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Springfield Plastics: Expanding into humboldt

Agricultural drainage pipe company is responding to the demand

-Photo by Kriss Nelson
Springfield Plastics Inc. has opened a new distribution facility in Humboldt. Increased demand in agricultural drainage over the last five years has led to the company’s needs to expand further into Iowa.

HUMBOLDT — With an increasing demand from its customers to bring quality drainage pipe to the north central Iowa area, Springfield Plastics Inc. has opened up a new distribution facility in Humboldt.

Jennifer Furkin, chief executive officer of SPI, said the company — which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year — was open at its new Humboldt location for the fall drainage tile season and is planning to be open on a full-time basis this spring.

In the meantime, Furkin said they are ready to serve their customers’ needs as weather may allow for tiling to resume.

Drainage is an investment producers and landowners will see that will immediately pay for itself, she said.

“This is an investment they really can’t afford not to make, given the weather pattern we have been having,” said Furkin. “Each year we are seeing one extreme to the next in terms of weather patterns and given the high input costs, they can’t afford to lose them year after year after year.”

She added there has been an increased demand in agricultural drainage over the last five to six years. It’s that demand that has led them to move inventory to Humboldt.

“We have a pretty big presence in Iowa up to the Des Moines area and then further north is just an area we haven’t reached out to yet,” she said. “We are excited to be able to introduce ourselves to the people in that area that haven’t heard of us before, and to offer a quality product they will be able to feel and see the difference firsthand as they are unrolling one of the rolls.”

Furkin said landowners and producers should be pleased with the uniqueness of SPI’s agricultural drainage pipe.

“Part of what is unique about Springfield Plastics is we only use 100 percent virgin resin,” she said. “We offer a quality drainage product that not a lot of contractors and farmers can find at other pipe companies. That is part of another reason we are expanding, is that demand for quality drainage pipe. People have had problems with some of our competitor’s products in the past and they are looking for that consistency in the product that we offer.”

She explained that using 100 percent virgin resin means they use a raw material they melt down and turn into the plastic drainage pipe.

This raw material, she said, has never been used.

“It has never been processed before,” she said. “It was never a milk jug, never an ink pen, never a water bottle. It has just been melted down and turned into pipe. The resin we use has never been used, never been processed and has never been recycled before.”

A benefit to using 100 percent virgin resin is it helps to make a consistent product.

“At the end of the day, you are comparing a consistent product versus an inconsistent product,” she said, adding that those other products that have been made from a pre-used resin could mean some potential issues once installed.

“You don’t know where the inconsistent part will be, and for a landowner, once he installs it into his field, he doesn’t know where that soft spot is going to be or where his drainage system will fail,” she said. “At the end of the day, you are comparing a consistent product versus an inconsistent product. Using our 100 percent virgin resin, you know that whole black roll is completely consistent throughout.”

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