How to transition from roasting with a micro roaster to production roasting?

There comes a point when the roastery ceases to be just a micro-roaster and starts to operate at the pace of a factory. Demand rises, orders pile up, shifts are extended, and yet the feeling is that the bottleneck is no longer in the coffee but in the process.

That turning point is not resolved simply by purchasing “a larger machine”.

It requires rethinking how the grain enters, how air circulates, what data is recorded, how the product moves between phases and, above all, how the profile that has made you grow is protected.

This guide accompanies you through that transition so that moving from micro-roaster to production is a controlled leap and not a leap into the unknown.

Roasting in small batches has allowed you to master the profile, experiment with curves, and offer fresh batches to your customers.

That artisanal control is valuable and, in fact, is what has driven your growth. But there comes a point when demand exceeds your capacity, roasting ‘windows’ lengthen, and maintaining consistency between batches begins to cost more than the coffee itself.

How do you know when it’s time to take the leap?

Clear signs: full shifts and orders queuing up, flavour variations between batches due to partial loads, slow cooling or manual records, and costs per kilo that are no longer sustainable.

In this scenario, a production line with greater capacity and digital control provides economies of scale, repeatability, and traceability.

If you roast more than 2–3 days per week at maximum capacity, if your product mix requires batch-to-batch sensory stability, or if you are turning down orders due to lack of hours, it is probably time to plan your move to production.

Scaling up does not mean abandoning your essence; it means protecting it at an industrial pace.

That’s why we give you the key signs that indicate it’s time for a change.

If you work as hard as you can every day and still fall behind, it is no longer just a matter of “putting in more hours”.

In small drums, maintaining high rhythms boosts power and triggers stoppages, preventive maintenance, and downtime. Scaling means planning standard batches and production windows that absorb peaks without sacrificing that consistency.

In specialty and high-quality coffee formats, a change of 1–2 °C, an air adjustment, or a partial load can result in different cups.
On a large scale, this variability multiplies complaints and waste.
Thermal stability and fine control of convection become essential so that each batch tastes as your brand promises.

More man-hours, more energy per kilo, more waste due to overcorrections.
Automation does not replace judgement, it amplifies it: it reduces kWh/kg, shortens cycles and frees up the team to control what is important.

Loading buckets, cooling “by eye” or recording profiles in spreadsheets works in a micro-roaster.

In production, these actions slow things down, introduce errors, and break traceability. This leap requires you to standardise how you preheat, how you load, and how you decide to unload.

In larger batches, thermal inertia works in your favour if the convection system and internal hot air flow are well designed. The risk of “flicks” and “crashes” is reduced, grain development is more uniform, and the curve responds more smoothly to corrections.

Recording, playing back, and adjusting in real time is not “putting on autopilot”; it is being able to make decisions based on data. An HMI that records setpoints, RoR, and events allows you to compare batches, iterate recipes, and audit quality without relying on individual memories.

Modulating burners, heat recovery, and adequate insulation reduce the cost per kilo and make cycles more predictable. Energy efficiency is not just a slogan: it impacts margins and available capacity per shift.

Air does more than just cool or heat: it carries volatiles, cleans flavours and sets the pace of development.
Robust and reliable designs and systems, together with measurements at critical points, help maintain aromatic cleanliness and avoid flat or harsh flavours.

When you scale up, new “players” appear: cyclones, emissions treatment, silos for roasting and grinding, transport that reduces breakage, metal detectors, integrated weighing, and a layout that favours a unidirectional flow without crossings.

Start with your best craft curve and turn it into a recipe: define the charging temperature, turning point, target RoR per phase, first crack, and percentage of development. The more explicit the milestones are, the easier it will be to compare it in another thermal environment.

Standardise preheating and set an optimal load range for each model. Adjust air and gas to maintain the slope without creating overcompensation. Thermal shocks are the enemy of repeatability; consistency is the antidote.

Consolidate recipes, alarms, and limits. Export curves for sensory review and save versions when raw materials, humidity, or environment change. Traceability is no longer a paper document but becomes a living record of the process.

Plan tests with 60–70% load and 100% load. Measure colour (Agtron), weight loss and tasting notes. Adjust air to maintain cleanliness and gas to nail total times and % development. Repeat until inter-batch variation remains within narrow ranges.

Calculate demand by SKU and a 3–6 month horizon. Define standard batches, cadences per shift, and a 30–40% buffer for peaks. Size not only the roaster, but also cooling, silos, and grinding.

Select capacity per batch and level of automation based on technical criteria: air stability, control precision, safety, and after-sales service. Explore options from the TNA Series, Innova, and CoffeeTec solutions when the mix requires it.

A linear flow reduces errors: reception and quality control of the green beans, vacuum silage, efficient roasting and cooling, rapid transition to grinding and packaging, and a silo system that buffers rhythms between processes.

Design with HACCP from the outset. Control emissions and dust, ATEX zones where applicable, and procedures that integrate cleaning and maintenance without slowing down production.

Model kWh/kg, shrinkage, direct labour, maintenance, and depreciation. Project various shift scenarios and product mixes. ROI isn’t just the toaster: it’s the entire system running at the right pace.

Under-sizing forces endless shifts and downtime. Over-sizing increases waste, warm-up times and fixed costs. Adjust capacity to your realistic projection with a margin, not to your “dream machine”.

The same flavour requires different parameters in another thermal inertia. If you copy numbers, you move away from the result; if you transfer principles and test them, you get closer.

La producción industrial no premia el lote brillante aislado, premia la repetición. Diseña para la estabilidad antes que para la velocidad máxima.

Leave space, power, extraction and bases for “one size larger”.

Scaling up does not mean giving up your identity.
With a well-designed process, digital control, and the right equipment, you can go from micro-roaster to production while maintaining the profile that made you grow.
If you want to review capacities, layout, and integration, explore our industrial roasters, industrial coffee grinders, and complete coffee installations.