Tap to CALL US NOW

How Stainless Steel Changed the Food and Beverage Industry

June 9, 2015 By

In this day and age, we tend to take stainless steel manufacturers for granted, in Perth and across Australia. However, stainless steel hasn’t always been around. Though it was created as early as 1911, stainless steel didn’t become popular in England and the US until 1929. Even then, the Great Depression would slow its rise.

The Safer Choice

Why was stainless steel such a revelation to the food and beverage industry? Couldn’t they just make their sinks and tables out of something else? Of course they could, but stainless steel made it easier to maintain a restaurant without making people sick.

How Stainless Steel Changed the Food and Beverage Industry

Most drinks, such as sodas, beer and dairy, can be corrosive to all metals. Not only would metal containers contaminate products with the residue of corrosion, they also became safe havens for bacteria. Food and dairy processing was much more dangerous to consumers before stainless steel became a viable option.

Only stainless steel can be used to process or transport liquids in a way that guarantees sanitation and quality. Most metals contaminate liquids if stored there for long. Before stainless steel, beverages were transported in bottles, which were fragile.

Stainless steel allowed restaurants to become much more sanitary. They also allowed food processing and storage to become much more efficient. Simply stated: large scale processing cannot be done without stainless steel.

Fast Forward

Currently, stainless steel is used in most food and beverage processing. Products such as beer, wine, dairy, soft drinks, meat, fish, vegetables and baked goods are all processed using stainless steel equipment.

For the food processing industry, they know stainless steel is efficient and safe. It is easy to maintain and keep sanitary to prevent foods and beverages from becoming contaminated from metals or from bacteria and fungi.

Call Western Stainless Solutions Today

Whether you own a pub, a restaurant or a food processing facility, we can make the equipment you need to run a tight ship. To learn more, call us today: 1300 794 647.

Filed Under: News, Stainless Steel Suppliers Perth Tagged With: ,

Stainless Steel and the Environment

April 24, 2015 By

We are proud that all of the stainless steel products we provide to the Perth area are much better for the environment than products made of most other materials. Here are a few of the ways stainless steel enriches the environment.

Stainless Steel Helps The Environment

Long Life and 100% Recyclable

Stainless steel products have a long shelf life: as long as three times that of most other materials. This alone is the reason stainless steel is the material of choice for so many applications. Stainless steel products can provide decades of services, as many WA business owners can attest.

However, all products eventually reach the end of their usage cycle. Usually, this is because a product “goes out of fashion” or becomes technologically redundant. In other words, stainless steel usually lasts longer than the need for any particular product.

When it does become obsolete, stainless steel is 100% recyclable. It contains steel, chromium, with some grades containing molybdenum and nickel. All of these materials are still in high demand.

Made of 60% Recycled Materials

On the average, stainless steel is made of 60% recycled materials. It breaks down to this:
40% new raw materials.
35% new scrap recycled from production.
25% old scrap, meaning recycled stainless steel products.

Environmental Uses for Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is also the most efficient material for many products that improve the environment.

Catalytic converters made of stainless steel are lighter and more efficient than ceramic converters. Diesel filters, made of stainless steel, can filter out 85% of soot particles and 95% of black smoke from diesel engines. They also have high temperature resistance, making them a more reliable option.

Stainless steel condensing boilers have a 100% efficiency rating, reducing the use of fossil fuels. Stainless steel can also be used in rooftop solar panels, providing renewable energy. Stainless steel is also used as recycling collectors by many cities because they are corrosion resistant.

Call Western Stainless Today

To learn more or to enquire about a custom design stainless steel installation, call us today: 1300 794 647.

Filed Under: News, Stainless Steel Suppliers Perth Tagged With: ,

Stainless Steel and the Environment

July 31, 2014 By

As one of the foremost stainless steel product manufacturers in Perth and across WA, we thought that you might like to know about how beneficial of an impact we have on the environment.

Stainless Steel and the Environment

Recycling and Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is fully recyclable: 100% of its elements can be recycled. Stainless steel contains 35% new scrap that comes from leftovers in the manufacturing process, 25% old scrap such as products that have outlived their use cycles and 40% new raw materials. In other words, any stainless steel object has approximately 60% recycled materials.

Long Product Life

Stainless steel objects last a lot longer than most materials. That means they are used for longer periods of time and discarded or recycled less often. This means it takes less stainless steel to do a job than any other material, thus reducing carbon footprint.

Improves Air Quality

Not only does the reduced carbon footprint of stainless steel lead to less greenhouse gases, stainless steel is also the material of choice in catalytic converters, which reduce carbon emissions.

In addition, stainless steel filters can remove as much as 85% of soot particles and 90% of black smoke from diesel motor emissions.

Reduces Use of Fossil Fuels

Condensing boilers made out of stainless steel have an efficiency rating of 100%, making them the most efficient method for heating. All condensing boilers are made of stainless steel because the condensation makes any other material susceptible to erosion.

Stainless steel is also used in the manufacture of solar panels, the “greenest” source of energy available. In addition, stainless steel is used to support the electrodes of fuel cells, which are another very clean energy source.

Keeps Water Safe

Stainless steel is used for pipes in drinking systems as there is virtually no leakage of metals into the water. Wastewater plants are also using stainless steel in their pipes and other means of transporting wastewater because of its resistance to corrosion.

