Oat Mill Finland
When Oat Mill Finland decided to start catering to the rapidly growing global oat market with their high-end products, they set their sights on an existing grain silo in the port town of Rauma. Standing at an impressive 86-meters-tall, the towering structure became the focal point for a dedicated team of experts determined to do the unthinkable: transform this concrete block into the most modern oat mill in Finland. A bold endeavor that came with its share of challenges.
Lukas Hofstetter, June 2025
Jarkko Tuomola, CEO of Oat Mill Finland (OMF) stands on top of the impressively tall silo in the port of Rauma. The last rays of the quickly disappearing mid-afternoon sun make his smile even more contagious. It’s December 2024 on the southwestern coast of Finland, and winter is tightening its grip on the country with a bone-chilling breeze from the Baltic Sea. The weather, however, has never deterred the Finns from constructing infrastructure and developing a trade system that has given the country the 13th highest income per capita in the world.
Tuomola took the 3-hour trip from the company’s headquarters in Helsinki to check in with his colleagues running its flagship mill in Rauma. “What our team constructed here is much more than just an oat mill – it’s the most modern oat processing plant in Finland. The fact that they built it into an existing silo and overcame so many challenges makes it even more special,” he says. Tuomola is joined by Risto Salmi, who has recently retired from OMF. He is visiting the team and providing his expertise on running the mill one last the time. “I joined OMF in October 2024 after Risto had retired and did not have the chance to thank him personally for his dedication and hard work, especially on this project. I’m glad I have now had the chance to express my gratitude and learn from Risto’s experience in the industry,” says Tuomola.
Back in 2020, when OMF, a subsidiary of Suomen Viljava, Finland’s largest oats processor, decided to add oat flakes for the international market to their portfolio, Risto Salmi immediately joined the effort. “Our idea was to turn the grain silo into an oat processing facility to be able to ship high quality oat flakes from Finland to the world,” he says.
The challenge was obvious. Converting an unusually tall, floorless structure into a functioning mill required out-of-the-box thinking. Salmi and his team of five consulted three companies for advice and support. It didn’t take long for them to choose Bühler. “We knew from previous projects that Bühler always delivers. This time, we appreciated the fact that their experts shared our curiosity and willingness to turn this challenge into reality in the tight time frame we were given,” he explains.
The planning and execution phase started at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Regardless of the circumstances, the target schedule for having the mill production-ready was set for no later than summer 2023. This tight timeline meant that all preparations, installations, and testing were completed on schedule to ensure the start of operations by the deadline.
For Severin Heeb, Process Engineer at Bühler, the oat mill at OMF was the most significant project he had led in his career since joining Bühler at age 16 as an apprentice. “The circumstances left us with very little room to maneuver and we couldn’t just rely on basic engineering. We had to investigate every detail to make the most of the design. First, we arrived on site and proposed a 3D scan of the building, which gave us the possibility to play around with the layout and come up with the best possible engineering with the most benefits for OMF,” says Heeb.
Working closely with the OMF team, Heeb and his colleagues decided to use the silo’s height to their advantage rather than force a standard greenfield mill design into an existing structure. “One major decision was to transport the product using bucket elevators instead of pneumatic conveying systems until after the kiln. This single transport element, spanning an unusually long distance, enabled us to create a more efficient setup than using three smaller transport lines. Mechanical conveying uses up to 80 percent less energy than pneumatic conveying, which is normally used in a standard-size mill,” explains Heeb.
With our incredible team, the most modern oat mill in Finland, and the fantastic support we get from Bühler, I’m very confident that we will continue our path of growth and expansion.
Jarkko Tuomola,
CEO of Oat Mill Finland
The kiln is the heart of any oat mill. Kilning inactivates enzymes in the kernels, providing a unique taste and flavor and extending shelf life. This is achieved by adding precisely the amount of steam needed to increase the moisture content to about 17 percent and the temperature to over 98° C. This is a “make or break” process step ensuring the quality of the final product. Since the high quality of Finnish oats is a competitive advantage given the tight margins of the global oat market, the OMF team was determined to secure the best and most reliable processing solution.
Janne Mutka, Head Miller at OMF, was part of the team from day one. He oversees the quality and quantity of oats leaving the port of Rauma. “We talked to two of Bühler’s competitors to evaluate all the available options. After careful consideration, we concluded that only Bühler could deliver a kiln meeting our size and quality requirements,” he explains.
