“Fumigation application against bacteria forming on the machinery and equipment must be carried out by the producers within the framework of the standards determined by the state at least twice a year without any interruption and the relevant personnel must be warned for the necessary care.”

Emin YER Acar Makina General Coordinator

The hardness of the wheat to be used in flour mills and the product feature to be obtained as a result of production are among the factors to be considered in machine selection. Within the framework of the standards set by the State, efforts must be made to select machinery and components that have characteristics appropriate to the intended daily production capacity. It must be taken into consideration that the selection of machines which are not suitable for production capacity may cause various troubles in production as they affect the working systems of other machines. The appropriately selected machine will contribute to the improvement of the profit margin as it helps to control the investment costs and helps to meet the incoming customer requests on time.

Manufacturers of milling machines must be aiming to maintain their existing position and competitiveness in the market with the policies and strategies they apply with respect to the maintenance, repair and technical service of the machines they sell. In case of any technical difficulties in the machines used in the facility, timely communication with the machine manufacturer is important. The maintenance of the machine manufacturer’s position in the market and the competitiveness is ensured by its ability to resolve the failures of the machines in the shortest time and at the most convenient cost. The minimum maintenance, repair and technical service costs depend on timely and correct interventions. If any interruption occurs as a result of the unauthorized and uninformed personnel’s interventions with the machine, it will be necessary to suffer from a large amount of financial burden to compensate for the malfunctioning. Therefore, it must not be forgotten that it may be exposed to unnecessary expenses when a solution is searched. It must also be known that unauthorized personnel intervention in the defective machine will leave the existing machine out of warranty.

It is very important in terms of customer satisfaction to carry out the dispatch in a very short time when the flour mill is in contact with the machine manufacturer for the spare parts of the machines produced by the companies. Failure to rectify a fault in time may result in serious damage to the machine and eventually, in an expense at an approximate machine value due to the repairs and maintenance performed.

One of the biggest problems we have encountered is the high cost of repairs due to a small failure of poorly manufactured machines and therefore the flour mill would prefer to purchase a new machine instead of repairing the existing machine. Such situations cause the machine manufacturer to lose customers.

DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY MAINTENANCE OF MACHINES Among the daily maintenance are clearing off the residue of the products left from the previous production and checking the parts that may lead to dust leak and cleaning the flour screws so that the production can continue at a more stable level. Malfunctioning such as the non-closing lids, blocked pipes, compressors’ failure to produce air at the sufficient pressure that enables the machines to operate, which may prevent the production from being in the desired efficiency are also among the daily maintenance tasks. Weekly maintenance includes checking of the continuously moving bearings, belts and gears and calibrations of the level sensors in the yield weighing machine. This maintenance includes grinding process of the rollers; the repair, maintenance and cleaning of the square sieves and the repairs of the flow pipes as they may be eroded due to the their fluidity. The machine manufacturer must visit the flour mills in relation to the maintenance and repairs of the machines he has produced in certain periods and exchange information with the manager and the employers for the more efficient operation of the working machines. A variety of trainings must be organized weekly and monthly with the aim of educating the technical service team about the information obtained in these information exchanges and solutions. Such training will provide customer satisfaction as the technical service team will gain the necessary skills to act consciously during the interventions in case of failures.

IMPORTANCE OF HYGIENE IN MILLS Another issue that we need to emphasize is the hygiene of machines that work in flour mills. Hygiene is a very sensitive issue for human health. Fumigation application against bacteria forming on the machinery and equipment must be carried out by the producers within the framework of the standards determined by the state at least twice a year without any interruption and the relevant personnel must be warned for the necessary care.

If we want to contribute to the economy of our country, producing quality products and educating and recruiting qualified personnel must be among our main principles. We must strive to protect our national values and our self by acting more sensitively in this difficult process we are going through as a country.