One lesson from the pandemic – America’s reliance on foreign supply chains was a hindrance to efficiently responding to a public health crisis. Medical glove maker American Nitrile’s solution was reshoring the manufacturing of critical medical/research supplies so they are made in the United States.
The result is the renovation of a 527,000-square-foot warehouse in Grove City, Ohio, by Contegra Construction Co. to create a manufacturing facility that will produce 4 billion medical research lab gloves annually.
Located at 3500 Southwest Blvd., the repurposing of the warehouse tasked Contegra and engineering firm IMEG to fortify infrastructure to support a complex automated manufacturing process with 12 production lines. That entailed:
- Water system upgrades to support the robust water demand needed to make gloves;
- Installing a new wastewater treatment system and sanitary sewer upgrades including a multi pump lift station to treat and discharge wastewater;
- Engineering and installing a new electrical service with multiple substations to power the advanced manufacturing process.
- Installing exhaust fans in conjunction with supply air fans capable of five air changes an hour to stabilize temperature and humidity in the facility;
- Installing two large air compressors and air piping for the production process
The facility also includes 15,000 square feet of remodeled office and lab space.
American Nitrile is a Grove City, Ohio-based privately held company focused on manufacturing medical and research/lab gloves for healthcare, government and industrial use. It was founded by Jacob Block in 2021 in response to the need for domestic sources of manufacturing of critical PPE products, and the ability to address long supply chains, use of forced labor from foreign countries, as well as the need for more sustainable production in this product category.
