Cornflake Production - Assignment Example

The main production raw material for production of cornflakes is definitely maize crop (hybrid yellow and white corns) that is widely available in most countries. Most maize producing countries currently produce nearly 7,700metric tons of maize.  Sugar is also another raw material that is used in production of corn flakes together with other ingredients such as cocoa powder and food flavors, all of which are extensively available. Machinery and Equipment such as Storage (Silo), Extruder Cooker, Mixer, Coating Machine, Packaging Machine, Storage Bin, and Laboratory Equipment are also needed as relevant materials in cornflakes production.

Land as a means production is also required. The production plant can be sited on an approximated land space of close to 1 Plot including space assigned to office buildings and facilities. According to (Gupta & Engineers India Research Institute, 2003), the appropriate site for the envisaged production plant should be nearer to major corn growing regions or urban Market. For a bigger production capacity of this sort, the choice of production shall require an entirely automated system in all steps-in the production, packaging and boxing (Klemeš, Smith & Kim, 2008).

As such, for the capacity of production visualized by the production plant under study, such a choice of technology is feasible. Below are the steps involved: In this process the corn kernels are removed from the cobs and are turned into flaking sized ‘grits’. Here, malted barley may be added to improve the flavor of the Cornflakes. In the cylinder below, the corn grits are cooked inside steam pressure cookers (temperatures exceeding 100C). Energy used here is about 13.5 kJ/kg. This cooking process goes for an hour and it softens the hard grits.

Throughout cooking additional water is added in form of steam that condenses raising the water content