ADM INAUGURATED THE UNITED STATES’ FOURTH LARGEST MILL

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ADM Milling and Ocrim celebrate the opening of the new, state-of-art flour mill in Mendota, Illinois. ADM Milling, one of the largest milling companies in the world, inaugurated the largest flour mill ever built from the ground up in North America with a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony. The construction required more than two years of work and the maximum Ocrim’s commitment to offer highly innovative technological solutions.

The Future of Milling

Wednesday 18 September Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony with employees, suppliers, customers and local officials in attendance celebrating the new mill’s opening in Mendota, Illinois (about 100 miles west of Chicago). ADM Milling is one of the largest milling companies in the world with facilities in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, Central America and the United Kingdom. The recent investment concerns the construction of the largest flour mill ever built from the ground up in North America, whose construction work began in June 2017. 

The completion of Mendota mill follows by less than a year the completion of the ADM’s flour mill modernization in Enid (Oklahoma, USA) with a capacity of 900 t per day, also awarded to Ocrim. The Mendota mill features three 10,000-cwt units each (equivalent to 600t/24h). The C unit has been operating for nearly two months; the B unit from about two weeks; the A unit is currently in the process of starting up. The A and B units will mill hard red winter and spring wheat while the C unit is a swing mill, able to grind soft wheat, hard wheat or whole wheat. The mill will supply customers in Chicago and surrounding states of Illinois (Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa). In the picture above the President of ADM Milling, Kevin Like, during his speech; in the photo below the Ocrim and ADM team.

A Complex Project With High Technological Value

This is the largest investment of recent years in the US milling sector, whose project was entrusted to Ocrim as main contractor, specifically as an engineering technology partner. A project conceived through an innovative approach that concern the design, technical and technological aspects to respect the customer’s request: have the best technology to meet the growing demand for flour in the Midwest. High-tech solutions were therefore applied related to the concepts of food safety, sanitation and energy saving: the supply of antimicrobial sieves to counteract the formation of mould and bacteria inside the plansifter; the presence of stainless steel as the predominant material to guarantee high sanitation levels in food processing (used not only for machines but also for exhaust ducting, hoppers and accessories in general); the optimization of the automatic adjustment of pneumatic  and aspiration systems by inverter to optimize consumption.

Ocrim has equipped the lines with the new MGA system to condition the grain, a real technological revolution that allows to detect wheat proteins, thus enabling to automatically manage possible wheat mixes depending on their protein content. The three lines are also equipped with a control system based on AB technology and PlantPAx architecture and with the @mill system characterized by a sophisticated level of sensors to ensure high efficiency, preventive maintenance and minimized downtime. The automated flour ash control system was also installed, which allows the parameters of the finished product to be corrected online through a loop regulation managed by NIR. “A successful work has done Ocrim team for completing construction. Thanks to ADM Milling for choosing our quality and trusting us. Proud of this project, we are ready for the next challenge “stated Ocrim CEO, Alberto Antolini.