Standing at 31 meters – the length of a fully grown blue whale – the raw oat kiln is one of the tallest in the world. It boasts an impressive kilning capacity of 8 tonnes per hour, or 192 tonnes per day, and is designed for continuous production.
Janne Mutka enjoyed the steep learning curve the team experienced together. “Building this new mill was like going back to the milling school – you learn something new every day. We have very good raw material in Finland, and we like to keep it like that. This is why we kiln the raw oats. If you compare it to dehulled oats, there’s a big difference. The kilning of raw oats leads us to better yield, gives us brighter oats, and influences the flavor,” he says.
Our idea was to turn the grain silo into an oat processing facility to be able to ship high-quality oat flakes from Finland to the world.
Risto Salmi,
Retired technology expert at Oat Mill Finland
We have very good raw material in Finland, and we like to keep it like that. The kilning of raw oats leads us to better yield, gives us brighter oats, and influences the flavor.
Janne Mutka,
Head Miller at Oat Mill Finland
Beyond the aesthetics and taste, oats are rich in dietary fiber, antioxidants, and high in protein. No additives are used in processing oats. The towering kiln, which resembles a gigantic organ in a cathedral, both in appearance and in the way it sets the tone and pace for production. Meanwhile, state-of-the-art processing equipment keeps operations running smoothly 24/7.
“Two SORTEX optical sorters on the dehulling floor guarantee highest efficiency and yield. We used the building height to our advantage and designed the process so that the entire dehulling and sorting process requires only one product re-lift instead of the usual two to three needed for hull separation and optical sorting of oats and groats,” explains Heeb.
The same principle applied to the cutting and flaking process. By placing the cutting line, including intermediate silos, above the flaking line – rather than beside it, as is usually done – the steel-cut oat groats do not require mechanical or pneumatic conveying to the flaking line. After months of navigating supply chain disruptions and other challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the project had finally reached the installation phase. One challenge was that the price for steel beams had more than tripled from EUR 0.90 per kilogram to EUR 2.80 per kilogram, forcing the team to plan orders individually, rather than place one complete order.
Heeb spent 3 months in the summer of 2023 working alongside the OMF team to prepare the mill for full-scale production. “Seeing the oat fields and experiencing the Finns’ deep connection to nature – especially during Midsummer, when the long daylight hours bring a unique energy to the countryside – helped me understand why this project was so important to them,” Heeb says. By July 2023, the mill was fully operational, with a daily processing capacity of 140 tonnes of kilned and dehulled whole groats or flakes.
OMF transports the product using bucket elevators instead of pneumatic conveying systems until after the kiln. Mechanical conveying uses up to 80 percent less energy.
Severin Heeb,
Process Engineer at Bühler
Located just steps from the cargo docks, the mill is designed for continuous operation, as any disruption would have severe implications on the supply chains. This is why the team opted for Bühler’s latest automation system. “The mill has a night mode, allowing it to operate cleaning, kilning, and dehulling processes without a night-shift operator. If an issue arises, an on-call employee receives a text or email notification. I don’t have to worry about anything, and I can trust it 100 percent. When I’m working in the mill during the day, other tools such as YMS (Yield Management Service) greatly enhance our ability to increase yield. One of my favorite tools is Bühler Insights Replay, which allows us to look back at our processing data to make the right adjustments for running the mill even more efficiently,” explains Mutka as he checks production specifics on his tablet.
With the mill running like clockwork and the next cargo ship ready to be loaded with Finland’s premium quality oat destined for the international market, Tuomola bids farewell to the OMF and Bühler team that made this incredible transformation possible. “What they accomplished here is the result of dedicated people willing to go the extra mile. They stood together through technical challenges and the uncertainties of the height of the pandemic,” he says. “Today, we are growing rapidly and our customers are very happy with the consistent high-quality oats we deliver. With our incredible team, the most modern oat mill in Finland, and the fantastic support we get from Bühler whenever we need it, I’m very confident that together we will continue our path of growth and expansion.”
Who: Oat Mill Finland
Where: Rauma, Finland
When: The parent company Suomen Viljava was founded in 1918. OMF was established in 2021, and the mill started production in 2023.
What: Oat Mill Finland produces a variety of oat groats, oat flakes, and steel-cut oats as well as oat husk pellets as a side product from its Rauma mill.
Customers: The company supplies customers globally with various oat products.
Bühler: Suomen Viljava operates 19 silo facilities which include Bühler’s technology for loading and unloading, transporting, cleaning, and sorting as well as one oat mill which is fully equipped with Bühler oat processing technology.
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