Miller Magazine Issue: 139 July 2021

83 ARTICLE MILLER / july 2021 The NIR Analyzer enables rapid production stream adjustments, with waste and downtime minimised and quality assured. It comes with a large selection of pre-calibrated applications and data is automatically saved and stored, making product quality transparent and traceable. “Bühler installed a brand new flour mill for us in 2017 and the NIR Analzyerwas part of that project,” says Conrad Syers, Joint Managing Director at Nelstrops. “As the company has progressed we’ve kept close to Bühler’s evolving product portfolio. We’ve used the MYRA [Bühler’s first sensor] since the late 1980s, although we still use it and it op- erates just as it should, investing in the NIR Ana- lyzer was a natural progression for us. We’re also replacing our MYFB damping equipment with the newer Automatic Moisture Control System (MYFE). I want to minimise downtime and sticking with the Bühler brand facilitates that.” As Kate Syers reveals, Nelstrops uses its new NIR sensor heads to “ensure constancy and repeatabili- ty”. She continues: “It provides us with a highly effi- cient way to add the precise amount of gluten to get our flour to the protein level customers and bakeries require. There’s absolutely no waste, which saves us money on vital wheat gluten, which is very expensive. “In both our mills we have a starter bin, we put less in the newer mill’s starter bin than we would in the other mill’s one because the NIR Analyzer provides the precision that allows us to put in the exact right amount. As a miller, you see wide variations in wheat Real-time quality analysis releases an alarm to alert the miller of any quality issues.