Skip to content

SmartMills™ 3.0 MES: Reinventing mill efficiency

SmartMills™ 3.0 MES: Reinventing mill efficiency

Today’s milling operations still rely on paper logs, spreadsheets, or a patchwork of disconnected software tools. As a result, valuable production data becomes scattered and production insights get lost, making it difficult to maintain traceability or uncover inefficiencies.

SmartMills™ by Kice Industries solves this problem by bringing everything together into a single, centralized, web-based platform. It empowers grain millers to track, monitor, and control production with ease while unlocking deeper insights and greater operational efficiency.

Digital mill management at its finest

SmartMills™ is a comprehensive manufacturing execution system (MES) that unifies real-time production data, automated process control, and system-wide visibility to enhance decision-making. From intake to packaging, whether you’re running a single facility or managing multiple sites, SmartMills™ gives you complete control and visibility through your web browser.

The setup is efficient and streamlined. Operators access real-time data and control tools through our secure web app — all hosted on a local server. This server communicates directly with the PLCs, pushing jobs and receiving live production data. No need for multiple programs or cloud dependencies. Just a clean, reliable connection between your team and your plant operations.

Grain milling technology on the cutting edge

SmartMills™ delivers powerful advantages that keep grain milling facilities competitive in a rapidly evolving industry.

All-in-one platform

All key operational functions are centralized in one user-friendly platform, eliminating the need to juggle multiple programs or manage scattered data silos.

Real-time insights

Actionable insights empower faster and smarter decision-making to optimize plant performance. Dashboards are fully responsive, working seamlessly on phones and tablets — perfect for teams on the move.

Secure access and data ownership

Role-based authentication and on-premise server hosting give you complete control over your data, ensuring security, privacy, and operational independence.

Improved productivity

Streamlined job scheduling and automated reporting reduce manual workload, freeing up valuable time for higher-impact tasks.

Operational efficiency

SmartMills™ connects plant floor systems with business operations to eliminate data gaps and optimize workflows.

SmartMills™ modules

Designed to work together or independently, SmartMills™ modules offer a comprehensive suite of digital tools tailored for grain milling production. From real-time tracking and inventory management to automated job scheduling and quality control, each module streamlines critical operations. Whether you need to monitor production status, manage maintenance schedules, or generate detailed reports, SmartMills™ provides the flexibility to optimize your workflow and improve overall plant efficiency.

Customizable dashboards

Users can customize their own dashboards to track data that’s most relevant to their roles. By combining real-time data with historical trends, teams can monitor KPIs and make more informed, data-driven decisions. Tag trending adds deeper, more interactive insights that can be exported, shared, and included in external reports.

Job and recipe management

SmartMills™ makes it easy to configure products, create recipes, and schedule milling jobs. Once you’ve configured key parameters such as sources and destinations, SmartMills™ automatically sends them to the PLCs for execution. As each job runs, SmartMills™ continuously captures production data for traceability, reporting, and process improvement.

Real-time production reporting

Production reports can be customized and scheduled for automatic delivery on a daily, weekly, or custom cadence. This module also supports integration with multiple historian systems, making it easy to pull in data from various systems. Tag alerts monitor historical points and notify operators via text or email when thresholds are met, helping teams respond quickly and maintain smooth operations.

Track and trace

SmartMills™ uses data to map out the full path of a product through the mill, from receiving to loadout. Even when a product undergoes numerous transitions, SmartMills™ knows where it’s been and where it’s going. The track-and-trace module is especially valuable for food safety because it provides accurate traceability in the event of a recall.

Alarm Analytics

What’s driving your downtime? SmartMills™ leverages your existing alarm data to analyze trends and pinpoint root causes. Our Alarm Analytics module quickly identifies and resolves obstacles that hinder plant efficiency, helping you minimize downtime and keep operations running smoothly. From top-10 daily alarms to weekly summaries, SmartMills™ provides the insights you need to pinpoint issues and optimize your operation.

Predictive maintenance technology (PMT)

The PMT module acts as a centralized hub for all your equipment documentation, specifications, locations, and more. But that’s just the beginning. By leveraging runtime data, start counts, and sensor inputs, it generates proactive work orders that help your maintenance team stay ahead of potential equipment failures and avoid unplanned downtime.

Lab information management system (LIMS)

The LIMS module offers a centralized database for storing, managing, and accessing lab results. Beyond generating customer-specific recipe specifications, it helps ensure consistent product quality by automatically producing certificates of analysis (COAs) for all outgoing batches.

Make your mill smarter

Kice Automation provides grain processors with cutting-edge automation solutions to excel in today’s increasingly digital and competitive landscape. Our SmartMills™ software is engineered to enhance your mill’s productivity by improving operational efficiency, minimizing downtime, and enabling informed, data-driven decisions.

Ready to get started? Let’s do this!

Contact us