Miller Magazine Issue: 151 July 2022

80 COVER STORY MILLER / JULY 2022 1. INTRODUCTION Unexpected breakdowns and downtimes in grain mills cause more trouble for today's mills due to their high production tonnage. These malfunctions cause a decrease in production capacity and delays in shipment. In general, the production costs due to malfunctions are much higher than the expenses for the elimination of the malfunction. In fact, some mal- functions cause quality fluctuations that can reach customers. The material dimension of such problems will never be determined clearly. However, reduc- ing the unexpected failure rate is not an easy task considering the number of personnel, the time that the machines stop for maintenance and the main- tenance costs. In this study, how a successful mill maintenance management can be done under the overwhelming pressure of increasing competition conditions and the contribution of advanced tech- nology to maintenance management are explained. 2. NECESSITY OF MAINTENANCE ACTIVITIES The level of maintenance activities to be carried out in the mill or in any industrial facility is deter- mined by the negativities that will arise in the ab- sence of maintenance. All working electrical and mechanical parts have an expected life according to the working conditions. In addition, they need functions such as lubrication, which must be done routinely in order to fulfill their functions. If these activities are not carried out, the machines will not be able to continue their work and will stop at an unexpected time. Failure to stop the production un- expectedly due to a malfunction in the machines is called a breakdown stop. Failure stops are serious problems for production. Some of the problems caused by fault stops are listed below. •Products cannot be delivered to the customer on time. •Due to the stop and re-start of production, quality fluctuations occur until the system is back in order, and the rate of second quality and scrap products increases. Today's milling is on the eve of switching to unmanned production. In order to exist in the sector, production-related problems such as breakdown stops must be completely re- solved. Because these problems prevent us from focusing on essential works. In order to eliminate manufacturing problems, a very effective MMS should be established and this system should be implemented effectively. The technology developing in MMS operation should be transferred to the mills rapidly, maintenance burden should be reduced and com- petitiveness should be increased thanks to artificial intelligence devices such as Jetmaster. Maintenance management at grain mill Dr. Nihat Çankaya Necmettin Erbakan University Meram Vocational School Department of Food Processing