A Swansea engineering firm has diversified by establishing a new surgical mask making factory in an investment creating 20 new jobs.
With £250,000 backing from Welsh Government’s Covid-19 Research, Development and Innovation Fund, Brother Engineering has joined companies across Wales who are making vital personal protective equipment (PPE).
The Welsh PPE industry now includes more than 25 manufacturers of repurposed face visors, nine companies making face masks, and six producers of medical scrubs.
To progress its PPE production, Brother Engineering has opened a new factory in Pontardawe from where, under the name of Blu Thomas Medical, it is manufacturing fully certified CE marked masks for the NHS, care settings, wider public sector and industry.
The facility has the capacity to have four manufacturing cells running with an expected output of half a million face masks per day. It is expected that 20 new jobs will be created.
Brother Engineering managing director Blu Thomas said: “We’ve moved quickly to establish this new facility. Staff here at Brother Engineering have shown great commitment to this project by using their engineering expertise to enable the company to be in production.
“We couldn’t have achieved this without some great support from a number of organisation that have helped us get to this point, in particular the Welsh Government, the NHS Surgical Materials Testing Laboratory at Bridgend, and Cardiff University.
“With fully certified CE marked masks now being produced and along with other companies that have adapted to produce critical equipment, Wales will be in a better position to deal with any future crisis.”
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Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport, Lee Waters, said: “Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have seen businesses throughout Wales step up to the challenge of helping us all deal with coronavirus.
“The efforts of Welsh business have been quite incredible. To put it simply, many firms have adapted their usual ways of working, from the products they make day-to-day, to thinking innovatively about how they can protect and save lives threatened by the virus.
“Brother Engineering is a prime example of how the business community has risen to the call. The company’s face mask production capability means it has a crucial role to play in creating a more secure supply of PPE within Wales both now and for the future.
“I want to thank them and every other business involved for all they are doing to help us move closer to self-reliance for the vast majority of PPE items.”