Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Otter Tail Corporation has interests in diversified operations that include an electric utility and manufacturing and plastic pipe businesses with corporate offices located in Fergus Falls, Minnesota and Fargo, North Dakota.
We classify our five operating companies into three segments consistent with our business strategy and management. The following depicts our three segments and the subsidiary entities included within each segment:
ELECTRIC SEGMENT MANUFACTURING SEGMENT PLASTICS SEGMENT
Otter Tail Power Company (OTP) BTD Manufacturing, Inc. (BTD) Northern Pipe Products, Inc. (Northern Pipe)
T.O. Plastics, Inc. (T.O. Plastics) Vinyltech Corporation (Vinyltech)
Electric includes the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electric energy in western Minnesota, eastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota. OTP, our largest operating subsidiary and primary business since 1907, serves more than 133,000 customers in 422 communities across a predominantly rural and agricultural service territory.
Manufacturing consists of businesses in the following manufacturing activities: contract machining; metal parts stamping, fabrication and painting; and production of plastic thermoformed horticultural containers, life science and industrial packaging, material handling components, and extruded raw material stock. These businesses have manufacturing facilities in Georgia, Illinois and Minnesota and sell products primarily in the United States.
Plastics consists of businesses producing polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe at plants in North Dakota and Arizona. The PVC pipe is sold primarily in the western half of the United States and Canada.
Throughout the remainder of this report, we use the terms "Company", "us", "our", or "we" to refer to Otter Tail Corporation and its subsidiaries collectively. We will also refer to our Electric, Manufacturing and Plastics segments and our individual subsidiaries as indicated above.
INVESTMENT AND GROWTH STRATEGY
We maintain a moderate risk profile by investing in rate base growth opportunities in our Electric segment and organic growth opportunities in our Manufacturing and Plastics segments. This strategy and risk profile are designed to provide a more predictable earnings stream, maintain our credit quality and preserve our ability to fund our dividend. Our goal is to deliver annual growth in earnings per share between five and seven percent over the next several years, using 2020 diluted earnings per share as the base for measurement. We expect our earnings growth to come from rate base investments in our Electric segment and from planned earnings growth arising from existing capacities within our Manufacturing and Plastics segments.
We will continue to review our business portfolio to identify additional opportunities to improve our risk profile, enhance our credit metrics and generate additional sources of cash to support the growth opportunities in our electric utility. We will also evaluate opportunities to allocate capital to potential acquisitions within our Manufacturing and Plastics segments.
We maintain a set of criteria used in evaluating the strategic fit of our operating businesses. The operating company should:
• Maintain a minimum level of net earnings and a return on invested capital in excess of the Company’s weighted average cost of capital,
• Have a strategic differentiation from competitors and a sustainable cost advantage,
• Operate within a stable and growing industry and be able to quickly adapt to changing economic cycles, and
• Have a strong management team committed to operational and commercial excellence.
Over time, we expect our Electric segment will provide approximately 75% of our overall earnings and our Manufacturing and Plastics segments will collectively provide approximately 25% of our overall earnings and continue to be a fundamental part of our strategy.
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Our actual mix of earnings in 2020, 2019, 2018and the average for the five-year period ended December 31, 2020 is as follows:
HUMAN CAPITAL
Our employees are a critical resource and an integral part of our success. We strive to provide an environment of opportunity and accountability where people are valued and empowered to do their best work. We are focused on the health and safety of our employees and creating a culture of inclusion, excellence and learning. Our human capital management efforts include monitoring various metrics and objectives associated with i) employee safety, ii) workforce stability, iii) management and workforce demographics, including gender, racial and ethnic diversity, iv) leadership development and succession planning, and v) productivity. We have established the following programs in furtherance of these efforts:
• Safety is one of our core values. We engage a third party to conduct conformity assessments annually. We continually monitor the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Total Recordable Incident Rate and Lost Time Incident Rate. New cases are reported and evaluated for corrective action during monthly safety calls attended by safety professionals at all locations.
• We extend leadership development into the organization to build enterprise-wide understanding of our culture, strategy and processes. Annual succession planning, individual development planning, mentoring, and supervisory and leadership development programs all play a role in ensuring a capable leadership team now and in the future. Our skill progression and technical training programs help ensure we have a skilled and stable workforce.
