World Grain - December 2024 - 50

MILLING OPERATIONS
The question is this: does an increase or
decrease in the difference between dirty
wheat in and clean wheat to tempering
reflect wheat quality or cleaning house
machine wear and settings or a combination
of both? An increase in screening
production in either case increases the
amount of dirty wheat required to create
a unit of flour. Increases or decreases in
screenings production beyond expectations
is cause for concern and immediate
corrections.
So, what is your expectation for
cleaning house performance? Is it the
incoming wheat dockage plus 0.5%,
1.0% or 1.5%. Perhaps accurate scales
should be considered for incoming
dirty wheat, outgoing clean wheat and
screenings if the cleaning operation is to
be properly monitored against a reasonable
expectation of cleaning house loss
and screenings quality. Dust, dirt, chaff,
and dry weed seeds have generally a
lower moisture content than wheat and
Raw Wheat
Receiving
Grain Elevator
Blending
Inventory Variance
Invoice Vs. Unloading Variance
increases in screening moisture may indicate
removal of sound wheat in addition
to presence or other higher moisture
non-wheat material, perhaps indicating
a need for cleaning process adjustment
or repair. A good miller will ensure optimal
cleaning house performance with
both observations and data along with
monetization of cleaning house losses.
Screening production may be important
in a milling site where screenings
can't be sold separately or in combination
with millfeed streams as a source
of byproduct credit, reducing the cost of
goods. In this situation, screenings removed
may be segregated and disposed
of at a cost to the miller and have a negative
impact on byproduct credit thereby
increasing the cost of goods sold. In
such a case, accurate measurement of
screenings is essential. In Figure 2,
the dashed line shows screenings being
blended into the feed stream from
the mill. In either case, monitoring the
Figure 2
Functional centers
of the milling
process with
potential to impact
dirty wheat yield
Cleaning
Milling
Tempering
Milling
Flour
Storage
Flour Storage
Blending
Bulk Loadout
Flour
Packaging
Packaging
Flour
Warehouse
Shipping
Invoice Vs. Inventory Variance
Receiving
Over/Under Pack
Warehouse Damage
Feed
Warehouse
Shipping
Invoice Vs. Inventory Variance
Flour Additives
Invoice Vs. Loading Variance
Feed
Packaging
Packaging
Receiving
Invoice Vs. loading Variance
Warehouse Damage
Invoice Vs. Unloading Variance
Feed Storage
Processing
Bulk Loadout
Water Gain/Loss
Over/Under Pack
Screenings Removal
Water Addition
Flour Additives
Feed
Storage
Invoice Vs. Unloading Variance
Net Profit/Unit
Profit and Taxes
Taxes
Net Profit
Figure 1: Simplified mill pricing example
Cost of Goods Sold/Unit
Wheat Cost
Byproduct Credit
Cost of Goods
Milling Cost/Unit
Cost per Unit
Labor
Energy
Maintenance
Insurance
Loan Interest
Loan Principle
Advertising & Promotion
Management
Services
Milling Costs
Gross Milling Margin/Unit
Cost of Good
Milling Costs
Profit and Taxes
Gross Milling Margin
Sales Price/Unit
Gross Milling Margin
Cost of Goods
Sales Price/Unit
Fixed
Variable
Type
Customer
Customer
50
December 2024 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
Source: Jeff Gwirtz
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - December 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of World Grain - December 2024
