When the founders of plastic pipe maker Ipex Group of Cos. came to Canada from then-Soviet occupied Estonia in 1949, they started manufacturing hula-hoops. Now they want to avoid getting hooped by cross-border trade restrictions.

“The founders made their first million dollars within three years of coming to Canada, but they figured it might be a fad,” says Veso Sobot, engineer and director of corporate affairs for the Mississauga-headquartered Ipex Management Inc.

“So they straightened out the hoops and started making pipe.” Today, Ipex has 18 plants in Canada and seven in the United States.

“We supply the North American market with pipe for construction,” Mr. Sobot says. Ipex makes thermoplastic pipe used in infrastructure for plumbing in buildings, factories and municipal water systems.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for supplying the infrastructure market in both Canada and the United States, and we’ve been doing so for 67 years,” Mr. Sobot says.

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