Don Sullins, ADM’s vice president, product development, quality assurance and regulatory affairs, led baking industry representatives through a tour of the new facility.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) opened a new Milling Technical Center within its headquarters in Overland Park, Kan. this month. The company aims to use the facility to better collaborate with bakery customers on research, product development and technical issues.

“Our customers' time and resources have never been stretched thinner, and many bakeries have limited research and development resources,” said Mark Kolkhorst, president, ADM Milling, at the opening ceremony. “This facility was a way for us to modernize and invest in the technology needed to step in and help our customers stay on the forefront of research and product development.”

ADM's bakery experts at the technical center will assist customers in developing new products, enhancing existing products and identifying market trends. The full line of ADM ingredients, including flours, mixes, glutens, starches and proteins is available for customer research, as well as hundreds of other ingredients used in baking practices.

The facility features a flow-through design that moves research through three primary stations. The first station tempers, mills and records flour data, the second station analyzes the milled flours, and a final station tests baking applications.