62 Business View - August 2015
MANUFACTURING
So, if plastic pipe is, according to Camilla Eng, Execu-
tive Vice President of Sales and General Counsel for
JM Eagle, lighter, stronger, less expensive to ship,
easier to install, and lasts infinitely longer than iron
pipe, why it isn’t it being universally employed in ev-
ery municipal infrastructure project that requires pipe
of any kind? Gordon answers: “Infrastructure projects
are designed by engineers and because of historical
preferences they feel confident and comfortable us-
ing ductile iron. It’s what they’ve used. And plastic re-
ally hadn’t been around until the second half of the
1900s, so they stick with what they know.”
Gordon also laments the fact that the political arm of
the ductile iron industry is very strong and its lobbyists
have effectively influenced legislation over the years
that gives preference to the continued use of ductile
iron. He relates how the specifications for infrastruc-
ture rebuilding projects after Hurricane Sandy devas-
tated parts of New Jersey were written by local engi-
neers who only included ductile iron in them. Thus,
plastic pipe manufacturers were frozen out of federal
reconstruction funds because their products, although
potentially better-suited for the projects, as well as less
expensive, did not meet the specs they were intention-
ally written out of.
Eng adds, “As an innovative industry leader, JM Eagle
has taken steps towards government engagement
strategies wherein we have met with Congressional
offices to present green, cost- and labor-effective al-
ternatives to ductile iron. When Congress designates
federal funds for infrastructure projects, many of these
projects are administered by state and local agencies
that may elect to use material specifications that are
limited to one option --ductile iron. Our work in gov-
ernment engagement is to advance the plastic pipe
industry through education of the plastic pipe alterna-
tive and its advantages -- from legislators, at every lev-
el to our local engineers and contractors. Our taxpayer
dollars go a longer way when our government fosters
and adheres to open and fair competition when con-
sidering all alternatives for infrastructure.”
