I visited Haishun this morning and spent 2 hours there. In short form, I think everyone will be safe ordering from there. Below is a summary of my observations and some photos.
Materials: They order their steel stock in coil form in large quantities from a single source. Typically about 20T per lot. They get 3rd party confirmation of the material certs prior to delivery. They had a bad experience with some of their first brewery tanks in 2006 due to purchasing some sheet from a local distributor, and that drove them to their current supplier and attention to selection. I saw a sampling of their material certificates. They do outsource the machined items such as tri-clamp fittings and components. Although not applicable to the fermenters, for motorized equipment they source Siemens motors, Metler Toledo load cells, and other global brands to ensure reliability and serviceability in their export markets.
Workshop: It is a Chinese factory, no doubt about that. They have 2 separate workshops which I'd estimate at around 20,000 square feet. One is used for metal cutting and fabrication of control panel housings. They have duplicate equipment, one dedicated to the stainless and the other for the cold rolled steel used in the control housings. The stainless tank fabrication shop is dusty and dirty from all the grinding and polishing work happening. They are obviously busy with most of the floorspace utilized. At the time of my visit, there were no home brew sized units completed on the floor. Most of the work in progress was larger, 7-20 bbl. There was a 300L unit which had completed the jacket installation, but wasn't clad yet.
Processes: All welding is manual. They do have some machines for grinding and polishing the radial seam welds. All the welds for fittings, leg attachments, etc. are ground and polished manually. In all the parts I looked at, I could not see any surface porosity or cracks in the welds. In some of the photos below you may get that impression, but what you are probably seeing is dust on the surface. I noted a couple places where the welders were referencing a packet of drawings and specs for their specific job which was on the floor with them, because there is no standard unit. Nearly all their orders are customized.
Inspection: There is an inspection step by a QC person of the prepped components prior to going to the tank fabrication area. They do a 6 bar water pressure test of the jackets prior to insulating and cladding them. They test the final tank completed tank to 2 bar.
Products: Brewing equipment is about 40% of their business. Of that, they mostly make small to medium sized units. The homebrew items are just a small piece of the business. They don't normally put a jacket on anything less than 1 bbl or 100L. They can jacket a 20 gallon, but don't recommend it. There just isn't much effective area on it by the time they work around any connections, legs, etc. His preferred minimum buy is 10 pieces. That's not for efficiency in the process, because they don't require them to be all the same design or size. It's more for the efficiency of managing the exportation documents and clearances. They can accommodate specific requirements. They will provide a drawing per your request for review. So if there are multiple requests, make sure you get and review each individual drawings.
I'll be ordering one 15 gallon fermenter directly from them, since I have the luxury of being local, avoiding the 17% VAT, and no exportation required. Lead time is 2 months based on their current order book.
Materials: They order their steel stock in coil form in large quantities from a single source. Typically about 20T per lot. They get 3rd party confirmation of the material certs prior to delivery. They had a bad experience with some of their first brewery tanks in 2006 due to purchasing some sheet from a local distributor, and that drove them to their current supplier and attention to selection. I saw a sampling of their material certificates. They do outsource the machined items such as tri-clamp fittings and components. Although not applicable to the fermenters, for motorized equipment they source Siemens motors, Metler Toledo load cells, and other global brands to ensure reliability and serviceability in their export markets.
Workshop: It is a Chinese factory, no doubt about that. They have 2 separate workshops which I'd estimate at around 20,000 square feet. One is used for metal cutting and fabrication of control panel housings. They have duplicate equipment, one dedicated to the stainless and the other for the cold rolled steel used in the control housings. The stainless tank fabrication shop is dusty and dirty from all the grinding and polishing work happening. They are obviously busy with most of the floorspace utilized. At the time of my visit, there were no home brew sized units completed on the floor. Most of the work in progress was larger, 7-20 bbl. There was a 300L unit which had completed the jacket installation, but wasn't clad yet.
Processes: All welding is manual. They do have some machines for grinding and polishing the radial seam welds. All the welds for fittings, leg attachments, etc. are ground and polished manually. In all the parts I looked at, I could not see any surface porosity or cracks in the welds. In some of the photos below you may get that impression, but what you are probably seeing is dust on the surface. I noted a couple places where the welders were referencing a packet of drawings and specs for their specific job which was on the floor with them, because there is no standard unit. Nearly all their orders are customized.
Inspection: There is an inspection step by a QC person of the prepped components prior to going to the tank fabrication area. They do a 6 bar water pressure test of the jackets prior to insulating and cladding them. They test the final tank completed tank to 2 bar.
Products: Brewing equipment is about 40% of their business. Of that, they mostly make small to medium sized units. The homebrew items are just a small piece of the business. They don't normally put a jacket on anything less than 1 bbl or 100L. They can jacket a 20 gallon, but don't recommend it. There just isn't much effective area on it by the time they work around any connections, legs, etc. His preferred minimum buy is 10 pieces. That's not for efficiency in the process, because they don't require them to be all the same design or size. It's more for the efficiency of managing the exportation documents and clearances. They can accommodate specific requirements. They will provide a drawing per your request for review. So if there are multiple requests, make sure you get and review each individual drawings.
I'll be ordering one 15 gallon fermenter directly from them, since I have the luxury of being local, avoiding the 17% VAT, and no exportation required. Lead time is 2 months based on their current order book.
