Forging ahead during challenging times

Every day, billions of people come into contact with Bühler technologies to cover their basic needs for food, mobility and more. The range of technologies covers from smartphone parts to the food you eat. Maryke Foulds looks at how the company creates innovation for a better world with a focus on healthy, safe, and sustainable solutions.

As health-conscious consumers make changes to their eating habits, Bühler is expecting to see a wave of new better-for-you options hitting shelves in 2021.

“We are predicting an even bigger move towards alternative proteins from sources such as pulses and TVP, also known as texturised vegetable proteins,” explains Harry Bloechlinger, MD Southern Africa. “We have also seen that consumers are purchasing more items tailored to quick and easy snacking options. This is creating opportunities for nutrient-dense snacks with functional health benefits aimed at supporting immune systems that enhance mood and sustain energy.”

Although COVID-19 has kicked up a myriad of challenges, such as currency fluctuations on imported wheat, the company remained 100% operational throughout the lockdown period. “We stayed close to our customers to ensure that we understood and could assist with the challenges they may be facing,” Bloechlinger explains. “Bühler has service engineers that work 24/7 to ensure your business can work fulltime too. We offer remote support as well as service engineers that can be dispatched from our local hubs to remote areas to ensure that our customers don’t have downtime on their plants.”

Going into 2021 Bühler has increased its sustainability goals and its aim is to reduce energy requirements, water consumption, and waste by 50% in customer value chains. No business can do this alone. One of the strategic pillars for the Middle East and Africa region in 2021 is Food for the Future – alternative protein solutions.

“This year has offered us a chance to reassess what is important and where to focus our resources and energy now and post-pandemic. We are also proud to announce the launch of the Arrius – a groundbreaking grinding systems that allows for lower energy consumption, faster installation, maximum food safety, highest operating reliability and best grinding performance. During the new development phase, millers were the focus of attention. They were involved in the development project from day one and their input has ensured that Arrius is a machine that is both revolutionary and familiar to millers,” he points out enthusiastically.

INTEGRATION FOR MORE EFFICIENCY

Arrius is not just a roller mill but an integrated grinding system. The switch cabinet, drive and gearbox and web server, which provides the link to digital services, are all built in. These components are all separate in a conventional roller mill.

Integrating them brings significant advantages. It makes Arrius remarkably energy efficient, for example. The novel drive reduces energy consumption by up to 10% compared with conventional belt drives. Furthermore, the integrated drive unit together with the direct suction means it is possible to save an entire floor when building a new mill.

“The innovative design also allows the Arrius grinding system to be delivered to its destination as a ready-to-install module and to be flexibly positioned within the plant. Just connect three cables – compressed air, and product inlet and outlet – and the grinding system is ready for operation. The first integrated grinding system,

Every day, billions of people come into contact with Bühler technologies to cover their basic needs for food, mobility and more. The range of technologies covers from smartphone parts to the food you eat. Maryke Foulds looks at how the company creates innovation for a better world with a focus on healthy, safe, and sustainable solutions.

As health-conscious consumers

Arrius MIRRA, from Bühler This plug-and-play system considerably reduces installation and commissioning time. By using power busbars for the electric power distribution, installation time can be reduced by a factor of three,” Bloechlinger points out.

OPTIMISED GRINDING PERFORMANCE AND HYGIENE

Bühler roller packs have stood out for their stability and precision for decades. In spite of – or perhaps precisely because of – this, the company has continued to carry out intensive research in this area. The roller pack with integrated grinding force

DID YOU KNOW? Founded in 1860, Bühler is still run as a family business

Harry Bloechlinger, MD for Southern Africa

measurement ensures outstanding grinding performance. Thanks to the pre-stressed rollers, up to 10% higher starch damage can be achieved compared with conventional roller mills. The new gearbox enables parallel grinding force adjustment, which ensures uniform grinding over the entire length of the grinding gap. Moreover, by pre-stressing the rollers the gap remains stable over time. The grinding result can be adjusted directly and with ease.

