Mixer housings, hoppers, and process frames in 304/316L: full-penetration GTAW on product-contact welds when the spec calls for it, then bead-blasted and pickled in-house.
Northern Manufacturing fabricates custom stainless steel equipment for food and beverage OEMs, equipment integrators, and processing plants. Most of this work is process and non-contact equipment: frames, housings, hoppers, conveyors, and tanks in 304 and 316L. Food-contact surfaces increasingly move to plastics, so Northern’s value is the stainless equipment around them, finished by bead blasting and pickling and passivation. When a drawing invokes 3-A or ASME BPE, product-contact welds are full-penetration GTAW ground crevice-free and we build to the standard. All work runs through our 40,000 sq ft stainless-only production space, where dedicated tooling, consumables, and welders prevent carbon steel cross-contamination on every assembly.
60+ AWS-certified welders. ISO 9001:2015 certified (AVU Registrations). ASME BPVC Section IX qualified welding procedures for P8 austenitic stainless. In-house pickling and passivation per ASTM A380/A967 in a 55-foot spray booth.
Equipment We Build
Most food and beverage work is process and non-contact equipment. What Northern regularly fabricates:
Conveyor Frames & Supports
Stainless structural work for processing lines where washdown exposure demands corrosion resistance from the frame. Most of this work is non-contact, finished by bead blasting and passivation.
Hoppers, Chutes & Transitions
Sheet and plate fabrications with smooth interior surfaces for product flow and cleanability.
Process Frames & Skid-Mounted Systems
Skid-mounted stainless assemblies with piping, valving, and tank integration, fabricated as a unit and tested before shipment.
Equipment Housings & Enclosures
304 and 316L housings, guards, and enclosures built to the weld quality and finish your drawing calls out.
Sanitary & Dairy Tanks (to spec)
When the spec calls for it, batch, hold, and dairy vessels built to 3-A or ASME BPE design requirements, with product-contact welds ground crevice-free. A smaller part of our food work, scoped at quote.
304L and 316L for Food Equipment
304L handles most food processing environments, but 316L is the standard choice for equipment that contacts acidic foods, brines, high-chloride cleaning agents, or sustained moisture. The molybdenum addition in 316L improves resistance to chloride pitting and crevice corrosion, which matters in equipment that is regularly cleaned with caustic or acid solutions.
The molybdenum in 316L is what survives the daily caustic washdown.
| Grade | Chloride tolerance | Typical application | Cost vs. 304L |
|---|---|---|---|
| 304L | Low-moderate chloride, dry environments | Structural frames, ductwork, non-contact surfaces | Baseline |
| 316L | Moderate-high chloride, wet/acidic | Product-contact surfaces, tanks, piping, CIP systems | ~15-20% premium |
We stock 316L plate from 20-gauge through 1 inch in standard sheet sizes, with heavy plate up to 2 inches sourced through our distributor network.
Welding Food and Beverage Equipment
Food-grade fabrication lives or dies at the weld. A weld bead with undercut, overlap, or incomplete penetration creates a crevice where bacteria colonize and cleaning solutions cannot reach. For product-contact surfaces, Northern specifies full-penetration GTAW (TIG) welding with autogenous or matching filler rod to produce smooth, crevice-free joints that pass visual and borescope inspection.
All welding procedures are qualified per ASME BPVC Section IX for P8 austenitic stainless. Welders hold active qualifications to AWS D1.6 (Structural Welding Code for Stainless Steel) and are recertified on a continuous cadence. When your drawing calls out a specific WPS, procedure qualification records and welder continuity logs are available on request.
Finishing: Bead Blast, Pickle, Passivate
Most food and beverage equipment is finished by bead blasting and pickling/passivation, not mirror polish. Northern controls finish from forming through delivery, to the level your spec calls out.
Bead Blasting & Pickling/Passivation
A uniform, non-directional matte finish from bead blasting, then ASTM A380 pickling and A967 passivation in our 55-foot booth to strip heat tint and restore the passive layer. This is the finish most food and beverage equipment calls for.
Mechanical Polishing to Spec
When the drawing calls for a directional or higher-cosmetic finish, controlled grinding and polishing hold a specified Ra. We are a fabricator, not a dedicated polishing house, so mirror and 3-A polish finishes are scoped at quote, and we tell you straight when the work belongs with a polishing specialist.
Electropolishing (coordinated)
For the lowest surface roughness, electropolishing is coordinated as an outside finishing step.
