The technology used to produce PVC‐O pipe has come a long way since the first process was developed for commercial production by Yorkshire Imperial Plastics in the 1970’s. Australia was an early adopter of this process, with Vinidex commencing manufacture of PVC‐O pipes back in 1984.

This process involved orientating the pipes off‐line in a separate orientation chamber, inflating the pipes using pressurised hot water. The process was slow and cumbersome and production was very limited

Come the 1990’s, a number of companies including Vinidex began to develop processes that would significantly increase the output of PVC‐O pipe. Out of this work came the in‐line orientation process, where a feedstock pipe from the extruder is stretched over a mandrel or plug under tightly controlled conditions to produce a bioriented PVC pipe. This concept subsequently became the standard process for production of PVC‐O pipes around the world. In Australia, Iplex installed Wavin Apollo PVC‐O lines, whilst Vinidex installed their patented Cornet process, both in NSW.

In 2006, Molecor was formed in Spain by former employees of the Spanish pipe producer Uralita. The company was formed to develop and market a new PVC‐O manufacturing method utilising an off‐line orientation technique, based on pressurised hot air to inflate feedstock pipes. This method on the surface appears to a variant of the Yorkshire process using air instead of water. However, by utilising a preheating oven to bring the feedstock pipes up to the required temperature for orientation, the Molecor process matches the output rates of the in‐line processes.

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