On December 7, 1903, Orville and Wilber Wright accomplished the first successful, powered, piloted flight in history. This feat was accomplished after years of study, trial and error and, for this specific feat, several weeks of preparation.
Sometime in the fourth quarter of 2015, a modular Unifine Milling system will produce commercial quantities of Unifine milled flour for the first time. First year production is anticipated to be well over ten million pounds of flour. I’m certain that most who read this in 2015 will be amused at my comparing the Wright brother’s first flight with the inaugural launch of the first modular Unifine Milling system. Their amusement will be solidified when they absorb my observation that the significance of the Wright brother’s feat was not appreciated at the time either. I’m obviously suggesting that the significance of this event will become clear as time rolls by.
Consider that currently the world’s consumers generally prefer products made from refined (sifted) flour that eliminates the larger flour particles. In fact, according to sources quoted by the Whole Grain Council in early 2015, well over 90% of commercially milled flour in the U.S. is refined flour. Unfortunately, refined flour is currently produced on roller mills designed over 150 years ago with the specific intent to eliminate all the nutritional and flavorful bran and germ elements. In the not too distant future, the world’s refined flour production will be instead produced on Unifine milling systems designed to produce a finer whole grain flour in one pass. Then, to improve functionality, only modest amounts of the volume will be sifted out and most of the bran and germ elements will be retained.
So, you ask, what date did the first modular Unifine milling system produce commercial quantities of flour? Stay tuned.
