SWITZERLAND – The global milling equipment supplier, Bühler has introduced a new innovative milling system, Mill E3, that brings sustainable solutions to the milling industry.

With the Mill E3, Bühler revolutionizes the milling industry and sets new standards in cost-effective building investment, project realisation time, and energy consumption.

The new mill can be built in less time, in a smaller building, at the same or lower costs, and consumes significantly less energy per ton of processed wheat than a conventional mill.

In addition, it also uses blockchain technology to trace grain for more transparency and food safety.

The Mill E3 brings in an optimized industrial milling concept – which Johannes Wick, CEO of Grains & Food at Bühler Group notes “after the introduction of automation 40 years ago, Mill E3 is the next big step forward in milling.”

During the ongoing Networking Days 2019, Bühler will be demonstrating that it is possible to build flour mills with latest technology more cost-effectively, install them quicker, and operate them with less impact on the environment.

Shorter installation time, faster commissioning, smaller building

Mill E3 stands for advantages on three efficiency levels: space, time, and energy. In the optimal case a Mill E3 building can be 30% smaller in volume than a traditional mill of the same size.

In addition to using less capital, it is also completed more quickly. By using pre-assembled modules, Mill E3 is installed 30% faster than conventional flour mills.

The mill significantly reduces infrastructure cost, construction time and complexity. “It’s basically a plug-and-play mill,” says Stefan Birrer, Head of Business Area Milling Solutions.

Less energy

The Mill E3 has integrated a compact mill design and innovative process solution that is able to reduces energy consumption by up to 10%, without compromising yield or quality.

The innovative solutions include the newly developed integrated grinding system, Arrius and the TUBO Tubular Push Conveyor which replaces specific pneumatic transport passages in order to save energy.

“The design, the new grinding system Arrius and the IoT and Blockchain applications are revolutionizing the milling industry once again,” says Johannes Wick.

Bühler blockchain for food traceability

Together with Mill E3, Bühler has proposed increasing transparency along the value chain by adding connectivity features, digital services, and blockchain to help guarantee the end product quality.

Notably, UK’s largest milling company, Whitworths Holdings Ltd. incorporating Whitworth Bros. Ltd. and Carrs Flour Mills Limited, operates 17 mills on 9 sites, is the first company to rely on Mill E3.

“Besides the obvious mechanical benefits E3 offers, we were also convinced of the digitalization approach. Bühler is definitely on the forefront in this respect,” says Mike Peters, Managing Director of Whitworth Bros. Ltd.

Mill E3 enables millers to create complete transparency for their customers as the systems can trace grains back to farms.

“IoT and blockchain give us the opportunity to push the bar for food safety, food security, and transparency through our supply chain,” says Mike Peters.

The new mill is due to be completed towards the end of 2020. After that the monitoring phase begins.

Data from the fully connected mill will be monitored with Bühler Insights, Bühler’s secure cloud service powered by Microsoft Azure.