Westlake finishes its Wichita Falls PVCO pressure pipe plant on time and on budget

Westlake Pipe & Fittings, the pipe and fittings arm of Westlake Corporation, has completed a new PVCO pipe manufacturing plant at its existing site in Wichita Falls, Texas. The company confirmed the finish on 29 October and said the build came in on time and on budget.

What's been built

The project adds a 190,000 square-foot facility at the site on Industrial Drive. Westlake first announced the investment in May 2024, saying construction would begin by the end of that year and that the expansion would create jobs for skilled workers. Neither announcement gave a capacity figure, a dollar value or a headcount, so the size of the new line is not public.

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PVCO is molecular-oriented PVC, a pressure pipe Westlake introduced in 2021 and sells on strength, durability and suitability for drinking water. The company says the Wichita Falls plant expands its North American capacity for the product and brings PVCO manufacturing to the region for the first time. Westlake also points to the site's central US location as a way to reach customers across the country.

"the largest investment in an expansion of a Westlake Housing & Infrastructure Products facility" Andre Battistin, Senior Vice President, Westlake Pipe & Fittings, describing the project (Westlake)

Who's behind it

Westlake Pipe & Fittings runs 24 manufacturing and distribution sites in North America and sells into municipal water and sewer, plumbing, electrical, water well, pool and spa, and agriculture and irrigation. Its parent, Westlake Corporation, is marking 40 years in business in 2026. The same group owns the Longview polyethylene plant that won a court reprieve last month, so it sits on both sides of the PVC versus PE argument.

Market coverage has been light. An independent write-up from Zacks repeated the company's points on capacity, on-time delivery and demand for water infrastructure, but added no new detail on volumes.

The bigger picture

For HDPE pipe makers, this is worth noting even though it is a PVC story. Municipal pressure mains are a contested market, and a large producer finishing new capacity for a premium PVC pressure product means more competition for utility specifications. It also lands at a time when federal water funding is uncertain after the IIJA supplemental money lapsed, so new capacity will be chasing a budget pool that may tighten. How quickly Westlake fills the plant, and how hard it pushes PVCO with utility engineers, will be worth watching through 2027.

What it means for hiring

A new pressure pipe plant usually needs a plant manager, extrusion and process engineers, quality leads and maintenance technicians. In our view, Wichita Falls will compete for the same Texas plant talent that HDPE extruders rely on.
Premium pressure pipe is won at specification stage. We expect Westlake to lean on applications engineers and municipal sales staff who can sell to utility engineers, which raises the value of that profile across the pipe market.
HDPE makers defending municipal water work may want to strengthen their own engineering-led sales teams before competing capacity reaches the market.

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