Ipex pipe plant damaged by Helene flooding will fully reopen by summer

Restoration efforts continue at the Ipex Group pipe plant in Asheville, N.C., where Hurricane Helene left the facility completely underwater in September, disrupting fourth-quarter sales by $11.5 million and causing about $32.5 million of damage and other costs.

Flood waters from the hurricane inundated the plant and reached 13 feet, temporarily halting operations and pipe supply to the company's U.S. markets.

"All 305 staff that work at the Asheville site were accounted for and safe, but the site and its operations were heavily damaged and required significant clean-up," Managing Director Thierry Vanlancker said in a March 3 news release from parent company Aliaxis SA in Brussels.

Oakville, Ontario-based pipe manufacturer Ipex Group produces piping systems for the municipal, irrigation, industrial, plumbing, mechanical, electrical and telecommunication markets from mostly PVC but also other materials.

The Asheville factory update was given with 2024 financial results for Aliaxis, which saw sales decrease 4.5 percent worldwide to $4.09 billion compared with 2023.

In the United States, Ipex staff have shown "remarkable resilience," Vanlancker said, and will likely be back at full production this summer.

"In the face of this challenge and showing their grit and determination, over 400 employees rallied and partially restored operations before year-end, with some staff voluntarily relocating to support production elsewhere, and the engineering team even setting records for machine commissioning times," Vanlancker said. "While we will continue to feel the impact into 2025, we are ramping up production swiftly to be full strength by mid-year."

Ipex has 13 manufacturing facilities in North America. The plant damaged in Asheville was acquired in 2019 with the stock purchase of Silver-Line Plastics Corp.

The Asheville facility had recently been expanded with new production lines along with Ipex plants in Lawton, Okla., and Fort Pierce, Fla.

Ipex employees immediately stepped up to bring part of the Asheville plant back online and meet pipe demand, but there's still work to do, Vanlacker said.

"Teams have partially restored operations, but the impact will continue to be felt into 2025," he said.

Sales in the United States are reported as part of "the Americas," a region that saw a 2 percent decline compared to 2023. Stable market conditions and strong commercial management supported solid results in Canada, the release says.

"In the U.S., average sales prices were under pressure as market conditions normalized, following the higher demand seen during 2022 and 2023," the release says.

Sales prices are under scrutiny in addition to pressure.

Ipex is among the PVC pipe and conduit manufacturers being sued for alleged price fixing and overcharging customers by coordinating actions via an industry newsletter.

The antitrust lawsuit was filed last August in U.S. District Court in Chicago by George Bavolak, an electrical contractor who owns Metropolitan Energy Service Inc., in Minnesota.

The lawsuit names 10 extrusion companies as defendants along with the Oil Price Information Service (OPIS), whose PetroChem Wire publishes a PVC & Pipe Weekly report. The other defendants are Atkore Inc., Cantex Inc., Diamond Plastics Corp., JM Eagle, National Pipe and Plastics Inc., Otter Tail Corp., Prime Conduit Inc., Southern Pipe Inc. and Westlake Corp.

The lawsuit says PVC converters exploited the COVID-19 supply chain disruptions to fix prices and overcharge their customers

Contractors, home builders and municipalities paid artificially inflated prices for PVC pipes, the lawsuit also says, even though supply chain issues normalized in 2022 and PVC resin prices normalized in early 2023.

After the lawsuit was filed, an Ipex spokesperson said the company would launch an internal investigation.

In his March 3 comments, Aliaxis's Vanlancker described business conditions since the pandemic.

"2024 was a year of change for us at Aliaxis — one of recalibration to new market realities and focus towards operational excellence. Like many in the construction business, we were prepared to serve ongoing post-COVID market growth and demand. Growth that did not materialize due to several geopolitical and macroeconomic factors. In 2024, we made the needed pivot more decisively — to ensure robustness and a sharper focus to guarantee long- term success. Aliaxis continues to be a profitable and resilient company, with leading positions and many of the strongest brands in our market segments worldwide."

Aliaxis officials said 2025 is going to be about focusing on operational excellence and performance management to further strengthen the company's market position. They expect market challenges to persist in the first half of the year.

"We continue to seek growth and to capture market share and profitability in North America and India. While significant efforts have been made to fill production gaps and restore operations, the impact from the damage in Asheville will continue to be felt into 2025," the Aliaxis release says.