• To enhance productivity and employee engagement, and to help our companies continue to be places where our employees choose to work and thrive, we have undertaken a multi-year series of employee engagement surveys. We use the feedback to help shape the future of our organization.
• We communicate annually to all employees on our Code of Conduct to help ensure understanding of the common principles that guide who we are and how we do business.
Across our operating companies and including our corporate team as of December 31, 2020, we employed 2,074 full-time employees:
Segment/Organization Employees
Electric Segment
OTP 647
Manufacturing Segment
BTD 1,047
T.O. Plastics 163
Segment Total 1,210
Plastics Segment
Northern Pipe 100
Vinyltech 79
Segment Total 179
Corporate 38
Total 2,074
At December 31, 2020, 372 employees of OTP are represented by local unions of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers under two separate collective bargaining agreements expiring on August 31, 2023 and October 31, 2023. OTP has not experienced any strike, work stoppage or strike vote, and considers its present relations with employees to be good.
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ELECTRIC Contribution to Operating Revenues: 50% (2020), 50% (2019), 49% (2018)
OTP, headquartered in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, is a vertically integrated, regulated utility with generation, transmission and distribution facilities to serve its more than 133,000 residential, industrial and commercial customers in a service area encompassing approximately 70,000 square miles of western Minnesota, eastern North Dakota and northeastern South Dakota.
CUSTOMERS
Our service territory is predominantly rural and agricultural and includes over 400 communities, most of which have populations of less than 10,000. While our customer base includes relatively few large customers, sales to commercial and industrial customers are significant, with one industrial customer accounting for 11% of segment operating revenues for the year ended December 31, 2020.
The following summarizes our retail electric revenues by state and by customer segment for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019:
In addition to retail revenue, our Electric segment also earns operating revenues from the transmission of electricity for others over the transmission assets we wholly or jointly own with other transmission service providers, and from the sale of electricity we generate and sell into the wholesale electricity market.
COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS
Retail electric sales are made to customers in assigned service territories. As a result, most retail customers do not have the ability to choose their electric supplier. Competition is present in some areas from municipally owned systems, rural electric cooperatives and, in certain respects, from on-site generators and co-generators. Electricity also competes with other forms of energy.
The degree of competition may vary from time to time depending on relative costs and supplies of other forms of energy and advances in technology; however, we believe OTP is well positioned to be successful in a competitive environment. A comparison of OTP's electric retail rates to the rates of other investor-owned utilities, cooperatives and municipals in the states OTP serves indicates OTP's rates are competitive.
Competition also arises from distributed generation, which is the generation of electricity on-site or close to where it is needed in small facilities designed to meet local needs. Distributed energy resources are utility- or customer-owned resources on the distribution grid that can include combined heat and power, solar photovoltaic, wind, battery storage, thermal storage, and demand-response technologies.
Wholesale electricity markets are competitive under the FERC's open access transmission tariffs, which require utilities to provide nondiscriminatory access to all wholesale users. In addition, the FERC has established a competitive process for the construction and operation of certain new electric transmission facilities whereby electric transmission providers, including the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO), of which OTP is a member, are required to remove from their tariffs a federal right of first refusal to construct transmission facilities selected in a regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation.
Franchises
OTP has franchises to operate as an electric utility in substantially all of the incorporated municipalities it serves. Franchise rights generally require periodic renewal. No franchises are required to serve unincorporated communities in any of the three states that OTP serves.
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GENERATION AND PURCHASED POWER
OTP primarily relies on company-owned generation, supplemented by purchase power agreements, to supply the energy to meet our customer needs. Wholesale market purchases and sales of electricity are used as necessary to balance supply and demand as seasonal or other variations occur.
