Advanced Drainage Systems announces $65-million expansion

Artist’s rendering of ADS’ nearly 110,000-square-foot engineering and technology centre. Image Credit: Advanced Drainage Systems Inc.

Advanced Drainage Systems Inc., said to be the largest plastic recycler in North America, is investing a total of approximately US$65 million into a state-of-the-art technology centre near its headquarters in Hilliard, Ohio.

The 110,000-square-foot facility will advance sustainable solutions as a LEED Silver certification showcase, ADS officials said in an Aug. 29 news release. Groundbreaking is scheduled to occur in October for an expected late 2023 opening.

“The ADS Engineering & Technology Center will be the most advanced stormwater engineering center in the world dedicated to product engineering, material science – including recycled plastics – and manufacturing technologies,” said ADS president and CEO Scott Barbour. “This new facility will accelerate our development of products designed to capture, convey, store, and treat our most precious resource — water.”

Recycled plastics will feature prominently in the centre’s mission “to improve quality of life in communities across North America,” Barbour added.

ADS will consolidate all its manufacturing engineering development, product development, and testing at the centre by creating a number of labs, including:

• A product development lab focused on the full range of a product’s life cycle;
• a fabrication lab to develop prototype parts and test fixtures;
• a lab to analyze structural performance of prototypes;
• a 3D-printing lab to rapidly develop and vet concepts;
• a hydraulics lab that supports ADS’ water-treatment businesses, including separation, traditional filtration, and low-impact development filtration;
• an advanced technology lab for manufacturing and engineering prototyping;
• material-science laboratories for performance testing, structural and chemical analysis, and extrusion capability for developing product formulations.

The use of LEED building techniques “supports our commitment to sustainability and advances progress to meeting ADS’ 10-year sustainability goals,” Barbour said. “The design of this facility will also enable safe observation of the exciting products and technologies that make ADS the world’s leading stormwater and on-site septic wastewater solutions provider.”