The Medicom Group has announced the further expansion of its global footprint with the plan to open a new mask manufacturing facility in the United Kingdom this year.
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Established as Medicom HealthPro Limited, the factory will produce hundreds of millions of respiratory and medical masks under the company's leading European Kolmi brand, to meet local needs in the UK.
The ongoing coronavvirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of securing local supply of personal protective equipment, and the British Government is the latest of a growing number of countries seeking to partner directly with Medicom.
The new UK partnership follows Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's announcement that the government had strengthened the Canadian PPE supply chain by entering into a multi-year agreement with Medicom.
The Montreal facility is set to open in a few weeks.
In France, President Emmanuel Macron recently visited the Kolmi-Hopen plant and took the opportunity to confirm his readiness to protect French industry and the independence of the French personal protective equipment supply chain.
The establishment of a second mask factory in France was announced by Medicom earlier this month and will open in record time on June 29.
With 11 new lines and an optimized production schedule, medical mask production at the two sites in Angers will have tripled in five months.
Medicom is working in partnership with the world's leading producer of nonwoven fabrics, Berry Global Group to design the manufacturing solution.
Berry will guarantee the supply of the protection materials critical to mask production over the span of the agreement.
The new UK-based factory will include dozens of production lines that will produce over 100 million respiratory N-99 equivalent FFP3 Masks and over 500 million medical Type IIR masks to meet local needs in the UK and create at least 75 new full time, skilled jobs.
As announced today, the British government has enabled the investment through a long-term contractual commitment with Medicom. ■