Pipe manufacturer Southern Pipeline Contractors (SPC) on Wednesday officially opened its new R70-million high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe factory, on the East Rand, diversifying the company’s manufacturing capability.
The facility, which became operational on August 28 following an eight-month construction period, had the capacity to produce up to 15 km of HDPE piping a day for sewage, stormwater, drainage and cable protection applications, SPC GM Louis Xavier Havard told Engineering News Online.
The cable protection piping would be manufactured in diameters of between 75 mm and 160 mm, while the sewage and stormwater pipes would be available in diameters of between 200 mm and 450 mm.
“This product has been approved in Europe and that is why we decided to go through [with this factory]. And it is normal to evolve from concrete to HDPE,” Havard said.
He added that HDPE pipes were easier to install than concrete pipes as they were lighter; however, the HDPE pipes’ resistance was the same as that of concrete pipes.
Manufacturing HDPE pipes was labour intensive, as opposed to concrete pipe manufacturing that made use of heavy equipment, and 30 new permanent jobs had been created through the establishment of the HDPE pipe factory.
Havard added that the company would consider expanding the capacity of the facility in future, depending on market demand.