The invisible backbone of grain and food processing

Precise and accurate weighing and dosing of raw materials and products throughout the processing chain enable maximum yield and enhance the efficiency of machinery. From intake to final packing of goods, Bühler’s solutions for weighing and dosing offer critical transparency and quality at every stage, tangibly impacting customers’ economic and sustainability targets.

Grain processors and food and feed producers around the world are bound by the same challenges. Variations in raw material characteristics affect the bulk density and flow properties of grains, posing a significant challenge to processing. This can ultimately lead to inconsistencies in the finished product if these challenges are not actively addressed, and any deviation will directly impact yield and affect the bottom line. Advanced weighing and dosing systems are the key in turning these challenges into business opportunities. By continuously optimizing the processes and adjusting to variations of the grain characteristics, these state-of-the-art solutions enhance product uniformity, reduce waste, and improve overall production efficiency, not least thanks to harnessing the power of digitalization and artificial intelligence. 

“Our portfolio of weighing and dosing solutions is unmatched when it comes to precision and accuracy along the entire process chain. The batch scale and loss-in-weight scale technologies with accuracies down to +/- 0.1% and +/- 0.2% respectively offer performances that no other provider has been able to replicate,” says Raimo Weber, Product Manager Weighing & Dosing at Bühler. “Our dosing systems ensure the exact desired quantity travels into the next processing steps thanks to their uniquely high and repeatable accuracies of down to +/- 1%”, he adds.

 A prerequisite for safe food and feed

Adhering to the highest food and feed safety standards is crucial in food production. For any manufacturer, ensuring that their products are free from contamination and meet stringent safety standards is the number one priority. At Bühler, ensuring food and feed safety in every process step is not negotiable. “We design our advanced weighing and dosing systems with materials certified for food contact and easy-to-clean structures. In the 146 years that we’ve been developing solutions for weighing and dosing, we’ve been incorporating every learning in close collaboration with our customers to take our food and feed safety game to the next level,” says Raimo Weber.

“We’re constantly exchanging ideas and learnings with our colleagues working on solutions up and down the food processing value chain at Bühler – from intake to storage to sorting or milling to name just a few. By applying hygienic design principles into our weighing and dosing systems, we not only prevent food contamination but also simplify the cleaning process – which in turn increases overall production efficiency,” he adds.

Saving 99% of energy costs

Supply chain disruptions, conflicts, and inflation have dramatically driven up energy prices in many regions, once again putting energy efficiency in the spotlight. Thanks to its sustainability targets of having solutions ready to multiply by 2025 that reduce energy, waste, and water in its customers’ value chains, Bühler has been well-prepared to provide solutions that deliver on a key pain point for many customers these days. “We always put ourselves in our customers’ shoes and proactively tackle their challenges head on. We’re bound by our sustainability targets to constantly improve our solutions, and our weighing and dosing portfolio is testament of our innovation power,” says Weber. The batch scale Akrivis is a prime example of the direct impact an innovative technology has on a producers’ bottom line.

Many operations run 24 hours a day for most of the year. By installing the Akrivis batch scale from Bühler, customers can reduce their energy consumption by thousands of kilowatt hours per year. At today's energy prices, this quickly amounts to an annual saving of a few thousand Swiss Francs – per scale. It has also been shown that up to 99 percent of energy costs can be saved thanks to the DriveX module.

The work towards more sustainable and efficient solutions, however, does not stop here. “We set ourselves very ambitious sustainability targets and always look at the entire value chain for improvements. By reducing steel consumption in our portfolio through round shapes, a stiffer structure, and the ability to use thinner sheet metal, we will be able to save almost 200 tons of CO2e per year,” says Raimo Weber. If you add to this the savings that we achieve in operation thanks to electric drives – which amount to approximately 250 tons of CO2e per year, we save the equivalent of 6,000 flights around the world,” he points out. 

Turning data into actionable insights

In today’s competitive landscape, collecting and processing accurate, real-time data and translating it into actionable insights is key. Manufacturers sometimes struggle with collecting the right data from their processes, which can hinder their ability to optimize process operations effectively. This lack of transparency can result in inefficient resource utilization, ultimately affecting profitability.

For many years, Bühler’s cloud-based solution Bühler Insights has been revolutionizing the way the company’s customers gather, interpret, and put data into action. “Our entire portfolio for weighing and dosing is built around self-optimization. It collects and analyzes important processing data and continuously improves efficiency,” says Gernot Stoerr, Head of Product Management at Bühler Milling Solutions. “These actions range from predictive maintenance to prevent future downtimes all the way to smart interpretations, for example of mass flow or inlet and outlet gate positions, to ensure a maximum yield on raw materials.”

Fine margins make the difference

Bühler’s range of solutions for weighing and dosing is the result of 146 years of innovation, partnering with customers, and anticipating the next megatrend before it becomes mainstream. Today, customers benefit from a full value chain approach that extends far beyond the actual process of weighing and dosing. This includes getting the necessary certifications, full process transparency in case of an audit by food safety regulators, and last but not least harnessing the untamable power of digitalization and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce waste, increase efficiency, and improve the bottom line. 

“In essence, our weighing and dosing portfolio is a microcosm of what Bühler is all about. We never stand still, we innovate together with our customers, and we ensure they remain on top of their game by always being close to them and putting ourselves in their shoes,” says Raimo Weber. With the most complete portfolio of weighing and dosing solutions for all requirements from high-end to entry-level and the drive to remain best-in-class through product innovation and harnessing the power of digitalization, it seems that when Raimo Weber and his colleagues put themselves in their customers’ shoes, everybody wins.