Food processing machines, step by step

The machines are in the order they work in the process. Ask us about any of them: we check feasibility and the import rules before we quote.

Paddy intake

Paddy arrives by truck or boat, is weighed and checked for moisture, then stored in bins or silos.

Weighbridge
A platform scale set into the ground. It weighs the loaded truck and then the empty one, so the mill knows exactly how much paddy came in.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Moisture meter
A handheld or bench instrument that reads how much water is in a paddy sample. The reading decides how long the paddy must dry and whether it can be stored safely.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Storage silo
A tall steel bin that holds paddy in bulk. It is filled from the top, emptied from the bottom, and aerated to keep the grain cool and dry.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Straw, dust, stones and bits of metal are removed so they don’t damage later machines or end up in the rice.

Pre-cleaner
Vibrating sieves and a draft of air that take out straw, dust, chaff and large stones before the paddy goes into the mill.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Destoner
A sloping, vibrating deck with air blown up through it. The grain floats down one way while the heavier stones climb the deck and leave at the top.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Magnetic separator
Magnets in the grain flow that catch nails, wire and other bits of iron before they can damage the rolls and stones of the machines that follow.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Paddy is soaked in water and then steamed. This hardens the grain, so fewer kernels break during milling.

Soaking tanks
Large tanks where clean paddy is soaked in water, often warm water, until the grain has taken up enough to be steamed.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Steamer
A vessel that passes steam through the soaked paddy. The starch sets, so the grain turns harder and breaks less when it is milled.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Steam boiler
A fired pressure vessel that makes the steam for parboiling, and often the heat for the dryer as well.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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The wet, steamed paddy is dried to a safe moisture level, often in stages with rest periods in between.

Grain dryer
A column or bin dryer that blows heated air through the steamed paddy and brings it down to a moisture that is safe for milling and storage.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Rubber rolls strip the husk from the grain, and a separator sends unhusked paddy back for another pass.

Rubber roll husker
Two rubber rolls turning at different speeds rub the husk off each grain without breaking it, and the husk is blown away.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Paddy separator
A tray or compartment separator that sorts husked brown rice from paddy that kept its husk, and sends that paddy back to the husker.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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The bran layer is removed to make white rice, then polishing gives the grain a clean, even surface.

Whitener
Abrasive stones or rollers that take the bran layer off brown rice, a little at a time, until the rice is as white as the buyer wants.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Polisher
A friction chamber, often with a fine water mist, that smooths the surface of white rice and gives it an even shine.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Broken grains are separated by size, and colour sorters reject discoloured grains and stray stones.

Length grader
A turning cylinder lined with small pockets that lift out broken grains, so whole and broken rice can be packed separately.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Colour sorter
Cameras look at every grain as it falls, and short puffs of air blow out the discoloured, chalky and foreign ones.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Finished rice is weighed into bags of the sizes your buyers want, then sealed and labelled.

Weighing and bagging machine
Weighs out each bag to the set weight and fills it, so every sack that leaves the mill holds what its label says.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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Bag sealer
Sews or heat-seals the filled bag shut, usually on a conveyor right after the bagging machine.
Availability subject to feasibility check
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