Canadian Plastics

Ipex building new state-of-the-art injection molding plant in North Carolina

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Once completed, the plant in Pineville will be Ipex's biggest molding complex, with nearly 100 injection molding machines.

3D architectural drawing of Ipex’s molding plant in Pineville, N.C. Image Credit: Ipex

Canada-based pipe extruder Ipex has announced plans to build its biggest molding complex to date, a new state-of-the-art injection molding plant in Pineville, North Carolina.

In a July 21 news release, Ipex officials said the new 200,000-square-foot facility will encompass Industry 4.0, including artificial intelligence, and will increase the company’s ability to manufacture fittings for plumbing, electrical, industrial, and municipal applications.

“The…facility is being custom designed and built and will become the technological flagship for [our] operations and one of the most advanced plastics manufacturing facilities in the industry,” the news release said. “The plant’s flexible automation capabilities will enable total automation for all facets of sorting, labelling, counting, packing and assembly.”

Ipex plans to hire about 150 people from the local area, it said.

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The plant’s automation capabilities will eliminate the majority of manual repetitive processes and tasks, Ipex said, and the production floor will be forklift-free, with vehicles auto-guided by artificial intelligence, increasing plant safety. “Also, with sustainability in mind, the plant will be fully climate-controlled, use energy-efficient lighting, and high efficiency machines to reduce the use of both electricity and water,” the news release said.

“This new plant is an exciting endeavour for IPEX, our customers, employees, and the surrounding community. It is an integral part of our continued growth plans in North America,” said Ipex CEO Alex Mestres. “This level of investment in new technologies, cloud connectivity and flexible automation will make this plant a learning showcase for the rest of our operations and will allow us to better serve our customers with added flexibility, response time and innovative products.”

Construction of the facility is expected to be finalized in late 2022 with full operations expected to start in early 2023. Once the project is completed, the Pineville site, which includes an existing molding facility, will house nearly 100 injection molding machines.

The Pineville manufacturing plant is Ipex’s fourth new facility announcement in 2021, following three new distribution centres in Garland, Texas; Winnipeg; and Dartmouth, N.S.

Ipex is an Aliaxis Company, with corporate headquarters in Oakville, Ont.

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