Emerging US medical gloves industry fits ‘made-in-America’ plan to cut reliance on global supply chains

Dire memories of supply shortfalls early in coronavirus pandemic spur home-grown production boosted by government help

Job creation another goal as nation strives to prepare for next healthcare challenges

5-MIN READ5-MIN

Nitrile gloves, like those pictured here, gained popularity during the coronavirus pandemic for reducing the odds of transmitting infection.
Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 7:00am, 11 Nov 2022Updated: 12:18am, 15 Nov 2022

Like countless steel mills across the US, the one perched at Sparrows Point, Maryland met an ignominious end after a run of manufacturing glory dating to the 19th century, its furnaces demolished in 2014. But eight years on, a global pandemic has breathed new life into the abandoned site overlooking the Patapsco River outside Baltimore.

No longer a relic of the past but instead a vital piece of an ambitious plan to ensure that the US healthcare system is “made in America”, the vast 700,000-square-foot facility is expected to churn out a staggering 350 million disposable medical-grade nitrile gloves each month and create more than 2,000 jobs by early next year.

Located on a 2 million-square-foot peninsula that is now also home to two Amazon fulfilment centres, the US$350 million project kicked off renovations early this year after a company called United Safety Technology secured a US$91.1 million contract on behalf of the US departments of Defence and Health and Human Services.

United Safety Technology, emerging from the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, describes its goal as returning “high-quality, medical-grade manufacturing to the US while reducing reliance on foreign suppliers”, according to its website.

Formerly a steel mill in Sparrows Point, Maryland, the 700,000-square-foot facility run by United Safety Technology is expected to churn out 350 million disposable medical-grade nitrile gloves monthly. Photo: United Safety Technology

Dan Izhaky, the company’s CEO, has billed himself on social media as “passionate about reshoring manufacturing back to the USA” and claimed he is “building the largest nitrile glove factory” in the country.

Largely used to handle chemicals in laboratories and carry out surgical procedures, gloves made of nitrile, a form of rubber, gained commercial prominence over widely used latex gloves during the pandemic. Nitrile gloves help reduce the odds of transmitting infection and are less likely to trigger allergic reactions than other gloves.