Nitrile glove factory breathes life into idled steel mill

SPARROWS POINT, Md.—United Safety Technology Inc. is well on its way to helping build up health care supply chain resiliency in the U.S.

The young company will bring 2,000 jobs to Maryland with a $350 million nitrile glove manufacturing operation to Sparrows Point, where it will renovate a 735,000-sq.-ft. facility.

The facility, formerly a steel mill belonging to Bethlehem Steel, is located at Tradepoint Atlantic, a 3,300-acre multimodal logistics and industrial center in Baltimore County.

Dan Izhaky, UST founder and CEO, said the facility was the right fit for the project due to its "more-than-adequate utilities" and size needed for the glove production process.

And from a logistics perspective, he added, the building is "perfectly situated" near a port, giving UST access to two main rail lines—with its own internal rail—and nearby highways.

"It's probably the closest point of support to the Midwest," Izhaky told Rubber News. "It's the most efficient starting point to ship from the east coast if you wanted to supply to the Midwest."

The three-phase project kicked off with the renovations in early 2022 after receiving a $96.1 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in June 2021.

Upon the project's completion of Phase 1, UST anticipates it will produce 375 million units per month by the first quarter of 2023.

When UST first announced the federal contract last summer, it initially anticipated it would have the capacity for 216 million units per month by February 2023. Izhaky said the increase in anticipated production is a result of domestic demand and the facility's projected capacity.

The founder said UST has received a "huge amount of interest" in terms of potential sales contracts, noting several hospital groups and distributors have reached out to him to discuss potential partnerships.

But at this time, he said, the company is more focused on building its manufacturing capabilities.

"It's still a little early for us to do that," he said of setting up customer commitments. "I know other (companies) out there are doing that, but we're going to get it right first, and then start entertaining who we're going to be working with."

Izhaky founded UST in 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal "to return high-quality, medical-grade manufacturing to the U.S., while reducing reliance on foreign suppliers," according to the company.

UST originally manufactured N95 respirators in La Verne, Calif., and produced 300,000 units per day. It was on track to produce 1 million per day by the end of the first quarter of 2021.

But demand for the respirators dropped as face coverings became politicized, and UST put its production of the PPE equipment on standby.

Izhaky said UST has not restarted production of the N95 respirators, noting the difficulty of getting such a product into hospital channels due to its fit-test requirements for all medical employees. While he could retail the respirators, he said, "retail is finicky, and it's hard to rely on."

However, while UST has not restarted production of the respirators, the company does plan to install the capacity for them in the new facility.

As for where UST will source the nitrile rubber for its gloves, Izhaky said the company will have to import the raw material for now, but the company is aiming to have its supply chain completely U.S.-based.

"There's very limited production in the United States," he said, noting that while there are efforts to onshore this, it will likely be two or three years before the U.S. sees this increase in domestic NBR production.

"In the next year, we're probably going to have to import until there's a secure, stable, reliable source in the U.S.," Izhaky said.

UST's project marks a new beginning for the former steel mill, the company said, noting the building was the last major investment by Bethlehem Steel in 1999 to modernize steel manufacturing in Sparrows Point.

The mill went idle in 2012 and was used for storage from 2014-19.

"The investment by UST reinvents the future of the building by creating a state-of-the-art medical manufacturing facility," the company said.

UST expects to create the 2,000 jobs in engineering, manufacturing, operations, logistics and more by the fourth quarter of 2024.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said UST cements the state's "pro-jobs, pro-business environment" and ensures it will be "a prime location for economic growth, manufacturing and innovation."

"The focus of our administration has been to make Maryland open for business, to grow new businesses and jobs from one end of the state to the other," the governor said in March.

Kerry Doyle, managing director of Tradepoint Atlantic, said UST's investment is about more than supporting the economy.

"Bringing manufacturing back to America is not just good for business, but as the last two years have taught us, it is critical to our national security," she said.

"This is a big deal, and we are incredibly proud to be partnering with UST as they create a state-of-the-art medical manufacturing facility, producing gloves and PPE for hospitals and long-term care facilities."

Izhaky said UST's investment in the facility "will help meet the needs of our nation's health care heroes, support the Baltimore community and strengthen the country."