Producer

McWane Inc. (Manchester Tank)

HQ US · Birmingham, Alabamawebsite ↗

Privately held US industrial manufacturer; parent of Manchester Tank & Equipment Co. Manchester Tank (founded 1946, Franklin TN HQ) manufactures steel and aluminum DOT cylinders and ASME pressure vessels. Facilities: Bedford IN, Crossville TN, Elkhart IN, Quincy IL, Campbellsville KY (new), Echuca Australia, Chile (two locations). Makes residential propane tanks 120-1,000 gallons and DOT cylinders. McWane also manufactures water and sewer pipe products, fire hydrants, and other municipal infrastructure — Manchester Tank is one of several diverse industrial manufacturing businesses. New Campbellsville KY facility opened to serve growing demand for residential propane tanks.

2

Inputs supplied

2

Goods downstream

3

Facilities

0

Stories

What they make

2 inputs McWane Inc. (Manchester Tank) supplies

Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.

Where it shows up

Goods downstream

Essential goods that depend on something McWane Inc. (Manchester Tank) makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.

What else they do

Business segments

The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.

  • Propane Cylinders & Tanks (Manchester Tank)

    30%
  • Ductile Iron Pipe & Fittings

    40%
  • Fire Hydrants

    15%
  • Municipal Infrastructure

    15%

Intelligence

What's known

Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.

  • Chokepoint2003

    McWane Inc. is the dominant US ductile iron water pipe maker — and has been convicted or cited for more environmental and workplace safety violations than virtually any other US manufacturer, yet continues to supply the pipes that deliver drinking water to hundreds of millions of Americans McWane Inc., a private Birmingham Alabama company, controls ~55% of US ductile iron pipe production through subsidiaries Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe, Clow Water Systems, and Tyler Union. Between 1995 and 2005, McWane facilities accumulated more than 450 environmental violations; multiple workers were killed in accidents that OSHA found were preventable. A 2003 New York Times/Frontline investigation titled "Dangerous Business" documented mercury dumping, asbestos exposure, and falsified safety records. Multiple McWane executives were convicted of federal crimes (2005-2008). Despite these convictions, McWane's market share has remained stable; Buy America provisions in federal water funding effectively exclude competing import suppliers and insulate the domestic duopoly (McWane + ACIPCO).

    New York Times
  • Did you know2024

    McWane, Inc. — parent of Manchester Tank, the second-largest US propane cylinder manufacturer — is simultaneously one of the largest manufacturers of water and sewer infrastructure in the United States: ductile iron water pipes, fire hydrants, and valve fittings for municipal water systems. McWane's pipe and hydrant divisions (Tyler Pipe, Clow Valve, M&H Valve, Mueller) supply the water infrastructure of hundreds of US cities. The same private Birmingham, Alabama company that makes the tanks holding rural America's propane also makes the pipes and hydrants that supply America's urban water. McWane has been the subject of major OSHA enforcement actions for workplace safety violations at its facilities across multiple states.

    Manchester Tank / McWane Inc.