“Finally I would like to state one thing: Automation is an indispensable item in flour plants from raw materials and products to quality and capacity. The businesses in our industry should first make their facilities fit for automation to stand one or several steps ahead of their competitors in the fierce competition conditions.”

Muhammed Semih GÜLTAY Bülent Ecevit University Student at Electrical and Electronic Engineering To put it simply, automation is a division of labor and tasks between technical and administrative team and processes at flour plants. Automation plays a significant role in minimizing accidents and failures by optimizing manpower in processes at facilities. Our industry uses the options of full automation, semi-automation and partial automation. At flour plants, the first thing to come to mind about automation is the efficiency control systems. There are many companies which control their efficiency via automation.

The recent facilities use full automation systems, except for a few shortcomings. Automation control and command systems at flour plants become more and more important, and more facilities are using them.

It is not the right thing to do to prefer semi- or partial automation instead of full and more practical automation due to high costs, limited potentials or other reasons during the installation phase. The right thing to do is to ensure uninterrupted and continuous manufacture, which is very important in terms of quality criteria, among all processes, particularly in milling process. Every stop and start in the dispatch, preliminary cleaning, final cleaning, preparation, milling, blending and packaging processes causes fluctuations in the product. Furthermore, sudden interruptions of the load while the system is operating may cause failures in machines as well as higher power consumption due to restarting procedures. Automation should step in during temporary failures and clogging to ensure uninterrupted manufacture. To avoid fluctuations in manufacture, the wheat should be tempered via the automation system during tempering process to ensure stability in targeted humidity. Unfavorable conditions in blending, dosing and in other parameters which are directly interconnected, such as damaged starch, coloring, sparing, ash, humidity in flour, which has become recently important, can be notified in advance via automation. There are very few facilities that use automation control and analysis systems that conduct instant and continuous measurement in all processes during the manufacturing phase, particularly in the flour as the final product. To ensure that flour plants and flour industrialists have a say in the competitive environment of the market, they should use NIR or similar equipment which conduct instant and continuous measurements. In order to diagnose unfavorable conditions in advance and to guarantee quality, On Line Nir control system, one of the products developed by the industry, directly connects to manufacturing lines, performs measurements every five seconds and displays the results on the screen. This equipment performs very important tasks in terms of product control, analysis and automation, and has facilitated the job of technical and administrative staff. Automation is the most effective argument in identifying potential losses due to failures and problems. Furthermore, automation is the most deterrent force against the tendency of the technical team to operate with a low capacity to avoid any risks.

Automation system has allowed very sound process controls and ease of operation in the filling and discharging of silos, particularly concerning heat.

Finally I would like to state one thing: Automation is an indispensable item in flour plants from raw materials and products to quality and capacity. The businesses in our industry should first make their facilities fit for automation to stand one or several steps ahead of their competitors in the fierce competition conditions. Then, they can continue manufacturing at their facilities with the best full automation system, which is very important to ensure sustainability of flour plants.