As of December 31, 2020, OTP’s wholly or jointly owned plants and facilities and their dependable kilowatt (kW) capacity was:
Capacity in kW
Baseload Plants
Big Stone Plant (1)
256,000
Coyote Station (2)
149,000
Hoot Lake Plant 143,100
Total Baseload Net Plant 548,100
Combustion Turbine and Small Diesel Units 107,900
Hydroelectric Facilities 2,500
Owned Wind Facilities (rated at nameplate)
Merricourt Wind Energy Center (75 turbines) 150,000
Luverne Wind Farm (33 turbines) 49,500
Ashtabula Wind Center (32 turbines) 48,000
Langdon Wind Center (27 turbines) 40,500
Total Owned Wind Facilities 288,000
Total 946,500
(1) Reflects OTP's 53.9% ownership percentage of jointly-owned facility
(2) Reflects OTP's 35.0% ownership percentage of jointly-owned facility
In addition to the owned facilities described above, OTP had the following purchased power agreements in place on December 31, 2020:
Purchased Power
in kW
Purchased Wind Power (rated at nameplate and greater than 2,000 kW)
Ashtabula Wind III 62,400
Edgeley 21,000
Langdon 19,500
Total Purchased Wind 102,900
Purchase of Capacity (in excess of 1 year and 500 kW)
Great River Energy (through May 2021)
50,000
The following summarizes the percentage of our generating capacity by source, including owned and jointly-owned facilities and through power and capacity purchase arrangements, as of December 31, 2020, and the percentage of retail kilowatt-hours (kwh) sold by source during the year ended December 31, 2020:
Under MISO requirements, OTP is required to have sufficient capacity through wholly or jointly-owned generating capacity or purchased power agreements to meet its monthly weather-normalized forecast demand, plus a reserve obligation. OTP met its obligation for the 2019-2020 planning year and anticipates meeting this obligation prospectively.
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Capacity Retirements and Additions
Hoot Lake Plant, our 142-meagwatt coal-fired power plant in Fergus Falls, Minnesota is approved for retirement in mid-2021.
As part of our investment plan to meet our future energy needs, we have the following projects at various stages of planning and construction or have been recently completed:
Merricourt Wind Energy Center (Merricourt) is a 150-megawatt wind farm located in southeastern North Dakota. Construction of the wind farm commenced in 2019 and the facility was in commercial operation in December 2020 at a cost of approximately $260.0 million.
Astoria Station Natural Gas Plant (Astoria) is a 245-megawatt simple cycle natural gas combustion turbine generation facility near Astoria, South Dakota. Construction began in 2019 and we anticipate the facility will be substantially complete in the first quarter of 2021. We anticipate total project costs will be $152.5 million.
Hoot Lake Plant Solar (HLP Solar) is a 49-megawatt solar farm under development on land on and around our Hoot Lake Plant in Fergus Falls, Minnesota. The project will include up to 150,000 solar panels at an anticipated cost of $60.0 million. We anticipate, subject to permitting and regulatory approval, the facility will be in commercial operation no later than the end of 2023.
RESOURCE MATERIALS
Coal is the principal fuel burned at our Big Stone, Coyote and Hoot Lake generating plants. Coyote Station, a mine-mouth facility, burns North Dakota lignite coal. Hoot Lake Plant and Big Stone Plant burn western subbituminous coal transported by rail. We source coal for our coal-fired power plants through requirements contracts which do not include minimum purchase requirements but do require all coal necessary for the operation of the respective plant to be purchased from the counterparty. Our coal supply contracts for our Hoot Lake Plant, Big Stone Plant and Coyote Station have expiration dates in 2023, 2022 and 2040, respectively.
The supply agreement between the Coyote Station owners, including OTP, and the coal supplier includes provisions requiring the Coyote Station owners to purchase the membership interests of the coal supplier in the event of certain early termination events and at the expiration of the coal supply agreement in 2040. See Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included in this report on Form 10-K for additional information.
Coal is transported to our non-mine-mouth facilities, Big Stone Plant and Hoot Lake Plant, by rail and is provided under a common carrier rate which includes a mileage-based fuel surcharge.
TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
Our transmission and distribution assets deliver energy from energy generation sources to our customers. In addition, we earn revenue from the transmission of electricity over our wholly or jointly owned transmission assets for others under approved rate tariffs. As of December 31, 2020, we were the whole or partial owner of over 8,900 miles of transmission and distribution lines.
