Rock Solid Plastics Limited is running at maximum capacity at its Ashenheim Road plant in St Andrew, moulding between 140 and 150 water tanks a day as Jamaica’s drought drives demand for storage. Managing director and founding partner Andrew Simpson told the Jamaica Observer on a plant tour that the five-and-a-half-year-old company is down for only about 29 hours a week under a two-shift system.
“Because of the drought, we are currently at maximum capacity,” Simpson said. The Jamaica Gleaner, covering the same September 16 media tour, put headcount at about 40 people, up from five when the company started in 2020. Output started around 10 tanks a day.
The plant uses rotational moulding with high-density polyethylene in an oven system Simpson contrasts with open-flame methods used by some competitors. Tank sizes run from 200 gallons to 2,500 gallons. The 650-gallon and 1,000-gallon units are the biggest sellers to households and farmers, with strongest demand from Westmoreland and St James. Schools and other institutions take the 2,500-gallon units. The Gleaner reported list prices from $16,500 plus tax for the 200-gallon tank to $212,000 plus tax for the 2,500-gallon unit.
Water tanks are about 95 percent of revenue. Simpson is not treating that mix as permanent. “With every drought, there is rainfall behind it,” he told the Observer. “We don’t expect water tanks to be at this level in perpetuity.” New lines in the works include 110-gallon and 220-gallon slimline tanks sized to fit through an apartment door for Kingston, St Andrew, St Catherine and Montego Bay buyers with little yard space, plus septic tanks, grease traps, and more of the planters, garbage bins and manhole enclosures already on the floor.
Space is the other constraint. The company leases roughly 14,000 square feet indoors plus about 4,000 outside and says it could use four to five times that. St Catherine is under discussion for a possible move; Ashenheim Road could stay as a Kingston and St Andrew distribution point. No board decision has been taken. Simpson also told the Observer that Rock Solid estimates roughly 30 to 40 percent of Jamaica’s water tank market — the company’s own figure, not an independent audit — and that it has supplied government water-storage programmes, including a tender tied to a 10,000-tank procurement.
Damaged tanks are ground and reused in non-load-bearing products such as planters and bins. Recycled resin is not used in water tanks because of pressure requirements. Simpson said the recycling step can cost more than virgin material. Large tanks are hard to export (“exporting a lot of air”); smaller moulded goods are the Caribbean and Florida export bet.
What this means. Drought is filling a local factory, not just emptying pipes. Rock Solid’s story sits beside the same dry spell that pushed Cabinet’s extra drought trucking money — see Cabinet Adds $500 Million for Drought Relief as Schools Reopen. A plant at 95 percent tank revenue that is already planning slimline and septic lines is treating rainfall as a certainty, and treating capacity and footprint as the real bottlenecks.
What to do. If you are buying storage for a household, farm or school this season, ask for current lead time on the size you need — same-day delivery is what Simpson claims when stock is ready, not a standing promise on every SKU. If you specify tanks for a project or a parish programme, confirm gallon size against yard or roof space before you order the 1,000-gallon default. Last fact-checked 18 September 2026.
