BEECH GROVE, IND. — ADM Milling, a wholly owned subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland Co., on July 9 celebrated the completion of a substantial expansion at its wheat processing plant in Beech Grove, a suburb of Indianapolis.

“Our customers continue to grow, and it is our job to support them in that growth,” said Mark Kolkhorst, president of ADM Milling. “This new capacity will allow us to expand without sacrificing the service and quality that our customers throughout the region have come to expect.”

With the expansion, the Beech Grove wheat milling facility is now the third largest in the nation with capacity of 28,000 cwts per day, up 45% from previous capacity of 19,400 cwts. The nation’s largest mills are the North Dakota Mill & Elevator Association facility in Grand Forks, N.D., (33,000 cwts) and Kraft Foods’ Toledo, Ohio, mill (31,000 cwts), according to the Grain & Milling Annual 2013 published by Sosland Publishing Co.

With eight new fast load-out bins, total flour load-out capacity has been increased by nearly 100%, ADM said, and the addition also includes more than 31,000 cwts of new flour storage.

Products at Beech Grove include spring, winter and hard soft wheat flour blends, providing a range of options for customers. The facility serves customers primarily in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

The Beech Grove mill was built in the late 1980s but has roots dating back nearly 200 years, or when a grist mill was built on Washington Street in Indianapolis in 1821. While rebuilt, renamed and sold multiple times, the business remained on Washington Street until the property was bought by the city in 1988. That same year, ADM Milling acquired the mill and construction began on a new mill in Beech Grove, an Indianapolis suburb.

The mill originally was built with daily capacity of 15,000 cwts, but small projects over the years raised Beech Grove capacity to its pre-expansion size of 19,400 cwts. The capacity upgrade is the first significant expansion since the mill was built.