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (MISO)
MISO is an independent, non-profit organization that operates the transmission facilities owned by other entities, including OTP, within its regional jurisdiction and administers energy and generation capacity markets. MISO has operational control of our transmission facilities above 100 kV. MISO seeks to optimize the efficiency of the interconnected system, provide solutions to regional planning needs and minimize risk to reliability through its security coordination, long-term regional planning, market monitoring, scheduling and tariff administration functions.
SEASONALITY
Electricity demand is affected by seasonal weather differences, with peak demand occurring in the summer and winter months. As a result, our Electric segment operating results may fluctuate on a seasonal basis. In addition, fluctuations in electricity demand within the same season but between years can impact our operating results. We monitor the level of heating and cooling degree days in a period to assess the impact of weather-related effects on our operating results between periods.
PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATION
OTP is subject to regulation of rates and other matters in each of the three states in which it operates and by the federal government for certain interstate operations. OTP operates under approved retail electric tariff rates in all three states it serves. Tariff rates are designed to recover plant investments, a return on those investments, and operating costs. In addition to determining rate tariffs, state regulatory commissions also authorize ROE, capital structure and depreciation rates of our plant investments. Decisions by our regulators can significantly impact our operating results, financial position and cash flows.
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Below is a summary of the regulatory agencies with jurisdiction of electric rates over OTP along with the percentage of electric revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020 covered by each regulatory agency:
Regulatory % of
Agency Revenue Areas of Regulation
Minnesota Public Utilities Commission
(MPUC)
47% Retail rates, issuance of securities, depreciation rates, capital structure, public utility services, construction of major facilities, establishment of exclusive assigned service areas, contracts with subsidiaries and other affiliated interests and other matters.
Selection or designation of sites for new generating plants (50,000 kW or more) and routes for transmission lines (100 kV or more).
Review and approval of fifteen-year Integrated Resource Plan.
North Dakota Public Service Commission
(NDPSC) 34% Retail rates, certain issuances of securities, construction of major utility facilities and other matters.
Approval of site and routes for new electric generating facilities (500 kW or more for wind generating facilities; 50,000 kW for non-wind generating facilities) and high voltage transmission lines (115 kV or more).
Review and approval of ten-year facility plan.
South Dakota Public Utilities Commission
(SDPUC) 9% Retail rates, public utility services, construction of major facilities, establishment of assigned service areas and other matters.
Approval of sites and routes for new electric generating facilities (100,000 kW or more) and most transmission lines (115 kV or more).
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
(FERC) 10% Wholesale electricity sales, transmission and sale of electric energy in interstate commerce, interconnection of facilities, hyrdoelectric licensing and accounting policies and practices.
Compliance with NERC reliability standards, including standards on cybersecurity and protection of critical infrastructure.
In addition to base rates, there are other mechanisms for recovery of plant investments, including a return on investment, and operating expenses. The following is a summary of these recovery mechanisms:
Recovery Mechanism Jurisdiction(s) Additional Information
Fuel Clause Adjustment (FCA) MN, ND, SD Provides for periodic billing adjustments for changes in prudently incurred costs of fuel and purchased power. In North and South Dakota, fuel and purchased power costs are generally adjusted on a monthly basis with over or under collections from the previous month applied to the next monthly billing. In Minnesota, fuel and purchased power costs are estimated on an annual basis and the accumulated difference between actual and estimated cost per kwh are refunded or recovered, subject to regulatory approval, in subsequent periods.
Transmission Cost Recovery Rider (TCR) MN, ND, SD Provides for recovery of costs outside of a general rate case for investments in new or modified electric transmission or distribution assets.
Environmental Cost Recovery Rider (ECR) MN, ND, SD Provides for recovery of costs outside of a general rate case for investments in certain environmental improvement projects.
Renewable Resource Rider (RRR) MN, ND Provides for recovery of costs outside of a general rate case for investments in certain new renewable energy projects.
Generation Cost Recovery Rider (GCR) ND Provides for the recovery of costs outside of a general rate case for investments in new generation facilities.
Phase-In Rider (PIR) SD Provides for the recovery of costs outside of a general rate case for investments in new generation facilities.
Conservation Improvement Program (CIP) MN Under Minnesota law, OTP is required to invest at least 1.5% of its gross operating revenues on energy conservation improvements. Recovery of these costs outside of a general rate case occurs through the CIP.
Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP) SD Provides for the recovery of costs from energy efficiency investments.
Renewable Energy Standard
Minnesota has a renewable energy standard requiring utilities to generate or procure sufficient renewable generation such that the following percentages of total retail electric sales to Minnesota customers come from qualifying renewable sources: 17% by 2016; 20% by 2020 and 25% by 2025. We met the current renewable sources requirements with a combination of owned renewable generation and purchases from renewable generation sources. Minnesota law also requires 1.5% of total Minnesota electric sales by public utilities to be supplied by solar energy by 2020. For a public utility with between 50,000 and 200,000 retail electric customers, such as OTP, at least 10% of the 1.5% requirement must be met by solar energy generated by or procured from solar photovoltaic devices with a nameplate capacity of 40 kWs or less. OTP has purchased sufficient solar renewable energy credits (SRECs) to meet 100% of its 2020 obligation and approximately 70% of its 2021 obligation.
Under certain circumstances and after consideration of costs and reliability issues, the MPUC may modify or delay implementation of the standards. We are evaluating potential options for maintaining compliance and meeting the solar energy standard beyond 2021.
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Integrated Resource Plan (IRP)
Under Minnesota law, utilities are required to submit for approval by the MPUC a 15-year advance IRP. An IRP is a set of resource options a utility could use to meet the service needs of its customers over the forecast period, including an explanation of the utility’s supply and demand circumstances, and the extent to which each resource option would be used to meet those service needs. The MPUC’s findings of fact and conclusions regarding IRPs are considered to be evidence, subject to rebuttal, in future rate reviews and other proceedings. Typically, IRPs are submitted every two years.
On April 26, 2017 the MPUC approved OTP’s 2017-2031 IRP filing with modifications and setting requirements for the next IRP. The approved IRP with modifications included the following items:
• The addition of 200 MW of wind resources in the 2018 to 2020 timeframe.
• The addition of 30 MW of solar resources by 2020 to comply with Minnesota's Solar Energy Standard.
• The addition of up to 250 MW of peaking capacity in 2021.
• Average annual energy savings of 46.8 gigawatt-hours (1.6% of retail sales).
• The addition of 100 MW to 200 MW of wind resources in the 2022 to 2023 timeframe.
The MPUC has granted us an extension for filing our next IRP to September 1, 2021. The extension provides additional time to assess the potential impact of two key Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations: the federal Regional Haze Rule (RHR) and the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule. In connection with the extension, OTP made a supplemental filing on December 31, 2020 summarizing the results of scenario modeling evaluating RHR compliance cost options and a Coyote Station 2028 retirement scenario. The filing indicated, when modeled with externalities, that capital investments in additional environmental controls at Coyote Station does not result in the lowest-cost mix of resources for our customers. This IRP supplemental filing includes only a subset of our resource planning analysis and it is not conclusive. In addition, we cannot conclude how RHR will impact Coyote Station as key milestones remain in developing the state implementation plan in North Dakota. Finally, OTP is one of four partners in Coyote Station and cannot make a unilateral decision on its future. We expect to have more definitive information about the most cost-effective resource mix to meet customer needs when the next IRP is filed on September 1, 2021.
Capital Structure Petition
Minnesota law requires an annual filing of a capital structure petition with the MPUC. In this filing the MPUC reviews and approves OTP's capital structure. Once approved, OTP may issue securities without further petition or approval, provided the issuance is consistent with the purposes and amounts set forth in the approved petition. The MPUC approved OTP’s most recent capital structure petition on July 15, 2020, allowing for an equity-to-total-capitalization ratio between 47.5% and 58.1%, with total capitalization not to exceed $1.70 billion until the MPUC issues a new capital structure order for 2021.
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION
OTP is subject to stringent federal and state environmental standards and regulations regarding, among other things, air, water and solid waste pollution. OTP's facilities have been designed, constructed, and as necessary, updated, to operate in compliance with applicable environmental regulations. However, new or amended laws and regulations, or changes in interpretations of current laws and regulations may require additional pollution control equipment or emission reduction measures, and there can be no assurance that our facilities will remain economic to operate. Prudent expenditures incurred to comply with environmental regulations are eligible to be recovered in rates granted by regulators in jurisdictions in which we operate; however, there can be no assurance that future costs will be granted recovery. Alternatively, additional pollution control equipment or other emission reduction measures may prove to be uneconomic with the potential to lead to an early closure of a facility.
