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Serendib Flour Mills Chief Technical Officer Mark Healing
Milling flour is a unique skill that is both a science and an art; although it involves a highly automated process, people are still very much at the heart of it. Supported by a team of 89 staff members, Serendib Flour Mills Chief Technical Officer Mark Healing oversees one of the largest milling operations in Sri Lanka and the region. He considers his work more of a passion than a profession, and the seamless production process he runs has helped make Serendib’s ‘Seven Star’ range of flour, a household brand that is synonymous with quality.
A leader with a wealth of experience
Mark Healing is a fifth generation miller whose family owned one of the largest independent flour and animal feed mills in the UK. He gained considerable experience at his family’s mill and later worked as a Mill Site Director for Allied Mills, a world-renowned group. He has also held senior posts at mills in St. Petersburg, Russia, and joined as the Manager of a new flour mill in Sharjah, UAE in 1995. In 2001, he joined National Flour Mills in Dubai as the Plant Manager and held his post for 13 years. He was also fully involved in all the technical aspects of the launch of Serendib Flour Mills.
Passionate, committed and enthusiastic, Healing runs the mill like the head of a family, reaching out to his staff with respect and kindness, and giving them the support they need to excel in their demanding roles. He has a wealth of international exposure and has worked in many countries and has over 40 years of valuable experience. Yet his love for Sri Lanka and its people has kept him firmly rooted at the helm of the Serendib Flour Mills’ facility where he is currently in charge of all technical operations.
Setting up the mill from the ground up
Healing was part of the team from Dubai who came to Sri Lanka to set up Serendib Flour Mills in 2002. When Healing arrived in Sri Lanka, the company’s mill hadn’t been built and there were no professional millers in Sri Lanka. Without a ready pool of millers at hand, Healing did the next best thing he could and recruited potential millers from the University of Peradeniya and Sri Jayawardenapura and sent them to Dubai and India to receive extensive practical and theoretical training over the course of three years. The qualified millers returned to Sri Lanka equipped with the knowledge and skills required to run a state-of-the-art milling operation.
Commenting on why millers are so important to the operation he stated, “We have a wonderful group of people working here and had to invest in training our millers, because they are the key people in our operation. It is the millers who understand the wheat, they know the process and technicalities inside out, and they have the ability to analyse and test the final product. Although the mill is fully automated, millers play a very crucial role as they make all of the important decisions and evaluations.”
After five years of training staff and setting up the mill, it now stands 12 floors tall at Colombo Port, overlooking the vast Indian Ocean. The Serendib Flour Mills facility has large storage capacity for tonnes of wheat and each day, ships from all corners of the globe dock at the mill, bringing with them wheat from around the world, which through a complex process, is transformed into high quality flour.
The journey from wheat to world-class flour
Wheat from Canada, Australia and the USA arrives at the mill and is then pre-cleaned as it is removed from the ship and put in storage. The mill has 18 silos, which have the capacity to hold many tonnes of wheat. In order to prepare a batch of flour, 24 hours of preparation is required. Firstly, wheat varieties from the silos are blended to achieve consistency; the wheat then receives an initial cleaning to remove large stones, straw and impurities.
The wheat is then tempered and conditioned with water, this is a crucial step in the process as the water toughens the bran and prevents it from shattering when the milling begins and also mellows the grain. All wheat varieties are then brought to the same moisture level and are soaked for up to 24 hours. Then another cleaning is done to remove smaller impurities and the wheat is weighed on to the mill.
The milling process which commences next is more complicated than one might guess. Outlining it in more detail, Healing stated, “The tempering and condition that is done to prepare the wheat, helps us to gently break open the wheat grains on fluted roller mills to remove the flour in large particles. The mill is fully automated and each and every step of the process is managed in our control room. To start with, we try to remove the centre of the grain as cleanly as possible, it is a gradual reduction process of grinding and sieving to ensure every particle of flour is extracted.
“We then collect all the batches of flour and blend them together. The flour is then sent through a thorough sieving process and samples of each batch are tested in the mill laboratory. If the samples are approved, the flour is then stored in silos and is sent for packaging. It is then distributed both locally and all around the world. One tonne of wheat usually yields 75% of flour and the bran and wheat germ which are left over from the process are not thrown away but are used to produce animal feed.”
The technical complexity of it all
Although each part of the process appears to be fairly simple, the technical details of each step are extremely complex. The sieving process for instance takes place in large industrial sieves that vibrate loudly and rapidly, sifting the flour through 48 sifting plan sifters in order to ensure that the final product is made up of only the finest particles. The flour is blended once again in over 90 machines before being packaged. The scale, magnitude and technical complexity of the operation is much greater than one would imagine. The milling process is made up of a series of intricate steps, all of which serve to minimise wastage, maximise yield and produce flour that is of the highest quality.
Producing flour that can be trusted
Flour is an ingredient that is critical in the production of pasta, bread and a vast array of baked goods. It is used by consumers in homes around the world, in bakeries, restaurants and hotels and is always in high demand. Serendib Flour Mills’ ‘Seven Star’ range of flour is distributed throughout Sri Lanka and is renowned for its quality, purity and freshness, the company is also a reputed supplier of leading flour brands around the world. The mill has ISO 9001:2008, ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 22000:2005 certifications and adheres to stringent quality measures and practices in order to ensure that it is producing only the finest flour. Every single batch of flour undergoes extensive testing to ensure that it is of the highest quality and is suitable for distribution. Samples from each batch are analysed for their moisture, mineral, gluten and water absorption levels and the flour is released for packaging and distribution, only after all the necessary tests have been done. A baking test is also done before each batch of flour is packaged and distributed.
A miller at heart
As he walks the 12 floors of the mill, day in and day out, ensuring that all key processes are in order, Mark Healing instils a sense of confidence and reassurance in all of his staff. He has a 24 hour job that requires the utmost dedication and focus, with no room for a single mistake. He is constantly under pressure and even though an immense amount of responsibility rests on his shoulders, he is always the epitome of a courteous, calm and collected gentleman. He has watched the milling process evolve over the course of 40 years, and has seen it enter into a new era of modernity.
Now he combines, the experience he has gained in the past, with the technology and advancements of today, to stand at the helm of the mill and see it into the future. Mark Healing is a technical specialist, a leader, a hard worker, an avid traveller and photographer and above all, he truly is a miller at heart.
Serendib Flour Mills is one of the leading flour mills in Sri Lanka and is a subsidiary of Al Ghurair Foods (AGF), Dubai The company’s ‘Seven Star’ brand of flour has been ‘nourishing the nation’ for seven years and embodies purity, innovation, quality, freshness, expertise, service and trust. Serendib Flour Mills is committed to becoming the number one producer of wheat flour in Sri Lanka and the preferred flour supplier in international markets.
