FDBusiness.com

At the beginning of 2018, Mühlenchemie launched a new logo and a new claim: ‘Understanding Flour’ underlines the company’s status as the global market leader in flour standardization, flour improvement and flour fortification.

“We help to make mills less vulnerable to constantly changing climatic, economic and market-related conditions. Thanks to our profound understanding of enzymes, their effects and interactions, we are able to find a tailor-made response to every regional challenge our customers face,” says Lennart Kutschinski, Mühlenchemie’s managing director. “That is only possible because of our worldwide presence, with affiliates of our own on the spot, and the short routes that enable us to maintain personal relations with the local millers.”

An early evaluation of the quality of the harvest in the countries of origin and a direct assessment of availability and market conditions provide Mühlenchemie’s experts with important information for developing individual formulations to meet customers’ needs. And Lutz Popper, Head of Research & Development, adds: “We put our faith in tailor-made solutions.”

Every year, the company standardizes and processes over 100 million tonnes of wheat. It exports its products to more than 120 countries and maintains close relations with over 2,000 mills around the globe. Teams of experts in Mexico, Singapore, India, China, Russia and Turkey advise and support the mills on the spot and offer solutions for achieving optimum flour quality. Last year, in Nigeria, Mühlenchemie opened its first Stern-Technology Center in the African continent. Further locations are planned for this year.

The strategy for the milling industry provides for a vigorous exchange of information between the local units and the group’s central Stern-Technology Center in Ahrensburg, near Hamburg, where 100 research scientists, technicians and applications technologists work together in laboratories covering an area of 3,000 m². In the trial bakery mills, bread factories and manufacturers of baked goods and pasta can simulate processes and test the effects of enzymes and interactions with other active ingredients. The company is in a position to simulate all the stages of production, from the cereal grain to the baked item, with the aid of the latest technology. The results can be implemented under real operating conditions within a short time and applied to the target regions.

For example, mills can have their wheat lots tested for their baking properties on a pilot mill in Ahrensburg while the new crop is still being shipped. “That helps to save time, because any need for optimization can be detected before the grain is processed,” says Lennart Kutschinski. “It means we start our consultancy work much sooner and help with the production of reliable baking flours at a very early stage.”

Wheat lots intended for pasta production can be ground in the milling laboratory, too, and then tested on a pilot plant for pasta. With the aid of its special enzyme systems, Mühlenchemie is able to optimize even soft wheat flours in such a way that they have good pasta-making properties.

The high-level customer seminars held in the training department of the trial bakery or the lecture rooms of the FlourWorld Museum enjoy an international reputation, too. ‘Understanding Flour’ is Mühlenchemie’s promise to the milling industry worldwide that flours can be optimized and tailor-made to meet customers’ needs.