Case studies / Agro-Processing and Milling
Case studyBuying grain by grade for an East African miller
A three-country maize and wheat miller moved from buying on price alone to buying by grade, linking intake quality to milling yield and cost, and improved its margin.
Overview
A privately owned maize and wheat milling group with mills in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, producing flour and animal feed for wholesalers, bakeries and supermarkets.
Scale. Three mills taking grain from several thousand smallholder farmers, cooperatives, traders and importers, with intake peaking sharply after each harvest, delivered as a phased, multi-location programme.
The challenge
Buying was based on price alone. Procurement teams at each mill bought from whoever offered the lowest price per tonne, then discovered at the mill what they had actually bought. A cheap lot with high moisture, broken kernels or foreign matter produced less flour, more by-product and extra cleaning, so the real cost per tonne of flour could be well above the price paid.
Each mill graded grain in its own way, if at all. One measured moisture on every truck; another sampled a few bags a day. Grades were recorded on paper slips that rarely reached finance, so nobody could connect what was bought with what came out of the mill.
Seasonal price volatility added pressure. After harvest, prices fell and the temptation was to buy heavily; months later, prices rose and mills competed for scarce supply. Without reliable data on stock quality and yield, decisions on when and how much to store were largely instinct.
Yield varied between mills by several percentage points, and the board could not tell whether the cause was the grain, the equipment or the way the mills were run.
The solution
Every delivery is graded at intake, with laboratory readings captured directly rather than written down. The grade sets the price through a published schedule of premiums and deductions, so suppliers know in advance what better grain is worth, and drivers receive a printed grade slip that explains the price.
Grain lots are tracked through storage into milling. Each milling run records its inputs and outputs, so yield can be measured by grade, supplier and mill. Finance sees the true cost per tonne of flour for each source of grain, not just the purchase price.
Buyers plan seasonal purchases with this information. They can see which suppliers deliver consistently good grain, how stored grain is holding up, and what yield to expect from different grades. Shared master data for suppliers, grades and products connects the three mills, and group reporting shows grade mix, yield and margin together.
The engagement
- Eight months
- Six specialists, with procurement, quality, milling and finance leads
- Process mapping, standard intake grading, grade-based pricing, yield tracking, seasonal buying and storage, shared master data, pilot and phased rollout.
Integrations
- Laboratory and quality systems
- Wholesale and distributor ordering feeds
- Warehouse and silo systems
- Group reporting
How we delivered it
- 01
Map the work with the people who do it
Six weeks
We spent time at the intake bays, in the laboratories and on the milling floors of all three mills, and with buyers in the field. With the managing director we agreed the scope: intake grading, grade-based pricing, yield tracking and seasonal buying.
- 02
Design common processes and integrations
Eleven weeks
Quality and procurement agreed one grading standard, covering moisture, broken kernels, foreign matter and protein for wheat, applied to every delivery. Laboratory results were connected to intake records, and each milling run was recorded with the grain lots it consumed and the products it produced.
- 03
Pilot in one mill
Seven weeks
The Kenyan mill piloted the processes. The pilot found that moisture meters gave different readings and that some intake staff rounded results. Meters were calibrated, readings captured directly, and staff trained on why grade mattered.
- 04
Roll out in waves and track results
Eleven weeks
Uganda and Tanzania followed. Leadership reviewed grade mix, yield and margin by mill and supplier monthly.
Results
- Better grade mix improved margin
- Higher flour extraction across the mills
- Suppliers paid transparently by grade
- Teams worked from the same data across three countries
A better grade mix improved margin. Buying slightly more expensive but cleaner, drier grain raised flour extraction and reduced cleaning losses, which more than covered the higher purchase price. Gross margin improved over the first full season.
Suppliers responded to the clear price schedule. Several cooperatives invested in drying and cleaning once they could see the premium it earned, which improved the grain arriving at all three mills.
Teams in all three countries now work from the same data, and the yield gap between mills has narrowed as operators compare runs on like-for-like grain. Leadership reviews results monthly.
We used to celebrate buying cheap. Now we know what each tonne actually gives us in flour, and we buy on that.
What made the difference
The processor linked grade, yield and cost and improved purchasing. Involving the people who do the work early made adoption easier: intake staff understood why accurate grading mattered and stopped rounding results.
