Concrete pipes are an important part of any country’s infrastructure. And for many years, worldwide there will continue to be a demand and need for concrete pipes, manholes and related products.
One major reason is growing urbanisation – and this will increase the demand for infrastructure development like housing, transport systems, and water supply and treatment systems, as well as drainage and sewage systems. Climate change will also play a major role in the future demand for infrastructure development.
The precipitation patterns are changing and many existing drainage systems will need to be upgraded and expanded to accommodate these changes.
As concrete is the strongest, the most flexible and most economical building material for infrastructure products, these circumstances will inevitably maintain or increase the need for concrete pipes. This will also result in companies wanting to invest in new production plants for these products to meet the market demand.
Seek advice
So what should a potential investor in concrete pipe production consider to enable them to meet the demands of the future? A good idea would be to investigate the trends in infrastructure development in other countries – and a good start would be to talk to HawkeyePedershaab, a company which has built concrete pipe plants all over the world. Their experience and know-how can prove invaluable to anyone wanting to invest in pipe production.
Torben Mørch, director of global marketing at HawkeyePedershaab, explains: “In most markets there are existing specifications for concrete pipes in place, and it is relatively easy to configure a pipe plant that will mirror these specifications. But most markets go up and down and you probably would like to have some flexibility in your plant to be able to diversify into other products if the market shifts.
This is where we know we can add a lot of value for our customers. First, we have the widest range of machines in the industry today, so we have a solution to every customer and every situation.
Secondly, from our experience around the world we can bring information about new products and new trends in the industry to the table, so the pipe producer would have an idea of what direction the market could be going. These two things together give any investor the security for their investment that they are looking for before investing lot of capital into a new plant.”
Trends in the concrete pipe market
The traditional concrete pipe products are drainage pipes (culvert pipes) and sewage pipes (spigot & socket pipes) together with manhole products.
Products increasing in popularity are also jacking pipes or micro-tunnelling pipes for applications where it is not possible to install pipes in open trenches. All these products are circular and have traditionally been made – and are still being made – with spinning technology.
In more and more places the spinning technology has been – or is being replaced with vertically dry-cast production technology because this, compared to spinning technology, offers clear advantages such as higher productivity, lower production costs and a safer production environment.
Other products growing in popularity are HDPE or PVC-lined concrete pipes for applications where the environment is more aggressive – and also concrete box culverts which are used for road underpasses for water, electrical installations or even pedestrians.
All these products can also be manufactured with the vertically dry-cast production process, but cannot be manufactured using the spinning process.
“It is very important to be aware of the trends in the infrastructure market when choosing the production technology for a new plant”, Torben Mørch explains. “We have seen markets change many times and we will without any doubt experience it again.
Then it is nice to see companies who are able to adapt to the changes using our equipment and put new products on the market. It also makes us proud when our customers are successful”.
HawkeyePedershaab are operating from their two headquarters in USA and Denmark and provide technical services to customers from five service centres around the world. From 15.-18. September they will also be present at Bauma Conexpo Africa 2015 – the trade fair for construction machinery – staged in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they will be ready to discuss concrete pipe production.
