North American Specialty Products LLC — a unit of North American Pipe Corp. — has opened a new material science lab in Leola, Pa.
The lab is located at NASP's Leola plant, and will aid in the development of “modern and innovative” pipe formulations, officials said in a March 31 new release.
“NASP has a rich 43-year history of innovation in the PVC pipe marketplace and is committed to continually evolving our products to better serve our customers,” said Michael Mattina, vice president and general manager, in the release.
The Leola site also received NASP's President's Safety Award, which is given to the site with the lowest OSHA recordable incident rate for the year, including 12 months without a lost-time accident.
Wayne, Pa.-based NASP and Houston-based North American Pipe Corp. both are part of Westlake Chemical Corp. North American Pipe ranked as North America's fourth-largest maker of pipe, profile and tubing in a recent Plastics News survey. The unit's annual sales are estimated at $845 million.
Houston-based Westlake is a major North American producer of polyethylene, PVC and ethylene feedstock.