March 2013 Tube ProducTs InTernaTIonal
13
business & market news
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Pipex chairman awarded MBE
Alan Smith, founder and chairman of
Pipex px
®
, has been awarded an MBE
in the 2013 New Year Honours List for
“service to the manufacturing industry”.
Pipex px is a privately owned, family-
run SME manufacturing business,
specialising
in
manufacturing
construction products from thermo-
plastics and advanced composites,
and spearheading innovation in fast
track, corrosion resistant, minimal
maintenance solutions.
Recent projects include a fibre reinforced
polymer footbridge installed at a Grade
II listed railway station; glass reinforced
epoxy pipe systems and FRP phenolic
gratings for the flight deck walkways on
the
Queen Elizabeth
-class aircraft carrier
(the largest warship ever built in the
UK); and thermoplastic polypropylene
passive rainwater harvesting systems
that are currently being installed in
various UK schools.
Having started the business in 1975
with a small bank loan secured
against his house, Mr Smith began by
exporting thermoplastic pipe systems
to pharmaceutical and petrochemical
projects in the Middle East. “Pipe
exports” was abbreviated to give the
company name Pipex Ltd. At that stage
there was no manufacturing facility,
so fabrication work had to be sub-
contracted.
38 years on, the company (now Pipex
px) has manufacturing facilities in
Plymouth and Glasgow, five engineering
divisions, employs 130 people, runs
an apprenticeship scheme, donates 5
per cent of surplus profits to national
and local charities, and is multi-award
winning in all areas of the business.
Mr Smith commented, “I am humbled
and very touched to receive this award.
I feel this MBE is for Pipex px and all my
colleagues who have worked so hard
with me to make the company what it
is today.”
Pipex px
– UK
Pipex founder
and chairman
Alan Smith