For More Information

Call Western Stainless Solutions: 1300 794 647.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

Promoting Corrosion Resistance and Cleanability in Your Stainless Steel

June 10, 2014 By

Two of the defining features for stainless steel are its ability to be resistant to decay and corrosion and its ability to be easily cleaned. These are important aspects for the metal to have as it is often used in pharmaceutical, industrial and food production settings. Heat tint is the greatest threat to stainless steel and can cause damages that cause many problems for owners of these appliances. Luckily, it can also be prevented through a process known as purge welding.

Promoting Corrosion Resistance and Cleanability in Your Stainless Steel

A Heated Problem

Heat tint is the oxide buildup that occurs in stainless steel tubes when it is welded without expelling all of the oxygen first. While not overly damaging at first, the discolouration and corrosion created by heat tint can spread and cause more destruction in the form of increased corrosion and infestation of bugs.

Under normal circumstances, gas can be forced to flow into the metallic area if access is easily granted. However this is highly impractical, if not impossible, when the stainless steel object is a pipe with a small diameter. For these objects, there is another method that is most useful for getting rid of heat tint.

The Purge

Purge welding is a very useful process for minimising or eliminating heat tint in hard to reach places. It works by controlling oxygen levels when the steel inside is heated considerably. Then a tiny weld is manoeuvred inside of the pipeline and thus allowing the heat tint to be worked away.

It may sound simple, but purge welding takes a steady hand and experienced skill. If performed correctly, it ensures that the stainless steel will keep on shining for a long time to come, making it as resilient and cleanable as it was meant to be.

Corrosion-Resistant

While stainless steel is one of the best materials to use in pharmaceutical and food producing environments, there are still threats to this material in the form of heat tint. Thankfully, this can be minimised or avoided through purge welding, which greatly reduces heat tint and keeps the steel strong. This can be a tricky process, so be sure to consult professional stainless steel fabricators in your Perth area if you are uncertain.

For more information, please call us on 1300 794 647.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: ,

An All-Purpose Guide to Stainless Steel

May 12, 2014 By

There are many different kinds of materials and metals out on the market that businesspeople and industry operators alike use in constructing appliances and useful objects. Among these, stainless steel has a special place because it is highly resistant to corrosion and is easy to clean. While not an all-purpose metal, stainless steel is very useful in certain situations, even for aesthetical purposes. With all of the different grades of stainless steel, it can be tricky to navigate which kind you should get. Therefore, educating yourself on the nature and kinds of stainless steel is vital to making an informed decision regarding the metal.

An All-Purpose Guide to Stainless Steel

The Advantages of Stainless Steel

Why would someone use stainless steel as opposed to any other kind of metal or material? Possibly the biggest advantage to having stainless steel is that, as its name implies, it is highly resistant to corrosion from rust and other abrasive chemicals. While other types of metal corrode and fall apart, stainless steel remains strong.

In addition, stainless steel is easy to clean and efficient in this regard. Some other metals can be hard to clean because they hold on to substances or shed particles. Stainless steel on the other hand is easy to wipe clean and polish, which is not only useful for the sake of cleanliness, but also makes this one of the more aesthetically pleasing metals. The latter is especially true because it can be made to have a shiny gleam to it.

Stainless steel has one additional advantage of being able to be moulded into almost any shape during its creation process. This allows it to be used to craft almost any kind of appliance or object because it can be bent into that shape. Because of its chromium structure, stainless steel, unlike its carbon steel counterparts, is also completely recyclable, making it a more cost efficient and environmentally friendly option for many industries.

When to Use Stainless Steel

With the numerous advantages of using stainless steel, one might tend to think that it is an all-purpose material. While it is certainly useful, stainless steel is often utilised in engineering applications, as well as chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries because of its resilient properties. In these areas, it is a vital commodity, but it is sometimes used in domestic settings as well.

Restaurants often use stainless steel for their cutlery and kitchen appliances because it is resistant to the stains that food produces as well as to the intense heat generated by cooking. The same applies for home use in cutlery and related kitchen items. Hospitals and medical centres are also major users of stainless steel because it is resistant to many medical chemicals and is easy to clean, making it much more sanitary.

Various industries that use piping also tend to take advantage of stainless steel because of its malleability. Before it is finished, it can be form fitted into a pipe or coil of any diameter, making it a worthy construction consideration.

The Different Types

Stainless steel comes in a variety of forms, each with a slightly different compound crystal structure and ideal use. Austenitic steel is the most common form used commercially and is one of the strongest. This form tends to be the most form-fitting, making it ideal for most situations where good formability is required.

Ferritic steel is similar in usage to the austenitic form, but it is made from different alloys and therefore is more ductile at the cost of being less resistant to corrosion. Interestingly, it is also the only form of stainless steel that is magnetic. Martensitic steel is also less resistant to corrosion and in fact the most vulnerable to it, but makes up by being the toughest and hardest. This makes it most useful in factory and industrial environments.

Duplex is the final type of stainless steel and can be seen as a kind of hybrid of austenitic and ferritic forms. It is resilient, strong and one of the most useful for intense situations and businesses, such as the marine and petrochemical industries.

Steeled Resolve


Stainless steel is one of the most useful materials that you can use in a variety of different fields. It is strong, resistant to corrosion and heat damage, and can be tailored to fit any situation, making it highly desirable and useful in food production and pharmaceutical areas among others. It also come in a variety of kinds, each made from different alloys.

All in all, stainless steel is a one of a kind metal that can be used for all kinds of construction in Perth and beyond. For more information, call 1300 794 647.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: