German corrugated pipe systems specialist Fränkische Rohrwerke (Königsberg; www.fraenkische.de) has plans to expand its North American headquarters in South Carolina / USA. The company announced it will invest USD 5m (about EUR 3.8m) in its subsidiary, Fraenkische Industrial Pipes (FIP, Anderson, South Carolina; www.fraenkische-ip.com), over the next few years and is likely to add about 50 jobs to the existing 100 positions in South Carolina.

An additional 1,850 m² of space is being added to make room for new manufacturing equipment. In 2011 the third generation, family-owned company added a 650 m² warehouse at the Anderson site, which created 20 new positions at the time. The industrial pipes division produces plastic corrugated tubing and assemblies for the automotive and industrial markets and the Anderson location is not far from where top automobile customers General Motors, Ford, BMW and DaimlerChrysler also have plants.

The Anderson office also oversees the company's newest manufacturing facility in Silao de la Victoria / Mexico, not far from Volkswagen manufacturing operations. The Bavarian-based company says it serves more than 100 customers in the Americas and reports that its business is also growing in non-automotive industrial segments such as fuel-related areas as well as household appliances and also within the agricultural and construction equipment industries.