London, Ont., will soon be home to the first manufacturing facility for nitrile gloves outside of Asia, with AMD Medicom Inc. breaking ground on a new facility in the city’s east end.
The company is creating Manikheir Canada Inc., a new subsidiary of Medicom that will produce nitrile gloves in London.
The gloves are an essential piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) used by healthcare providers.
Medicom and representatives from the Ontario government were in London on Tuesday at the site of the soon-to-be 120,000 square-foot facility to make the announcement.
“Building this nitrile glove manufacturing facility in London means we will be ready to respond to future emergencies without having to rely on uncertain foreign supply,” said Ross Romano, minister of government and consumer services.
“On top of protecting the safety of Ontarians, we’re growing our economy by supporting domestic businesses and creating hundreds of good manufacturing jobs for our workers.”
The Ontario government has committed to purchasing 500 million locally manufactured nitrile medical examination globes per year for its healthcare system.
The new facility will be Medicom’s first in Ontario and will create 145 permanent jobs and provide over 1,000 construction-related jobs during the building progresses.
“This move will help secure the supply of this critical medical resource for hospitals in Ontario and the rest of Canada,” said Ronald Reuben, founder and CEO of Medicom.
Once the facility opens, the first Ontario-made, medical-grade nitrile gloves will be available by spring 2024.
The new facility will also help the province strengthen its PPE supply and shore up the domestic production and help the province maintain a robust stockpile of critical supplies.
“Along with masks and N95s, gloves were one of the most difficult products to find when the pandemic broke out more than two years ago,” said John Tourlas, North American president of Medicom.
“With the announcement, we are further securing the supply of healthcare systems in Ontario and the rest of Canada with a product that is manufactured entirely locally and in compliance with the highest labour and environmental standards,” Tourlas said.
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