From seed to bag. Students of the Minsk gymnasium saw how the milling production is arranged

Have you ever, kneading dough for pancakes or making pasta, thought about how to make flour? And pasta? We looked at the transformation of grain together with ninth-graders of the Minsk Gymnasium No. 7 named after V. I. Liventsev, having visited the career guidance event “Day with the Enterprise” at the Minsk Bread Products Combine.

Soon, this grain will turn into flour. Why does the mill have a railroad? Minsk bakery complex is located in the heart of the metropolis, near Victory Square. The company can rightly be called one of the oldest in the city, since it dates back to 1946. It was then that the construction of the mill began on the site of the former Zagotzerno base, and it released its first product on December 30, 1950.

In our view, the mill is an ancient wooden structure with huge rotating blades or a large wheel that turns the flow of water on the river. The mill is a seven-storey building made of red brick in the monumental industrial style characteristic of that time. The building is perfectly preserved and successfully performs the functions assigned to it, however, with the help of the latest equipment, Marina Karitskaya, a leading specialist in the organization of excursions and marketing of the sales department of the Minsk Bread Combine, introduces to the course of business:

- Six floors of the mill - from the second to the seventh - production. At the same time, the first elevator block was put into operation: a 30-meter tower equipped with noria lifts.

Next to her, like a twin brother, rises another block, erected a little later. The first is designed for 24 thousand tons of grain, the second - for 40 thousand tons. They provide reception, cleaning, drying, storage and release into production. Unfortunately, we could not see the process of unloading grain from vehicles: this happens only from mid-July to mid-September - in the midst of the harvesting campaign.

Competent logistics allows to supply raw materials continuously: grain from all regions of the country is supplied to the enterprise by land transport. The territory has its own railway line – it is used for fast and economical transportation of huge volumes of raw materials and finished products.

The intermediate product of grain grinding is a crumb of 20 movements from floor to floor Wearing protective capes and capes, we go to the mill, where wheat flour is produced. There is an unspoken rule in the room: until the door to the street is closed, the door to the inside does not open.

The production process is as automated as possible. Due to the action of pneumocompression, grain and finished flour travel through the pipes from stage to stage, because in the building there is a feeling that you are on the platform of the subway. Before turning into flour, the grain makes about 20 moves from floor to floor. So, the seventh grain undergoes “bath procedures” – it is washed and soaked for 8-10 hours, explains Marina Karitskaya:

- This is necessary in order to make the shell elastic, and the core – air.

On the noisiest - the sixth - floor there is a stone cleaning machine that rids grain of foreign impurities. At the same time, it emits such strong vibrations and rumbles that in order to say something to your neighbor and be heard, you need to shout directly into his ear. To preserve hearing, workers wear earplugs or overhead headphones during shifts. In the neighborhood there is a cyclone-unloader - a device that cleans the products of grinding with air currents.

Going down to the fifth floor, machines resembling dancing cabinets sort grinding products into fractions by particle size using sets of flat horizontal sieves. The next stage is a sieve machine, which sorts and enriches intermediate grain grinding products (crumbs). After that, we looked at the flowing grain pipelines, which look like a forest of pipes. At the base of each is a magnetic column that collects metal impurities. Then went down to the heart of the mill - grinding compartment. Here, prepared and purified grain is processed into a finished product: flour, cereals, bran.

The knockout department is the final stage responsible for the quality of the finished product, its storage and logistics. Flour is packed in bags of 25, 50 kilograms, there is also packed and a by-product of the production of flour (bran) in containers of 20 kilograms. The operator puts bags on the pipes of the devices, monitors their filling and sealing. Pasta, muffins and pancakes To the guys appreciate the finished products, they arranged a tasting for them. Schoolchildren with pleasure tested pasta, as well as pancakes and cupcakes made from flour semi-finished products. Many were interested in where to buy these mixtures, because even a child can bake cupcakes with them - you just need to add water and vegetable oil.

While the guys are cleaning up the tasting table, Marina Karitskaya says that excursions at the plant appeared recently:

- The first groups took in August. An industrial tour is a great way to spend time usefully, learn how the production works. In the future, some of the kids may want to come to work with us.

We ask students about their plans: are they ready to consider such a prospect for themselves? Gymnasium student Elizaveta Anfimova dreams of developing in a related field:

- I'm interested in biotechnology. For example, deep processing of grain allows you to obtain high-tech products with high added value: amino acids, gluten, organic acids ... So the tour was interesting for me.

Lisa's classmate Vladimir Karjakin adds that he was most impressed by the mill's mechanism system:

- It was also a revelation to me how many products one worker makes in an eight-hour shift – 45 tons! Perhaps in the future I will consider the option of employment at the plant, but so far I do not think so far.

THE KN DIGITS

Minsk bakery provides about 20% of the flour milling and cereal market of the country, processes up to 1000 tons of wheat, rye and barley per day.

The career guidance action “Day with the enterprise” is held by the Committee on Labor, Employment and Social Protection of the Minsk City Executive Committee to increase the prestige of working professions among young people.

derzhanovich@sb.by