Company Announcement - The Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufacturers' Association is inviting industry participation in its 7TH Pipe Quality Survey, by calling on companies to submit HDPE pipe samples for selective quality testing by an independent laboratory. “The plastics piping business is a strategic industry where hardware needs to be reliable for extended periods of time. Long term product quality is fundamental and we therefore need to ensure that the plastic pipes being installed are manufactured according to industry standards and that they would be good for a minimum period of fifty years”, explains SAPPMA Chairman, Jan Venter. 

As a representative of more than 80 % of the country’s plastic pipe manufacturers, SAPPMA launched its first Pipe Quality Survey in 2011, during which random samples of plastic pipes were tested for product quality and consistency.

“We have repeated this survey at regular intervals over the past four years, by purchasing a number of HDPE pipes bearing the SABS mark of quality from merchants around the country.  Despite our efforts, we still frequently receive queries from our members or installers regarding questionable or sub-standard pipes that are used in projects.  We are therefore inviting pipe manufacturers, installers, merchants, contractors, consulting engineers, and any other interested parties to submit pipes – whether it be their own or their competitors’ product – for testing by autonomous body and according to the relevant SANS Standards,” Venter says.  Sample submissions can be made anonymously, although all information about individuals or companies submitting products for testing will be kept in the strictest confidence.

Physical samples of the pipes must be delivered to SAPPMA’s offices (Plastics|SA Building, 18 Gazelle Avenue, Corporate Park South, Midrand) by the 30th of April 2015.  They should preferably be of big diameter HDPE pipe (> 110 mm diameter), but sample length can be as short as 100 mm.  Pipes must be clearly marked and should contain all the information that is normally printed on the pipes.  Testing will begin in May and test results are expected to be released by July this year, along with a final report which will be a consolidated summary of the findings.

“SAPPMA strongly supports the South African Bureau of Standards as custodian of the National Product Standards.  It is our vision to create absolute quality, trust and integrity throughout the value chain of the Southern African Plastics Pipe Industry. To this end, we will continue in our efforts to weed out inferior quality plastic piping systems”.

More information about SAPPMA and its technical standards or results of the quality surveys can be obtained from its website on www.sappma.co.za or requested from admin@sappma.co.za