The Indian economy is heavily reliant on agriculture sector, courtesy of its vast landscape and fertile land. Rice is one of the major crops that are cultivated on a large scale in the country. India holds distinction for being the second largest producer of rice in the world after China and the fourth largest exporter. Rice stands out as the third most cultivated crop over the planet after corn and wheat respectively. The figures speak for themselves and for the same reason rice mill is one of the most lucrative business ventures in the Indian subcontinent, as well as the whole world.
Technological developments have come a long way in the evolution of rice mill machinery. Today, there are different kinds of mill machinery available serving different yet specific purposes. Machines accomplish the task that they are programmed for, but there is more to these mills than just machines. It takes a rigorous and comprehensive planning to take care of the logistics involved in the process of setting up an efficient mill.
Let’s take a look at the process of setting up such a mill:
Acquiring a suitable land space:
First things first, an easily accessible and well-connected land space is needed. The land in contention should be easy to reach with various transportation modes. Proximity to marketplace and the raw materials (crop fields) is an added advantage, since it helps in cutting down the transportation charges.
Finalizing orientation and placement of machinery:
A good orientation would provide distinctiveness to different sections of the mill, still enabling it to function in tandem as a whole. The layout should be designed well enough to facilitate the inbound operations included in the process of rice milling. Special emphasis on the required number of units and inventory in a particular section would help in coping up with the workload at crucial times. Different sections of the rice mill should be connected with good quality roads to ease transportation.
Ensuring adequate water and electricity supply:
Quintessential supplies like water and electricity are a must for setting up any factory, let alone rice mills. All the machines run on electricity and water helps in regulating the production of rice at various stages throughout the process.Hence, incessant supply of both the supplies should be ensured beforehand.
Storage planning:
Where there is production, there is storage. The end product needs to be stored in a suitable place that ensures its quality and longevity. An ideal storage remains unaffected by external factors like precipitation, moisture, temperature and pressure.
Utilization of by-products and wastage removal:
By-products improve the profits and hence come to aid the efficiency of the whole process. As far as rice mills are concerned, husk and certain kinds of oils are the by-products obtained along with the end product. Post yield, whatever remains other than by-products is waste and should be completely removed to ease operations of the rice mill.
Quality check and control:
Rice as a food, is prone to pests if left unattended at any stage of production. Unwanted adulteration can creep in at various stages of rice milling and can lower the quality of the end product. Hence, a periodic quality check is indispensable to any rice milling setup. All the precautionary measures should be practiced to ensure good quality control.
