Two Ohio-based high density polyethylene pipe makers are making moves in Mississippi.
Hancor Inc. of Findlay, Ohio, this month started HDPE pipe production at a new facility in Vicksburg, Miss.
That comes on the heels of an investment of more than $5 million by Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. of Columbus, Ohio, in a 48,000-square-foot plant in Jackson, Miss.
The Jackson facility, which makes 24- to 48-inch-diameter drainage pipe, held its grand opening Oct. 9.
ADS built its new plant because of ``the rapid acceptance of the larger 24- to 48-inch diameter drainage pipe, held its grand opening Oct. 9.
ADS built its new plant because of ``the rapid acceptance of the larger 24- to 48-inch-diameter high density polyethylene pipe,'' ADS President Joe Chlapaty said in the news release. ``Demand is especially heavy in the South, with its current construction and road-building boom, and our Jackson plant will minimize shipping time and costs to Southern customers.''
Hancor made its decision to start pipe production in the South to reduce shipping costs to its customers in the region, A. Chris Ernst, vice president of manufacturing for Hancor, said in an Oct. 15 telephone interview.
``As we've grown in this double-wall pipe business, freight starts getting prohibitive,'' Ernst said. ``The freight on this product is so high because with pipe you're shipping mostly air.''
Opening the Vicksburg plant, Hancor's 16th nationwide, brings the company closer to its established customers, Ernst said.
Hancor converted a former Raychem Corp. shrink-wrap tubing plant to suit its needs, Ernst said. It will employ about 20, according to a Hancor press release.
ADS' Jackson plant, which opened in February, employs 70 and is equipped with a state-of-the-art corrugating machine from Drossbach GmbH of Rain/Lech, Germany.
ADS now has 20 plants according to its news release. The company closed a plant in Rowland, N.C., about the same time it opened the Jackson plant, according to Tony Radoszewski, ADS director of marketing and business development.
Plastics News ranked ADS as the ninth-largest pipe, profile and tubing extruder in North America — and the second-largest pipe maker — based on estimated 1996 sales of $220 million.
Hancor ranked as the 12th-largest pipe, profile and tubing extruder — and seventh-largest pipe maker — with a reported $185 million in 1996 sales.
