RICHARDSON, TEXAS - Construc-tion will begin this summer on Phillips Driscopipe Inc.'s sixth polyethylene pipe factory, a Hagerstown, Md., plant to serve the Northeast. President Jeffrey Dancer said the company decided to place a plant in Maryland to serve cities in the Northeast that are replacing aging water and sewer systems. Construction will begin this summer. The first production is scheduled for May 1997.
According to Plastics News data, Phillips Driscopipe, a division of Phillips Petroleum Co., is tied with its arch-rival, the Plexco Division of Chevron Corp., for the largest PE pipe extruder in North America position, both with estimated 1994 sales of $143 million.
Neither firm currently has a pipe plant in the Northeast. Most of their pipe production is in the southern and western regions of the United States.
Richardson-based Phillips Driscopipe has plants in Watson-ville, Calif.; Williamstown, Ky.; Pryor, Okla; Brownwood, Texas; and Wellford, S.C.
Plexco of Bensenville, Ill., has plants in Fairfield, Iowa.; Knox-ville, Tenn.; Waxahachie, Texas; Reno, Nev.; Colton, Calif.; and Abbeville, S.C. A Plexco spokes-man said Plexco serves the Northeast market from Knoxville .
The new Phillips Driscopipe plant will make PE pipe ranging in diameter from one-half inch to 24 inches. The pipe is used for water and sewer lines, low-pressure distribution lines for oil and natural gas, and telecommunications.
Phillips Driscopipe produces more than 200 million pounds of PE pipe a year. Earlier this year, the firm announced it would open a plant in Argentina - its first outside the United States.
