American Nitrile, CABVI partner to distribute gloves, employ visually impaired

COLUMBUS, Ohio—American Nitrile L.L.C. says it is addressing "the national need for personal protective equipment (PPE) and shortened supply chains" with a new partnership.

The Columbus-based manufacturer of medical and non-medical gloves for the health care, government and industrial sectors is partnering with the Central Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired (CABVI) for the distribution of its domestically produced nitrile gloves, the company said in a March 15 news release.

CABVI is a social enterprise that provides vision rehabilitation services to nearly 2,000 individuals with vision loss across 10 counties of Central New York. It also employs over 100 people who are legally blind or visually impaired.

The enterprise will distribute the gloves to more than 400 U.S. airports through an AbilityOne contract.

The Transportation Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security approved the gloves through this AbilityOne contract to employ people who are blind or have significant disabilities, American Nitrile said.

The contract also is to comply with the Make PPE in America Act, which requires procurement contracts for PPE to be long term and for domestically produced PPE.

"We are proud to announce our partnership with the entire CABVI team. They have been a steadfast supplier to our federal government, specifically the TSA and airports across the country, for several decades," American Nitrile Founder and CEO Jacob Block said.

CABVI will package and distribute gloves it purchases from American Nitrile at its facilities in Utica and Syracuse, N.Y. Its customers include the TSA, New York City Health and Hospitals Corp./NYC Hospitals, State University of New York Medical Centers, Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, Federal Correctional Institutions and the U.S. Postal Service, among others.

"We have an exceptional partner in American Nitrile. They make a high-quality product that has passed rigorous testing at the DHS for security screenings by TSA," CABVI President and CEO Edward P. Welsh said. "American Nitrile affirms CABVI's mission to support federal agencies while expanding employment opportunities for people who are blind."

American Nitrile's 530,000-sq.-ft. nitrile glove facility is based in Grove City, Ohio, where it houses 12 high-speed production lines.

In January 2021, the firm entered into a strategic agreement with Orion Infrastructure Capital for $105 million in debt financing for the production lines and additional work needed to refurbish the former warehouse. Construction of the facility began in August 2021 and was completed last summer. The plant will have the capacity to produce 3.6 billion gloves when fully scaled in 2024.

The facility also includes an onsite wastewater treatment and recycling plant that is capable of recycling 140 million gallons of wastewater per year.