For the five-year period ended December 31, 2020, OTP invested approximately $13.5 million, including $0.4 million in 2020, in environmental control facilities. Our 2021 and 2022 construction budgets include approximately $1.4 million and $1.2 million for such expenditures. The timing and amount of our expenditures may change as the regulatory environment changes.
Among current regulatory requirements, the Regional Haze Rule (RHR) could have the most significant impact on our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
The EPA adopted the RHR in 1999 as an effort to improve visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. The RHR requires states, in coordination with the EPA and other governmental agencies, to develop and implement plans to work towards achieving natural visibility conditions by the year 2064. The second RHR implementation period covers the years 2018-2028, with state implementation plans to be submitted to the EPA by July 31, 2021. States are required to assess reasonable progress with the RHR and determine what additional emission reductions are appropriate, if any. Coyote Station, OTP's co-owned coal-fired power plant in North Dakota is subject to assessment in the second implementation period under the North Dakota state implementation plan. See Note 13 to our consolidated financial statements included in the report on Form 10-K for additional information.
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Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Regulation
Present and future federal, state, regional and international environmental regulations to address global climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions may have a significant impact on our utility business. Combustion of fossil fuels for the generation of electricity is a considerable source of CO 2 emissions, which is the primary GHG emitted by our utility operations.
Regulatory measures to address climate change continue to evolve. In January 2021, the EPA's Affordable Clean Energy Rule (ACE Rule) was vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and remanded to the EPA for further consideration. Future federal regulatory measures, including in response to the vacated rule ACE Rule, will be impacted by the Biden administration's priorities and objectives. While the eventual outcome of GHG regulation is unknown, we are taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint and mitigate CO 2 emission levels in the process of generating electricity for our customers. Our initiatives include increasing the efficiency of our plants, adding renewable energy to our resource mix, and sponsoring energy conservation programs.
While the future financial impact of any current, proposed or pending litigation or regulation of GHG or other emissions is unknown at this time, any capital or operating costs incurred for additional pollution control equipment or emission reduction measures could materially adversely impact our future operating results, financial position and cash flows unless such costs could be recovered through related rates and/or future market prices for energy.
MANUFACTURING Contribution to Operating Revenues: 27% (2020), 30% (2019), 29% (2018)
Manufacturing consists of businesses engaged in the following activities: contract machining, metal parts stamping, fabrication and painting, and production of plastic thermoformed horticultural containers, life science and industrial packaging, and material handling components and extruded raw material stock. The following is a brief description of each of these businesses:
BTD Manufacturing, Inc. (BTD), with headquarters located in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, provides metal fabrication services for custom machine parts and metal components through metal stamping, tool and die, machining, tube bending, welding and assembly in its facilities in Detroit Lakes and Lakeville, Minnesota, Washington, Illinois and Dawsonville, Georgia.
T.O. Plastics, Inc. (T.O. Plastics) , with facilities in Otsego and Clearwater, Minnesota, manufactures extruded and thermoformed plastic products, including custom parts for customers in several industries and its own line of horticulture containers. Examples of products produced include clamshell packing, blister packs, returnable pallets and handling trays for shipping and storing odd-shaped or difficult-to-handle parts.
CUSTOMERS
Our metal fabrication business primarily serves Midwestern and Southeastern U.S. manufacturers in the recreational vehicle, agricultural, oil and gas, lawn and garden, industrial and energy equipment end markets. Our plastic products business serves primarily U.S. customers in the medical and life sciences, industrial, recreational and electronics industries. The principal method of production distribution is by direct shipment to our customers through common carrier ground transportation.
No single customer or product of our manufacturing businesses accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated operating revenue in 2020. However, the top three customers combined to account for 46% of our 2020 Manufacturing segment operating revenue.
COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS
The various markets in which we compete are characterized by intense competition from both foreign and domestic manufacturers. These markets have many established manufacturers with broader product lines, greater distribution capabilities, greater capital resources, excess capacity, labor advantages and larger marketing, research and development staffs and facilities than our own.
