Grain de Sail: from craftsman to manufacturer, thanks to CMMS

Grain de Sail was born in 2010 from a “sustainable” development idea: to bring coffee and chocolate from the ends of the earth on a sailing cargo ship. In 2013, Grain de Sail opened its first coffee-roasting workshop near Morlaix (Brittany, France), followed in 2016 by a chocolate factory, which now produces 500 tonnes a year.

In 2020, the famous cargo ship will set sail. So as not to make the trip empty, it will become a floating cellar, carrying French organic wines across the Atlantic.

CMMS, from cottage industry to semi-industrial scale

Buoyed by the wind of success, Grain de Sail shifted into industrial gear in 2020. 4 years earlier, the founders decided to transport and produce their chocolate, and a brand-new 2,500 m2 chocolate factory was built in Morlaix in August 2021.

As part of its commitment to CSR, the brand has chosen to let producers harvest, dry, roast and grind the beans where they grow them. It is in the form of “mass” (or paste) that the beans cross the Atlantic in the holds of the Grain de Sail I, a 24 m monohull with a 50 t load capacity, as well as on their second vessel, the 52 m Grain De Sail II with a 350 t load capacity.

New machines, demanding processes, ambitious objectives: preventive maintenance and inventory management cannot be limited to Excel spreadsheets. “Beyond 3 or 4 machines, CMMS is essential, and we have more than 50,” says Jean-Marc Riou, technical manager of Grain de Sail’s industrial division.

Grain de Sail, coffee and chocolate on a cargo ship

Deployment of CARL Source software

In 2020, as the plant was being built, the company drew up its CMMS specifications, anticipating multi-site management, SaaS mode of operation, desired workflows… And CARL Source Factory won the day!

A new plant and equipment starting up with CMMS may seem like an ideal recipe… However, “you have to learn and master the machines, and get used to them”, moderates Jean-Marc Riou.

Like the conche machine, which crushes the dough but whose blades wear down on the sides, leading the technician to go down to the vat to hoe the chocolate… “We do a lot of improvement work… and corrective work on standard components. With CARL Source, we can anticipate wear and tear, and fine-tune preventive measures to be as operational as possible.

This also implies anticipating production peaks by automatically reserving parts, the stock and supply of which are managed by CARL Berger-Levrault.

« Beyond 3 or 4 machines, CMMS is indispensable. There’s no argument for doing without it. »

Jean-Marc Riou, Industrial Technical Manager

“The impact of poor maintenance is delay. There’s no hurry: chocolate has a best-before date of one year! But we can face parts shortages of 4 to 6 months,” emphasizes Jean-Marc Riou. As a result, “CARL Source saves time. Thanks to our mastery of procedures, we benefit from predictive maintenance across the entire fleet.

The Production and Maintenance departments have developed their own screen forms, so there’s no more oral history. “I’ve even created a ‘settings’ button,” smiles Jean-Marc, who recommends following training courses and “sharing the fruit of collective reflection, involving all those involved in maintenance, on a blank file.

For example, you need to ask yourself questions about the tree structure 1 or 2 months before you start”. In this way, the Quality Manager was able to express her needs concerning probes and metrology, and the recurrence of measurements and controls. All this with the aim of guaranteeing both food safety… and excellent taste!

On the subject of taste, Jean-Marc confides that he is only using 30% of the tool’s potential: “I still have a lot of subjects and functions to discover, particularly in terms of data analysis“.

Our maintenance management solution for the industrial sector: CARL Source Factory

CARL Source Factory is our solution of CMMS dedicated to the industry sector. It has been designed to guarantee you the best operating conditions for industrial equipment, associated structures and the safety of your personnel. It allows you to manage your maintenance activities in real time, new works and regulatory diagnostics, monitor your service providers and manage your contracts while reconciling quality and budgetary control. Designed in partnership with major industry players, this solution allows you to addressing the challenges of Industry 4.0.