Custom equipment manufactured?

[Thewitt]

Has anyone ever had any custom sausage making equipment manufactured? I'm looking for recommendations for equipment manufacturers to develop new proprietary equipment based on my requirements.

[RodinBangkok]

Like here in Thailand, Malaysia has a lot of equipment fabricators. I'd start by searching for commercial kitchen equipment suppliers out of KL. I know there are a lot, as I've talked to them at trade shows here. The suppliers of related equipment are 9 times out of 10 also the manufacturer. As far as NDA's and keeping things confidential, I don't think you'll be very successful at that, but that's another story. You can also find a lot of fabricators say for related items such as ovens, or stainless steel tanks that have the capability to fabricate all you need is a good set of drawings, they will do the rest, and may not know anything about the process your making the item for. It's usually this type of guy that will give you a better price than the guy that knows what the commercial equivalent of a design may be worth, and then prices accordingly. All of our stainless for example comes from a guy that does gutters, and simple tables, but can follow a drawing for much more complicated items.

[Thewitt]

Thanks Rod. The only thing I'm not likely to be able to provde a design for is a sausage linker. I will probably have to buy one and provide it as a template...

I have a local fabricator who is willing to take this project on with a time and materials contract. He has done a bunch of work for me and his rates are good. Stainless work is very clean and food safe.

We shall see.

[RodinBangkok]

Yeah for a linker your better off in this part of the world to buy from a Chinese company that has a rep in Malaysia. We do that a lot. Its very dangerous here to buy US or european machines, as there may not be any local reps, but for the Chinese manufacturers, there are local reps with parts supply and support. I'd never for instance buy a US made mixer like a Hobart, as the parts are outrageously expensive if you can get them, and the price of a good Chinese brand is much cheaper and the service for us is great with a service guy and local parts. It takes a bit of digging to find reps for some of the stuff, and sometimes you can have success by contacting the Chinese company as ask them if they have a local rep. I don't recommend a lot of the Chinese machines on the boards, because the european or US support can be non existent, but if your in Asia buying Chinese machines it can be a big savings and get you good support.