We believe the principal competitive factors in our Manufacturing segment are product performance, quality, price, technical innovation, cost effectiveness, customer service and breadth of product line. We intend to continue to compete based on high-performance products, innovative production technologies, cost-effective manufacturing techniques, close customer relations and support, and increasing product offerings.
RESOURCE MATERIALS
We use raw materials in the products we manufacture, including steel, aluminum, and polystyrene and other plastics resins. Managing price volatility and ensuring raw material availability are important aspects of our business. We attempt to pass increases in the costs of these raw materials on to our customers. Increases in the costs of raw materials that cannot be passed on to customers could have a negative effect on profit margins. Additionally, a certain amount of residual material (scrap) is a by-product of the manufacturing and production processes. Declines in commodity prices for these scrap materials due to weakened demand or excess supply can negatively impact the profitability of our Manufacturing segment as it reduces their ability to mitigate the cost associated with excess material.
ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION
Our manufacturing businesses are subject to environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, including those governing discharges to air and water, the management and disposal of hazardous substances, the cleanup of contaminated sites and health and safety matters.
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PLASTICS Contribution to Operating Revenues: 23% (2020), 20% (2019), 22% (2018)
Plastics consists of businesses producing PVC pipe at plants in North Dakota and Arizona. The following is a brief description of these businesses:
Northern Pipe Products, Inc. (Northern Pipe) , located in Fargo, North Dakota, manufactures and sells PVC pipe for municipal water, rural water, wastewater, storm drainage systems and other uses in the northern, midwestern, south-central and western regions of the United States as well as central and western Canada.
Vinyltech Corporation (Vinyltech) , located in Phoenix, Arizona, manufactures and sells PVC pipe for municipal water, wastewater, water reclamation systems and other uses in the western, northwest and south-central regions of the United States.
PVC pipe is manufactured through a process known as extrusion. During this process, PVC compound (a dry powder-like substance) is introduced into an extrusion machine, where it is heated to a molten state and then forced through a sizing apparatus to produce the pipe. The newly extruded pipe is pulled through a series of water-cooling tanks, marked to identify the type of pipe and cut to finished lengths. Together our Plastic segment businesses have the current capacity to produce approximately 300 million pounds of PVC pipe annually.
CUSTOMERS
PVC pipe products are marketed through a combination of independent sales representatives, company salespersons and customer service representatives. Customers for our PVC pipe products consist primarily of wholesalers and distributors and the principal method for distribution of our products is by common carrier ground transportation. No single customer of the PVC pipe companies accounted for 10% or more of our consolidated operating revenues in 2020. However, two customers combined to account for 45% of our 2020 Plastics segment operating revenue.
COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS
The plastic pipe industry is fragmented and competitive due to the number of producers, the small number of raw material suppliers and the fungible nature of the product. Due to shipping costs, competition is usually regional, instead of national, in scope. The principal factors of competition are price, customer service, and product performance. We compete not only against other plastic pipe manufacturers, but also ductile iron, steel and concrete pipe producers. Pricing pressure will continue to affect our operating margins in the future.
We will continue to compete based on our high-quality products, cost-effective production techniques and close customer relations and support.
RESOURCE MATERIALS
PVC resins are acquired in bulk and shipped to our facilities by rail. There are four vendors from which we can source our PVC resin requirements. Two vendors provided over 99% of total resin purchases in 2020. The supply of PVC resin may also be limited primarily due to manufacturing capacity and the limited availability of raw material components. Most U.S. resin production plants are located in the Gulf Coast region. These plants are subject to the risk of damage and production shutdowns because of exposure to hurricanes that occur in this part of the United States. The loss of a key vendor, or any interruption or delay in the supply of PVC resin, could disrupt the ability of the Plastics segment to manufacture products, cause customers to cancel orders or result in increased expenses for obtaining PVC resin from alternative sources, if such sources were available. We believe we have good relationships with our key raw material vendors.
Due to the commodity nature of PVC resin and PVC pipe and the dynamic supply and demand factors worldwide, historically the markets for both PVC resin and PVC pipe have been very cyclical with significant fluctuations in prices and gross margins.
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