How do you know if you’re actually getting real 316 stainless steel? At HMTS we decided to invest in a serious metal analysis capability to answer that. We can analyze our incoming products – whether they are off the shelf or custom – to ensure we’re selling exactly what we’re claiming. We can also analyze other metals to confirm if a specific bronze item is truly low-zinc (you’d be surprised how often unsuitable bronze seems to be sold in marine stores based on our testing!).
Here’s a little video demonstrating what that looks like:
We’ll have lots more information on this, but if you wonder where the analysis numbers come from on products you buy from us, this machine is the heart of our reporting. With such complicated supply chains these days it’s something we see as critical to communicate to our customers. Our own suppliers are often overseas, but even with local suppliers we have no idea on the raw material input source, or if someone messed up the inventory control at some point along the way.
Even though these are “only” recreational boat products, the idea that you might need to replace a cleat or other stainless steel product earlier than planned is enough to make you want to be confident on the material composition!
