American Elite Molding has formed a new company to begin producing meltblown polypropylene in the US. CEO Robert Sires explains more to Jessica Owen.
The key to highly effective personal protective equipment (PPE), such as masks and gowns, is the layer of meltblown polypropylene. This material filters very small particles and organisms efficiently while allowing enough porosity to breathe easily.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the fact that the supply of materials used to make such items comes primarily from offshore manufacturers, and the risks of that have become apparent as widespread delays, shortages, and quality issues have occurred.
Having acknowledged these problems, American Elite Molding, a leading manufacturer of cable ties, has recently announced the start-up of a new company, American Elite Personal Protective Equipment (American Elite PPE), to address the ‘dire need’ for US-manufactured materials for PPE.
“When China cast the virus on the rest of the world, we realised how reliant we were on China. So, we decided to try and do something about that,” says Sires.
“The situation here is bad. We looked at the PPE that was being sold as ‘made in the US’, but in fact the raw materials have come from China and they were just assembled in the US. We were disappointed in that and decided to go into manufacturing the key components for masks here in the US with American suppliers and everything.”
The initial idea to set up American Elite PPE came about towards the end of May, when the company was looking at onboarding different products. Although Sires has no previous experience in manufacturing nonwovens, he says that he hired some ‘very smart people’ and challenged the company to get the job done.
“It was pretty straightforward; we didn’t really have any issues,” he says. “June is when we first said that we would definitely do this and now it’s mid-September – that’s 90 days, that’s all it took us to go from nothing to manufacturing. I don’t know why others can’t do that.”
Unlike some other businesses, the company has invested its own money in the new venture: “I assume that there are grants available but we didn’t have the time to go through all the red tape of the US government. We needed and wanted to get this done now.”
American Elite PPE started the production of meltblown polypropylene in early September 2020. The company manufactures the material using polypropylene sourced from US manufacturers in its 15,000 sqft facility in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. What’s more, the equipment has been designed and manufactured by a Rhode Island-based company called US Extruders. According to American Elite PPE, the company uses ‘advanced machining techniques used in domestic high-tech industries.’
Although it is still early days, American Elite PPE is sold out on its first line. Sires says: “We have enough orders that whatever tonnage we make, it’s sold. We are assuming that we’ll start out slow, making about 50 tonnes in the first month, and we have orders for that already. We will then go up to 75 tonnes in the next month, and we also have orders for that.”
Because of the high demand, the business already has plans to bring in a second and a third line later on. Once the second line has been installed, the company is estimating that it will make around 200 tonnes of meltblown material per month.
In addition to helping secure the supply of meltblown for the US, the business is also helping to create jobs in the local community. Sires says that around 20 jobs will be initially created, with the plan to later increase this to 50-70.
“We are proud to be an American manufacturer that produces more than 1.5 billion cable ties in the US utilising American-made raw material and supplies. We have proven ourselves to be highly competitive with manufacturers in China and other offshore locations. Now, through our new company American Elite PPE, we will provide American-made products for the personal protective equipment that our frontline healthcare providers, first responders, and citizens are so dependent upon,” Sires explains.
“Our production lines are staffed by Americans who are committed to manufacturing the highest quality filter material. We manufacture to tight specifications so our customers can trust that they are getting the protection they need. We believe that during this crisis, it’s vital for the US to secure a reliable, sustainable source of PPE material supply for critical healthcare needs, and for Americans to buy from US businesses to support our economy and our workers. This new initiative delivers on both counts.”
American Elite Molding is celebrating its 22nd anniversary this year. The company is based 20 minutes down the road from the new facility in Crestview, Florida, where it plans to make nearly 1.7 billion cable ties in 2020. The business employs just short of 200 people and it has 19 injection moulding machines in its 75,000 sqft facility.
When asked how the business has been coping this year, Sires says: “Fantastic. We’ll be ahead of last year. Our core customers are down maybe between 10-15%, but we’ve brought on a lot of new business. The industry has been impacted but we’ve just gone out and been more aggressive. Our biggest competitors are in China, so our model of making in the US has helped us.”
Sires says that the company has also kept full employment for the whole year – no one has been laid off and it hasn’t shut down at all. In fact, he says that the business is currently hiring people.
“People have to stop talking and start doing. I’m not saying that you have to isolate, but you do have to protect your own country first and help others after. There’s too much of us relying on other people and we need to focus on ourselves and get our own affairs in order and that’s what we’re doing.”
To find out more about American Elite PPE, visit https://www.ae-ppe.com/
