What started as a quick call to action to mass-produce surgical and N95 respirator masks has turned into a long-term plan that will bring more jobs to the area and bring business back to America.
Over the last couple of weeks, WPT Nonwovens in Beaver Dam has spent half a million dollars on new machines and transformed 6,000 square feet of their facility, and the company is now ready to hire 30 employees to staff the new mask production.
Travis Robbins, vice president and general manager of WPT, said his family-owned company was already aware of the coronavirus pandemic before it truly hit the U.S. because they’ve got business relationships all over the world.
As cases ramped up here, though, they soon began getting calls from healthcare workers and state officials asking how they could help.
“At that point, we just said we ought to try to help,” Robbins said. “It went from an idea of ‘can we do this’ to getting on the phone to … we were just going to go gangbusters on this and try to get as much of this product made in the United States as we could to support the local community, the state of Kentucky and more broadly the U.S. market.”
By the end of this month, they’ll be able to make 100,000 surgical masks per day. Those will initially go to local hospitals — including Owensboro Health — and may be distributed nationwide if necessary. Within two months they’ll be able to make 35,000 N95 masks every day.
Robbins said while there are price gougers out there, his company is doing what they can to keep the costs almost the same as normal.
“We’re not taking this product to market as an opportunistic play to make money,” he said. “We did this as a way to bring business back to the United States and keep people working and help solve the problem of a shortage in the market.”
Robbins said WTP was concerned about the customer base when they first decided to invest, but those worries quickly dissipated.
“In the last five days, we’ve been completely overwhelmed,” he said. “We’re actually looking at two or three key strategic partners that see this as a long-term position that they’re going to take inside of their companies, where they’re going to bring this stuff back to the United States and want it branded by an American company.”
Because demand is so high, WTP is already looking at purchasing two more machines by August or September to manufacture even more surgical masks.
“We see this is a long-term play for our company and a long-term opportunity to supply American-made goods to the healthcare market.”
WPT Nonwovens is now accepting applications for the following positions for day and night shifts:
• Medical Converting Operator
• Forklift Material Handler
• Lab Technician
• Multicraft Maintenance/Electrician
Some of the benefits WPT Nonwovens offers include:
• Competitive salary
• Team members can earn up to 2 weeks of vacation
• Paid life insurance
• Paid telemedicine benefit
• Eligible for health insurance coverage in the first 30 days of employment to include spouses and children
• Eligible for 401k with a company match within the first 30 days of employment
• 12 months perfect attendance vacation bonus
• Weekly and monthly safety bonuses
• WPT has contributed over $65,000 to team member 401k plans since 2016
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The Owensboro Health coronavirus hotline is available 24/7 by calling 877-888-6647. Call the hotline before seeking in-person care. More information from OH can be found here.
For the latest information and data on COVID-19 in Kentucky visit kycovid19.ky.gov or dial the Kentucky state hotline at 800-722-5725.
For the latest health guidelines and resources from the CDC, visit their website here.
