Metalwork for a Food Plant: Why It Needs Its Own Brief

An engineer who has spent two years on semiconductor equipment is asked to order stainless steel tables for a new dairy. Naturally, they start from the last specification they wrote. The finish requirement is copied from a cleanroom, and the packing instructions are ones that nobody in a dairy will follow. But nothing on the drawing says that the tables will be hosed down every night.

Another engineer has just fitted out a restaurant, and makes the opposite mistake. They send a simple sketch of a table, and only later find that the feet and the welds are where dirt and water collect. Both engineers are ordering stainless steel, but neither has described the job the table will actually do.

Why a food plant needs its own brief

In the first quarter of 2026, food manufacturing accounted for about RM 3.3 billion of Malaysia's approved investment. One of those projects is a dairy development at Jemaluang in Johor, reported at about RM 119 million, which the national investment authority describes as an automated dairy. We have no connection with that project. We mention these figures only because they show that many new food production lines are being built, and each one needs its metalwork specified.

When engineers are asked to specify metalwork for a new line, they often start from the last project they worked on. If that project was semiconductor equipment, the specification will pay close attention to surfaces that do not matter much in a food plant, and too little attention to water. If the last project was a shop or restaurant counter, the specification will pay too little attention to both. In both cases, the problem is that the brief describes the previous job instead of this one.

For an overview of our food and beverage work, see Food & Beverage Stainless Steel Fabrication. This article is about writing the brief for a food plant, so that it describes the right risks.

Which parts a workshop is usually asked to make

The parts that come to a fabrication workshop like ours sit around the food process, rather than being part of it. They are not the tanks or vessels that hold the product. They are work tables and benches that food passes across, guards over motors and drives, and frames that hold a conveyor at the right height. They are also the legs and feet that stand on a wet floor, even when the drawing shows a dry one.

In a food plant, the welds on these parts are inspected closely by the cleaning team every day. That is a stricter test than a visitor looking at the surface, because any rough weld or gap will hold dirt and water. The details of surface finish, including Ra values and the No. 4 brushed finish, are explained in Specifying a Hygienic Stainless Steel Finish: Ra Values, No. 4 and What Food & Beverage Work Really Needs. Read that article when you are choosing the surface finish. This one is about describing the room and the cleaning, which should come first.

Where a semiconductor specification adds cost

A semiconductor specification treats almost every visible surface as critical, because the smallest particle can damage a wafer. But it often says little about the floor, because a cleanroom floor is dry. In a food plant, the floor is where many problems start. Water runs across it and collects around the feet of tables, or under a weld that was smoothed on top and left rough underneath. A table that looked perfect in the workshop can start to hold dirt in places that nobody checked.

You should still check the first piece carefully. The difference is that the check should be based on how the part is cleaned, not on rules from another industry. Please name the person who will approve the first table, and ask them to inspect the underside and the feet as well as the top. Keep the useful habits from semiconductor work, such as saying which surfaces matter and who approves the part. Leave out the cleanroom requirements that do not apply.

The best test is the first wash. Put the trial table in the real room, clean it the way it will be cleaned every day, and look at the feet an hour later. If water is still sitting in a corner that the drawing showed as flat, mark that corner and send us a photograph. Please do not approve the rest of the tables just because the top looked right in the workshop.

A guard over a drive can fail in a different way. The cleaner has to be able to reach the fasteners with a cloth. A guard that is smooth on the outside but has sharp edges on the inside will be rejected by the person who cleans it. Please tell us which edges the cleaning team will need to touch, so we can finish them accordingly.

Where a restaurant specification leaves out the washing

A restaurant counter is wiped with a cloth. A table in a food processing room is hosed down, sometimes with a cleaning chemical, and it is expected to look the same a year later. A weld that is acceptable in a restaurant may hold dirt in a processing room if it has not been properly finished where the water collects.

The same is true of the stainless steel grade. A grade that works well in an air-conditioned shop may be the wrong choice for a room that is wet every day. How to choose between grades is explained in 304 vs 316 vs 316L Stainless Steel: How to Choose the Right Grade for Your Environment. Please choose the grade after you have described how the part will be cleaned, not before.

The easiest way to describe the room is in ordinary words. Say how often it is cleaned, and whether it is cleaned with water or with a chemical. Then say whether food touches the surface or only passes near it, and whether the feet stand in water. From that description, a fabricator can suggest a suitable finish and grade. A photograph of a restaurant kitchen does not give the fabricator that information.

If a cleaning chemical is used, please give its name, or send a photograph of the label. The words "cleaning chemical" are not enough to choose between two grades of stainless steel. If the chemical has not been chosen yet, please tell us, and order only a first piece until it has.

What to send with your enquiry

Please order one table, one guard or one frame first, and clean it in the real room before you approve the rest. Tell us that the first piece is a trial, so that we do not set up the job as a batch of 20 while you are still moving a drain. If the trial leads to a change in a foot or a weld, please send a marked-up drawing that shows what has changed. A new file on its own leaves us to find the difference, and we may miss it.

• The drawing or sketch: please show the feet and the underside, not only the top.
• The cleaning: how often the part is cleaned, and with what.
• Contact with food: whether food touches this surface, or only passes near it.
• Your standard, if you have one: if you do not have one, please describe the room instead of copying a standard from a different plant.

The general information in What a Fabricator Actually Needs to Quote From Your Drawing still applies. For a food plant part, please add the cleaning method and the design of the feet.

What we will not do

We do not make pressure vessels, or pipework that must meet a pressure code. We would rather say so at the start than quote for a table and leave that unclear.

We will not sign a statement that a part will pass a hygiene audit, because only your auditor can decide that. What we can do is make the part in the grade and finish you specify. We will also tell you if we think the specification does not suit the room.

Send the drawing, how the part will be cleaned, and whether food touches it. If your company has a written standard, please attach it.