Honeywell announced that it is temporarily shifting manufacturing operations at two chemical manufacturing facilities to produce and donate hand sanitizer to government agencies in response to shortages created by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many companies are producing sanitizer and other essential supplies to fight against COVID-19, including Shell, ExxonMobil, Axalta, BASF, PPG, Johnson Matthey, Lanxess and many more.
The company’s sites in Muskegon, Michigan, and Seelze, Germany, will produce hand sanitizer over the next two months for government agencies, which will then distribute the product to institutions in need. Both sites are part of Honeywell’s Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT) business group.
Honeywell is now manufacturing hand sanitizer at its Muskegon plant in Michigan (Source: Honeywell)
The Muskegon plant manufactures high-purity solvents and blends, with more than 1,500 products used in wide-ranging applications, such as DNA and RNA synthesis, environmental analysis, precision cleaning, pharmaceutical testing and various other laboratory applications. The plant has begun production of hand sanitizer that it will donate to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The Seelze plant produces more than 500 products, including high-purity solutions for laboratory research and testing applications, inorganic fine chemicals for agriculture and automotive industries, electronic chemicals used in semiconductors, and microchips and authentication technologies used in high security and brand protection applications. This also includes personal protection equipment authentication. The plant has already fulfilled and delivered an emergency donation of industrial hand sanitizer to the Saxony Ministry of Health, Social Affairs and Equality. The plant plans to ramp up production to enable Honeywell to donate additional hand sanitizer. The Saxony Ministry of Health, Social Affairs and Equality intends to distribute this product to local hospitals and factories.
“As global citizens, we are honored to be able to answer the call for help in hopes of minimizing the spread of this pandemic,” said Rajeev Gautam, president and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. “When called upon to help, our team rushed to transform production lines to produce hand sanitizer for areas where it is most urgently needed. I am proud to work with such innovative and dedicated employees who not only care enough to make a difference but have the spirit to make it happen.”
Honeywell is proud to support the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, Honeywell announced manufacturing investments that will enable the production of more than 20 million N95 disposable masks monthly from new production lines in Smithfield, R.I., and Phoenix, Ariz.