FRANCESVILLE, Ind. — Fratco, an experienced manufacturer of polyolefin corrugated pipe, will have representatives at the Dec. 16-18 Indiana-Illinois Farm and Outdoor Power Equipment Show to tout the benefits of the 91-year-old company’s belief in doing things the right way.

For Fratco (an acronym for Francesville Tile Co.), doing things the right way involves manufacturing and selling plastic drain pipes in sizes ranging in diameter from 3 inches to 5 feet. The pipes end up in farmers’ fields and under roadsides to drain excess storm water from waterlogged ground.

Best of all, according to Chris Overmyer, the company’s owner and president, the pipes should last a century after they’ve been buried.

In 2013, Fratco was named one of the year’s 33 “Companies to Watch” by a coalition of Indiana governmental and economic development agencies. To receive the award, businesses had to employ 6-150 full-time workers and generate between $750,000-$100 million in annual revenue. Together, the 33 were projected to create 345 new jobs and generate $422 million in revenue.

Overmyer is the fourth generation of his family to run the company his great-grandfather purchased in 1923, when it was making clay pipes. In addition to Francesville, the company has sister plants in St. Anne, Ill., and Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Seventy-two of its 104 employees are in Francesville; all are heavily involved in area development efforts.

And all are dedicated to creating the quality product that is the company’s credo.

Material for the pipe is shipped in on railcars, each containing about 100 tons of tiny plastic pellets that will be melted down, often having color added to the plastic and then squirted into a vacuum-sealed mold that shapes the plastic as it cools.

“It’s the same material that a milk jug is made of,” Overmyer explained. “The great thing about polyolefin is that we can just remelt it and reuse it.”

Pipes that don’t meet quality control standards are ground for remelting. The company also ships in ground plastic bought secondhand from industrial sources. Whether the material is new or used, it is melted to temperatures as hot as 400 degrees Fahrenheit before entering the mold.

Pipes made with recycled industrial plastic can be used in certain construction projects aiming to meeting environmental standards, such as those required by the U.S. Green Building Council for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification.

In addition, the pipes are NTPEP (National Transportation Product Evaluation Program) certified by the American Assoc. of State Highways and Transportation Officials.

Fratco manufactures pipe, but it does not install it. To reach the business, call 800-854-7120 or 219-567-9133 or visit www.fratco.com