FEATURE
Store grain adequately or lose profit
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tore grain adequately or lose profit. But without engineering experience and expertise, silos are only bent sheet. Engineering is the key when transforming grain terminals into perpetual motion microcosms. According to official estimates, about one third of the grain produced for food purposes is lost during postharvest processes such as storing, drying, cleaning or milling. This corresponds to approximately 1.3 billion tons with a value of 1 trillion US dollars per year, as Deepak Kumar and Prasanta Kalita summarized in their report in the „Foods“ magazine 6 (1) 2017. Inappropriate storage contributes considerable to these losses. In addition, not only grain is lost, but also return on investment diminishes when the scope of investment is short-sighted planned and engineered, neglecting subsequent costs of a plant. “The scope is the project engineering and not the single components”, says Luca Celeghini, CEO of PETKUS Engineering GmbH. “It includes evaluation of the soil conditions and the possible load capacity and thus, issues with regard to foundation; it also includes seismic area evaluation and calculation as well as layout and design optimization. Proper understanding of customer needs leads to choosing the appropriate components and technologies which best fits their requirements.” Therefore, the PETKUS Group has a silo solution claim. “This claim in combination with elaborate customer approaches turn simple technology into charming offers”, says Celeghini. Is a grain terminal more than silos, conveyors and cleaners? Indeed, it is a network of know-how, precision engineering, customized design and high quality technology.
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