The first section, Aug. 1-5, was taught in Spanish by Ralph Linneman, milling expert from the Buhler Training Center in Uzwil, Switzerland. The second section, Aug. 8-12, was taught in English by Tobias Nanny, manager of the Buhler Training Center. Chris Miller, KSU instructor of milling, co-taught both courses.
According to Miller, the executive course blends basic training on the milling process with other topics helpful for milling executives who may not have a milling background.
“Participants gain a better understanding of the milling process and its steps — all the way from raw material and the impact of wheat characteristic on yield and mill performance to cleaning, product safety, quality control and finished product handling,” he said.
Miller says that one of the most valuable things that this course provides for mill management is a better understanding of the daily challenges of operative millers.
Gaining this understanding is one of the main reasons that Juan Gonzalez, operations manager for Moderna Alimentos S.A. of Ecuador attended the Spanish course.
“The information I received in this course is important to me. I know every technical process in our mills, but I didn’t know the specific details around the milling process. I chose to attend this course for that reason. I wanted to learn the milling process so I can talk with my millers in the same language,” he said.
USDA Soft Wheat Quality Lab Biological Scientist Technician Scott Beil chose to attend the English course for a similar reason. Beil said he enjoys managing many milling projects for the lab even when they prove to be challenging at times because he did not receive formal training as a miller.
Beil has been in his position for three and a half years. In that time, he has been actively pursuing a better grasp of the milling process.
“I took the correspondence course in wheat milling and have had three and a half years of milling and my own studies with reading up on wheat milling. I know a lot of information front to back in milling, but there were a bunch of gaps in between all of that information. Being here, I’ve started to fill in some of those gaps,” Beil said.
This is just an example of the partnership courses offered by IGP. In addition to flour milling and grain processing, IGP holds regular courses in grain marketing and risk management and feed manufacturing and grain management. For more information, visitwww.grains.ksu.edu/igp.
