JM Eagle, a plastic pipe manufacturer, opened up for tours Tuesday at the Business to Business Hermiston Chamber Luncheon.

The United States leading manufacturer of PVC and PE pipe has a plant in Umatilla, just north of McNary Dam.

It is one of JM Eagles 22 sites in the United States, and specializes in making pipe for anything from electrical wire housing to water main lines. Pipe size ranges from a half-inch to 63 inches in diameter.

So what are the uses for plastic pipe?

For example, according to JM Eagle Marketing Coordinator Jay Martin, there are 850 mainline water breaks a year. Six billion gallons of water is lost a day in the USA, which is the same amount the State of California uses in a day. 

JM Eagles claim to fame is its pipe durability, which is backed by its newly announced 50-year warranty on its products.

Its something we really need to start looking for, using products that will last for a long time, Martin said.

PVC is also 100 percent recyclable. That means production mistakes and already-used product can be put back in a grinder and re-molded into PVC.

Its also lighter and takes less machinery to put it in the ground, Martin said.

That means less cost.

According to Don Morgan, a 20-plus year JM Eagle veteran, the Hermiston plant currently has 52 employees and runs four crews  in a 24-hour period two crews per 12-hour shift. Shift employees work about 15 days a month. They have engineers, electricians and mechanics or, electro-mechanics, said Morgan.

The old shop was built in 1973, and then the new shop was built in 1996, expanding the production warehouse.

During the luncheon, the Chamber honored the Simmons Financial Group with a Business of the Month plaque. 

Before and after the event, JM Eagle employees guided more than 75 people total through the inner workings of the company.