English (US)
Throughout the ongoing pandemic, as healthcare facilities struggled to procure sufficient personal protective equipment for their frontline workers, few companies have been able to supply their customers as reliably as Medicom. And that is no accident.
Medicom was founded in 1988 to meet the urgent need for medical gloves at the height of the AIDS pandemic. From the outset, the company had to learn to source hard to find materials and manage strained logistics during a health crisis. The Medicom team acquired further expertise in supply chain management during a healthcare crisis while providing a reliable supply of infection control solutions during subsequent epidemics including Avian Flu, SARS, H1N1 and Ebola.
It is that knowledge and experience that have enabled Medicom to remain among the world’s most reliable PPE manufacturers throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, we will share 3 key learnings that have allowed Medicom to continue to meet our customers’ needs throughout these challenging times.
Lesson 1: Where there’s a need, there’s a way
When the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented demand for medical grade masks, various governments in Europe and Asia banned the export of medical masks from their countries. Whereas for other companies, these export bans meant that they could no longer supply their customers, Medicom simply shifted production from factories in the impacted countries to facilities in other areas of the world.
Additionally, as demand for masks continued to increase exponentially, the company moved quickly to open 6 new manufacturing facilities in just 6 months, opening new factories in factories in Montreal (CAN), Singapore (MY) Hong Kong, Northampton (UK), Angers (France) and Georgia (USA) and investing in state-of-the-art machinery to produce more masks faster and better than ever before.
“We were able to scale our capabilities at an unprecedented rate while never compromising on quality or regulatory standards.” – Ouriel Levy, Executive VP Commercial
Since opening these new facilities, Medicom has continued to help strengthen domestic PPE supply chains around the world. For example, the Montreal facility is now able to produce over 1 million surgical masks and respirators per day and continues to increase its capacity and the facility in Augusta, Georgia, now houses state-of-the-art equipment that has allowed the company to increase supply of medical-grade masks in the U.S. to help the country meet both current and future needs.
READ OUR PRESS RELEASE ABOUT OUR EXPANSION TO PRODUCE NIOSH AND CSA APPROVED SURGICAL RESPIRATORS
The Medicom strategy of adding manufacturing facilities and investing in cutting-edge equipment when and where they were needed, as well as the ability to have new facilities up and running so quickly , have also allowed the company to secure long-term PPE supply agreements with governments across the globe.
Lesson 2: Owning or controlling your own factories pays off
At Medicom, our goal has always been to produce and deliver the highest quality infection control products and personal protective equipment. To do this, we have not only continuously sought out the highest quality raw materials and the latest manufacturing techniques, but we have also made it a point to own and control our design, development and production processes from start to finish.
By building an extensive global network of raw material suppliers and a growing number of fully owned or controlled manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe and Asia, we have been able to deliver a consistent and reliable supply to our customers, even in times of crisis.
Our manufacturing processes are designed such that when an issue arises in one country, we can move production to another location without impacting the quality of our products. This was demonstrated at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when one country banned the export of masks, Medicom was able to quickly shift production to one of our other plants to meet demand.
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Lesson 3: Local sourcing expertise matters
Last but not least, the Medicom team understands better than ever the value of a network of local sourcing experts across the globe. This allows us to ensure that we consistently procure only premium raw materials from reliable suppliers. The quality, selection, control and traceability of our materials are of the outmost importance to us. In addition to using the most reputable sources, we also keep careful records of the origins of all the materials we use.
Our local experts also help ensure that we comply with all applicable laws, regulations and standards to ensure that the infection control products and services Medicom provides in each country meet local requirements.
This strategy also helps our customers who have global operations by enabling us to help them understand local regulations that could apply to them.
A World Leader with an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Thanks to a long history of serving as a reliable source of infection control products under some of the most challenging circumstances, the Medicom team is exceptionally agile. Over the course of our history, we have used our knowledge and experience to continuously improve how we do business.
For all these reasons, when customers need PPE and other infection control solutions, even in the midst of a health crisis, they know they can count on Medicom to deliver.
