Oakville, Ontario-based pipe manufacturer Ipex Group is investing in three U.S. facilities and will be adding employees as part of a growth strategy for North America.
A total of 28 new production lines will be installed at Ipex plants in Asheville, N.C., Lawton, Okla., and Fort Pierce, Fla., which were acquired in 2019 with the stock purchase of Silver-Line Plastics Corp.
Ipex manufactures thermoplastic piping systems for the municipal, irrigation, industrial, plumbing, mechanical, electrical and telecommunication sectors from mostly PVC but also other materials.
With an estimated $900 million in annual sales, Ipex Group is the fifth-largest pipe, profile and tubing extruder in North America, according to Plastics News' latest ranking.
The 28 additional lines will feature high-speed extrusion technology and include closed-loop wall monitors, end-of-line pipe bundling automation and gravimetric feeding systems, according to Ipex CEO Alex Mestres.
"This will allow IPEX to increase production capacity for our pipe business to ensure high fill rates and excellent service both in the U.S. and Canada, while we continue our significant growth strategy," Mestres said in a news release. "These investments will also add enough capacity to deliver a number of groundbreaking new products we now have in the pipeline and ready to launch."
The new production lines are expected to be operational in late 2022 through early 2024.
The expansions of the buildings and distribution yards at the three sites will create career opportunities for Ipex employees in addition to new jobs, the release says.
For Silver-Line, the three facilities produced a range of products from PVC, chlorinated PVC, polyethylene and cross-linked PE for the plumbing, well casing, irrigation, utility, industrial and agricultural, gas and geothermal markets.
The proposed expansions come on the heels of other strategic investments, including three new distributions centers and a new flagship molding facility in Pineville, N.C., that is currently under construction.
The Pineville plant is the U.S. headquarters for Ipex USA LLC, which is part of Ipex Group, an Aliaxis brand and company with 13 manufacturing facilities in North America.
The parent company is piping systems manufacturer Brussels-based Aliaxis SA, a privately held company with about 16,100 employees at 45 sites worldwide.