A few weeks ago Don, Larry, and I traveled to Phoenix for 3 days to work at the Mission Clay Products Pipe Factory. MCP creates large sewer tile pipes that would be used under ground for septic and water pipes. These large clay pipes are extruded down at the Phoenix plant and several other locations across the lower United States. The factory in Phoenix can extrude pipes up to 36" in diameter and over 8 feet tall. The clay used in the pipes are from several clay deposits across Arizona, the clay is mixed and fired at the Phoenix plant. The factory has 3 very large Bee-Hive kilns where they can load hundreds of pipes in each kiln load. The pipes are placed into the kiln using forklifts and cranes to stack the kiln. When we arrived on Sunday night they had placed 3 large pipes in a back room for us to work on. We were under a tight time restraint as we had to load them into the kilns by Wednesday morning. We successfully completed two large pipes that will hopefully be exhibited in Chicago on the Navy Pier for SOFA. Check out the images from our 3 day adventure.
