Grain Elevator: Intake and Blend

An elevator lives by two clocks: how long a truck stands on the scales, and how long a train waits for its consist.

Intake. A truck passes the weighbridge: mass, moisture, dockage. Moisture decides everything — wet grain does not go into the shared silo, it heats up and the batch is written off. Drying saves it but costs fuel and a place in the queue: while one truck dries, three are waiting.

Blend. A batch grade is the average across the silo, not across your hopes. Strong grain pulls weak grain up, and it is the only way to make second grade out of what arrived. Blending has a plain price: strong grain is spent on weak, and a week later there is nothing left to ship.

Capacity. Silos run out before trucks do. An overflowing silo is a queue on the scales and trucks turning around, and each turned truck is lost intake tomorrow.

Shipment. A train comes in a window: accepted the consist and you shipped; missed it and the grain lies for another day and pays storage.

The score. Tonnes of grade two and above, self-heating write-offs, truck idle time. The shift review per batch: here drying helped, and here it was the blend.