KENYA – Bühler, a renowned Swiss technology group, has lauded its close collaboration with Pembe Flour Mills, one of the largest foods and feed producers in Kenya in its recently released customer success stories.
In an inspiring video on Buhler’s LinkedIn page, Abubakar Abdallah, Pembe’s Operations Manager said that the quality of the mill has improved since working with Buhler, reducing downtime by 70%, increasing yield capacity, and raising extraction levels by 3%.
As a leading provider of food processing technology, Buhler revealed that Pembe Flour Mill has celebrated their collaboration noting that having Buhler has taken their operations to a new level with more yields and less downtime.
We’re proud to be on Pembe’s side in their quest to increase efficiency and quality in their processes with our state-of-the-art technologies, through retrofitting existing equipment, and by installing our Manufacturing Execution System Mercury, said Bühler.
According to Abdallah, the introduction of the mercury system has brought convenience and mobility since he is now able to access the system anytime anywhere.
Pembe has also benefited from Sortex in ensuring the high-end quality of the final product.
Abdallah revealed that the technology has the capacity to detect discoloration in maize meal or wheat meals and also reduce aflatoxin levels.
Suad Salim Abubaker, Pembe Feeds Director revealed that prior to working with Buhler, the company was grappling with concurrent downtimes due lack of efficient technical support.
She lauded the relationship held between Pembe and Buhler noting that it has bored increased efficiency and productivity.
“Buhler is always working with Pembe hand-in-hand.”
In addition, she noted that the company had challenges in procuring spare parts which Buhler has come through for them.
On his part, Salim Abubaker, Director of Pembe Mills said that Buhler has enabled them to have what he termed as the largest maize mill plant in Kenya, with a production capacity of 430 by 5 metric tons (MT).
“With Buhler, we at Pembe feel at home because of their service and their customer care.”
He added that after Buhler’s retrofit, the company’s profitability has gone up significantly.
Acknowledging challenges faced by millers, Solomon Mwangi, Buhler’s Sales Director of Kenya and Somalia said that raw material and energy consumption are the major setbacks in the milling industry in East Africa.
Mwangi noted that with the latest retrofit, Buhler makes sure that the cost of processing is kept as low as possible.
With this, according to Mwangi, the low cost will be pushed forth to customers to have affordable products in the market.
Buhler added that during automation, they provide Buhler insights, which allows the customer to monitor their yield in regard to production and allows operators to check the conditions of rolls in regard to the temperatures and the vibrations monitoring of the rolls.
Buhler insights also give the customer a closer look in terms of the energy management system within their plants.