We are the leading manufacturer of high performance thermoplastic corrugated
pipe, providing a comprehensive suite of water management products and superior
drainage solutions for use in the underground construction and infrastructure
marketplace. Our innovative products are used across a broad range of end markets
and applications, including non-residential, residential, agriculture and infrastructure
applications. We have established a leading position in many of these end markets
by leveraging our national sales and distribution platform, our overall product
breadth and scale and our manufacturing excellence. In the United States, our
national footprint combined with our strong local presence and broad product
offering make us the leader in an otherwise highly fragmented sector comprised
of many smaller competitors.
We have a leading domestic and international manufacturing and distribution
infrastructure, serving customers in all 50 U.S. states as well as approximately
80 other countries through 61 manufacturing plants and 31 distribution centers
including the facilities owned or leased by our joint ventures. We also operate
an in-house fleet of approximately 675 tractor-trailers. Our effective shipping
radius is approximately 200 miles from one of our manufacturing plants or distribution
centers. Our scale and extensive network of facilities provide a critical cost
advantage versus our competitors, as we are able to more efficiently transport
products to our customers and end users and to promote faster product shipments
due to our proximity to the delivery location.
We design, manufacture and market a complete line of high performance thermoplastic
corrugated pipe and related water management products for use in a wide range
of end markets. Our product line includes: single, double and triple wall corrugated
polypropylene and polyethylene pipe, or Pipe, and a variety of Allied Products
including: storm retention/detention and septic chambers, or Chambers; PVC drainage
structures, or Structures; fittings, or Fittings; and water quality filters
and separators, or Water Quality. We also sell various complementary products
distributed through resale agreements, including geotextile products and drainage
grates and other, or Other Resale.
Our products are generally lighter, more durable, more cost effective and easier
to install than comparable alternatives made with traditional materials. Following
our entrance into the non-residential construction market with the introduction
of N-12 corrugated polyethylene pipe in the late 1980s, our pipe has been displacing
traditional materials, such as reinforced concrete, corrugated steel and PVC,
across an ever expanding range of end markets. This has allowed us to consistently
gain share and achieve above market growth throughout economic cycles. We expect
to continue to drive conversion to our products from traditional materials as
contractors, civil design engineers and municipal agencies increasingly acknowledge
the superior physical attributes and compelling value proposition of our thermoplastic
products. In addition, we believe that overall demand for our products will
increase as the regulatory environment continues to evolve.
Our broad product line includes corrugated high density polyethylene (or “HDPE”)
pipe, polypropylene (or “PP”) pipe and related water management
products. Building on our core drainage businesses, we have aggressively pursued
attractive ancillary product categories such as storm and septic chambers, PVC
drainage structures, fittings, and water quality filters and separators. We
refer to these ancillary product categories as Allied Products. Given the scope
of our overall sales and distribution platform, we have been able to drive growth
within our Allied Products and believe there are significant growth opportunities
going forward.
We have an extensive network of 61 manufacturing plants and 31 distribution
centers, including the facilities owned or leased by our joint ventures, located
across the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico, South America and Europe.
In the U.S., our network of 47 manufacturing plants and 20 distribution centers
allows us to effectively serve all major markets in the United States, which
we define as the largest 100 metropolitan statistical areas based on population.
The effective shipping radius for our pipe products is approximately 200 miles,
thus competition in our industry tends to be on a regional and local basis with
minimal competition from distant markets and imports. We are the only supplier
of high performance thermoplastic corrugated pipe in our industry with a national
footprint in the United States, thereby allowing us to efficiently service those
customers that value having one source of supply throughout their entire distribution
network. We believe our extensive national footprint in the United States creates
a cost and service advantage versus our HDPE pipe producing competitors, the
largest of which has only 11 domestic HDPE pipe manufacturing plants and, according
to the July 25, 2016 ranking by Plastics News of Pipe, Profile & Tubing
Extruders, recently had estimated sales of $140 million, or approximately nine
times less than our net sales in fiscal year 2016. Our International segment
consists of 14 manufacturing plants in Canada, Mexico, South America and Puerto
Rico and 11 distribution centers located in Canada, South America, and Europe.
The combination of a dedicated fleet and team of company drivers allows greater
flexibility and responsiveness in meeting dynamic customer jobsite delivery
expectations. We strive to achieve less than three-day lead-time on deliveries,
and have the added benefit of redeploying fleet and driver assets to respond
to short-term regional spikes in sales activity. For deliveries that are outside
an economic delivery radius of our truck fleet, common carrier deliveries are
tendered using a customized software platform to ensure that lowest delivered
freight costs are achieved. In addition, in the United States and Canada, more
than 12% of our pipe volume is sold on a pick-up or walk-in basis at our plant
and yard locations, further leveraging our footprint and lowering freight cost
per pound and per revenue dollar.
Our North American truck fleet incorporates approximately 1,200 trailers that
are specially designed to haul our lightweight pipe and fittings products. These
designs maximize payload versus conventional over the road trailers and facilitate
unassisted unloading of our products at the jobsites by our drivers. The scope
of fleet operations also includes backhaul of purchased raw materials providing
a lower delivered cost to our plant locations.
We have expanded internationally primarily through joint ventures with local
partners. This joint venture strategy has provided us with local and regional
access to markets such as Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Peru and Colombia.
These international facilities produce pipe and related products to be sold
in their respective regional markets. Combining a local partner’s customer
relationships, brand recognition and local management talent, with our world-class
manufacturing and process expertise, broad product portfolio and innovation,
creates a powerful platform and exciting opportunities for continued international
expansion.