Miller Magazine Issue 110 / February 2019

54 MILLER / FEBRUARY 2019 “The laboratory is a key piece of the Operations Management in a mill or an elevator. The grain must be inspected through all its processing stages, until it turns into a bun. As Peter Drucker said, “if you want to change something, first you have to measure it”. The laboratory is the heart of the continuous improvement efforts. At every stage of the process you have to check the values of the parameters that you care the most.” It is difficult to write about the require- ments of the modern laboratory, as most people would like to find a list of the best equipment to have, but I believe that’s not where the focus should be. You may use a Carter Day dockage tester or a set of manual sieves. Either way you are go- ing to find out how much foreign matter is present in the grain. Most of the readers of this magazine work in the wheat flour industry, which has an impressive range of equipment to measure different characte- ristics of grain, flour, and dough. Instead of focusing on that area, I will try here to provide a list of what to measure, in gene- ral, for every grain-related industry. First there is a list of the tests you may perform on grain or its products, so you have a quick introduction on what could be controlled. It is up to you to look for more information on books or articles, to learn how to apply them. Later I will give you an introduction to quality control planning. I strongly believe that a modern grain la- The Modern Laboratory Prof. Gustavo Sosa Industrial Mechanical Engineer Licensed Grain Inspector MBA Project Management SOSA – Engineering Consultants Email: ing.gustavo.sosa@gmail.com