Brushless scraper bars for corrugated rolls and self-adjusting scraper blades for smooth rolls contribute to perfect grinding with low maintenance requirements. An important aspect in grinding is also the feeding of the product to be ground.

The patented feeding module with asymmetrical inlet, product-independent level control and product distribution enables an even product distribution over the entire grinding gap. The complete inlet area of the feeding module is accessible for cleaning by opening the chamber door, taking hygiene to a new level. A greatly simplified grinding chamber design and improved aspiration reduce product deposits, which further increases food safety. Also unique is the support on hygienic leveling feet, which allows easy cleaning under the machine. It goes without saying that all productcontacting surfaces on the Arrius are made of stainless steel or other foodcompatible materials.

A NEW LEVEL OF USER COMFORT AND SAFETY

On the subject of cleanliness, swinging up the product chamber cover enables easy access to the entire grinding chamber. This not only simplifies cleaning but also maintenance work. Rolls can be changed in less than 45 minutes thanks to the easy access, the slidable roller pack, and quick plug-in connections. With Arrius this can now also be carried out while grinding continues on the opposite passage – a unique feature in flour milling.

The intuitive touchscreen operating unit allows easy monitoring and control of the grinding system. With the integrated web server, Arrius can be operated via smartphone, tablet or PC within the mill. The user interface is extremely intuitive and can be understood within a very short time by personnel with milling experience. Arrius also sets new standards in personal safety.

The product chamber cover with electronic locking device completely closes off the grinding chamber and can only be opened when the rollers are completely stationary. In addition, the grinding chamber doors are each fitted with a hand guard to ensure safe sampling.

A FURTHER STEP ON THE WAY TO SMARTMILL

The Arrius grinding system is equipped with numerous sensors that continuously monitor

“Bühler Johannesburg continues to run its Apprenticeship Programme, which is merSETAaccredited in boilermaking and welding. This year, the 8th female passed her trade test. We also took on two new boilermaker apprentices and will run our first welder apprentice exchange programme with the Swiss-based head office. We will host two of their welder apprentices and two of our apprentices will go there. It will be a six-week programme and they will be working on the production line to gain some experience in four major welding processes, namely oxy-acetylene gas welding, TIG welding, gas metal arc welding and shielded metal arc welding. The African Milling School in Nairobi, Kenya also continues with various training courses in the milling industry for customers and delegates throughout Africa”-

Harry Bloechlinger is MD for Southern Africa

the operating status. The sensors in the inlet of the feeding module detect product variations and the automatic feed control immediately compensates for fluctuations. This ensures that the feed is always constant and that the ground material is distributed evenly across the entire grinding gap. The novel force measurement of the roller pack enables close monitoring of the grinding process. Should deviations occur in the absolute grinding force or between the measurements on each side, an error message is issued. This contributes to maintaining optimum grinding conditions in the individual grinding systems and thus ensures an efficient overall process.

The optional monitoring package includes additional sensors for monitoring the operating status including monitoring of the rollers, the product level in the inlet and the grinding gap position. The insights generated by these devices provide a solid foundation for future digital services under the umbrella of the SmartMill programme.

MODEL RANGE AND OPTIONS

The new grinding system Arrius is available as a four-roller and eight-roller integrated grinding system. For both models, roller lengths of 1 000, 1 250 and 1 500mm and diameters of 250mm are available. The following options are also available: roller temperature monitoring, bearing temperature monitoring, inlet monitoring, and grinding gap force measurement.

As with the Mill E3, Arrius improves efficiency in the areas of energy, building investment and installation time. The direct drive reduces energy consumption by up to 10%. Energy recovery is achieved mechanically via the gear unit specially developed for Arrius. The integrated drive saves an entire floor structurally, which reduces investment costs. The integrated design allows Arrius to be wired and tested ready for operation in the Bühler assembly plant. Thanks to this plug-and-play system, the time required for installation and start-up is significantly reduced.

In conclusion, Bloechlinger says, “It is our aim to always remain relevant to the customers in our care and the society at large, allowing them to produce safe and healthy staple food to feed the people, as well as sustaining hope through what we do.”

Bühler – www.buhlergroup.com