NEWTON AYCLIFFE, England—Ineos has made good on its pledge to have two new hand sanitizer plants up and running within 10 days. Both new plants are now in production.
The plant in Newton Aycliffe started production weekend of March 28, well within the ten-day time frame, and is running three shifts around the clock to produce about 1 million hand sanitizers a month. The second plant, located in Germany has also started production, and plans are being drawn up for a third plant in France.
"Now that production of the Ineos hand sanitizer has started, the company is working on the fastest way to get them to where they need to be," said Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder and chairman of Ineos.
The company is focusing on meeting the needs of front line medical and care services as well as making 50 ml "pocket bottle" hand sanitizers available for people's personal use. These will be produced to World Health Organization specifications.
Ineos is the leading European producer of the two key raw materials needed for sanitizers—isopropyl alcohol and ethanol, producing almost 1 million metric tons. The company is already running these plants flat out and have been diverting more of this product to essential medical use including in the new Ineos factories.
Ineos, with its "enormous resources and manufacturing skills," Ratcliffe said, is "absolutely committed" to playing its part—"if we can find other ways to help in the coronavirus battle."