Having spent far too many meals during university boiling a kettle, a tour of the Indomie noodle factory was almost a dream come true.
From flour form to packaged completion, the process took about 15 minutes, and there was barely a human in sight.
Long strips of floury paste were cut into fine noodles and crinkled into the signature Indomie shape, before going through a drier and being packaged.
The crinkle of the noodle was to increase the strength and help fit more into the small packet.
The little satchels of sauce were filled from massive silos above the factory, dropping down into each individual packet.
Indomie is the biggest instant noodle producer in the world with 17 factories in Indonesia and nine factories in other countries.
The Jakarta factory produces 42,000 packets an hour and a mindblowing 114 million packets a day, most of which is consumed domestically.
The factory uses predominantly an ASW wheat blend of high and low protein wheat.
Australian wheat is the preferred wheat used by Indomie, with its factories all around the world using predominantly Australian wheat.
In 2022, the volume of instant noodles consumed in Indonesia increased to approximately 14.26 billion servings.
Indomie is reportedly the most preferred instant noodle brand for Indonesians.
With 2600 employees across the globe, the company exports to more than 100 countries and is looking to increase its influence.
Indofood CBP noodle division manager Naiktua Sinabutar said its research division was hoping to send its Indomie product to countries in South America which haven't experienced noodles before.
Mr Sinabutar said the problem he approached in many Western countries was they preferred spaghetti over noodles.
Farmers were treated to an array of different Indomie flavours, some of which aren't stocked in Australia, including Rasa Rendang and Mie Aceh (Acehnese fried noodle with fried onion, also available in Malaysia).
Hyden farmer Tyron Utley said he didn't realise how big the Indomie noodle factory would be and how high their production level would be.
"It's insane to think they produce 42,000 packets an hour, per line - those sort of numbers are phenomenal to think how much they produce," Mr Utley said.
"Fifteen billion of that is consumed internally and only one billion is exported - that part is impressive, but it is also concerning about the plastic waste product."
