Miller Magazine Issue: 129 September 2020

58 COVER STORY MILLER / September 2020 wheat by regulating the production parameters. The first stage of an intelligent mill is establishing a big database by monitoring every point of milling process from raw mate- rials to products and all operational status of machines” In a flour mill, with the data of the real-time sensors, you could adjust the pressure of the rollers or send the flour through more cycles to adjust the granulometry, or maybe decide to pass it (or not) through more plansifters or pu- rifiers. “The beauty of this is that you don’t have to wait until the product is ready to process again, or accept that some product will be lower quality because of the time in- volved in taking a sample, analyzing it, and then adjusting the machines. The quality loss is minimized,” says Industrial Mechanical Engineer Prof. Gustavo Sosa. “For example, in a rice mill, you could know in real-time the percentage of broken grains. If your hullers and your polishers had hy- draulic or electromechanical regulation, you could adjust them instantly to decrease the percentage of broken ker- nels, and also adjust the graders downstream so they catch more of the defective grains,” he notes. To achieve Artificial Intelligent Mills, Industry 4.0 has to be applied. Appling Industry 4.0 in the mill process and machines included in the process carried out in three stages: 1. Creating a big digital data collection in a cloud plat- form by developing an advanced sensors technology. This data collection is called industrial data repository or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. 2. IoT (Internet of Things): Mill process machines have to be developed to have the ability for communication on the internet to automatic control systems. 3. A fully automated process that can completely be controlled from outside the mill with machine learning technologies has an artificial ıntelligence algorithm trying to mimic, and eventually supersede human behavior and intelligence. All these digital data collection, storage, analysis, and evaluation can enhance transparency in the milling pro- cess as well as throughout the value chain. “Due to so deep penetration of digitalization many pilot projects are been conducted to trace wheat grain from farm to fork using blockchain technology, to provide full traceability and transparency,” says Mr. Singhal. In an intelligent mill, the actions determined from the collected and analyzed data are executed automatically. The intelligent mill is constantly optimizing itself. “The AI milling system will be concerned to collecting and analyzing the data from the other activities of the mill, such as logistics, quality assurance, auditing and so on in order to take the necessary conclusions,” notes Prof. Alfin. “Intelligent milling system will be equipped with special process algorithms that allow software applica- tions to become more accurate in predicting outcomes without being explicitly programmed. This system will be developed to create a maintenance program that reduces possible maintenance errors and decreases personal and maintenance costs.” points out Prof. Alfin. AI mill systems have the potential to bring greater ad- vantage to the production process. Miller has to know that the investments in new automation and digitalized systems is more efficient and profitable than convention- al mill system. AI mill systems will improve process effi- ciency, eliminate personnel errors, the yield of the mill can be optimized and significantly increase the quality of the products, improve traceability, reduce energy con- sumption, need fewer workforces, ensure easy and fast machine maintenance, and make a long uptime. “The milling industry will have to embrace IoT, or they will be left behind,” warns Syed Ashraf, Vice President of Automation and Electrical Engineering at Kice Industries. “Regulatory compliance, recall procedures, food security, and innovations will force them to stay current. Plant op- timization, cost competitiveness, and productivity gains are the benefits of a digital plant.” According to Mr. Ashraf, future IoT mills will work within a secure wireless network, and they will be sup- porting a highly automated process, linked seamlessly with enterprise software working through the cloud. Op- erators are controlling the mills from their tablets, with all the facility data at the fingertips, including the equip- ment manuals. “As we know, Industry 4.0 refers to the fourth industrial revolution; it’s the way we produce products due to digital transformation. IoT makes 4.0 possible and smart factory a reality. Equipment in our process industry is getting smart- er, and they are producing critical data that are essential to increase productivity. These machines are connected with one another and create and share information. In our mill- ing industry, we have smarter roller mills, scaling systems, moisture controller that are communicating with the plant master controller, and some are communicating with each other producing better results. In our industry, I see the adaptation of Industry 4.0 to be slow due to its cost, but it will happen,” he underlines. Having access to reliable contaminant mitigation, trustworthy information and real-time quality monitor- ing are not new challenges for food processors. Howev- er, digitalization enables the industry to deal with these challenges so that we can provide healthy food to feed the ever-increasing global population. Thanks to technological advancement and the research and development work carried out by suppliers, it is cer- tain that the input expenses can be lowered, mainte- nance cost and duration can be reduced, and facilities with quieter and fewer workers can be built. Also, we can predict that future mills will be faster and safer in food safety, hygiene, and quality control.