high-value customers
✅ Global scalability across other commodities (cotton, cocoa, grains)

Why BaffleSol?

At BaffleSol, we specialize in commodity supply chain transformation through Microsoft platforms. What sets us apart:

• Global SCM Expertise: From coffee farms in Colombia to ports in India—we understand the commodity lifecycle.
• Cost-to-Serve Focus: We build systems that track not just product, but profitability.
• Modular & Scalable Implementations: Designed to be replicated across geographies and business lines.

📩 Looking to gain control over your agri-supply chain and landed costs?
Let’s map your global operations onto a smarter ERP backbone. Contact us at sales@bafflesol.com for a discovery workshop.

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