Medical glove plant established in Greenville

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The call for domestic PPE continues to be answered.

At the Greenville Area Development Corp.’s annual meeting held today at the Westin Poinsett Greenville, Health Supply US shared its plans to invest more than $150 million in a manufacturing base in Greenville.

The Mooresville, N.C.-based company will produce 4.3 billion nitrile gloves per year at the 1 Quality Way plant in the Beechtree Business Park, according to a news release, with the capacity to triple that over the next several years. The operations will be called Glove One and are expected to employ 600 workers during the next five years.

“Health Supply US is dedicated to bringing critical medical supply chains back to the United States,“ Christopher Garcia, CEO of the company’s U.S. operations, said in the release. “Nitrile gloves are a vitally needed medical item that keep our frontline health care professionals and first responders safe, an item that we simply cannot rely completely on international markets for our domestic supply in the future.”

The company supplies the governments at all levels, as well as private health care systems with Class I medical devices and products such as medical isolation gowns.

“We embarked on this critical project on behalf of our nation, and in doing so, knew that manufacturing site selection was of paramount importance to operational longevity,” Health Supply US Executive Vice President Aaron Petrosky said in the release. “Greenville and the entire state of South Carolina displayed tremendous enthusiasm for life sciences and support for this medical device operation. We’d like to thank all those involved from the Lowcountry to the Midlands to the Upstate that enabled this project to find its Greenville home for many decades to come.”

The company purchased the 182-acre property for $6.5 million this February from Beech Tree Inc., according to Greenville Property records data. The business park was developed by Hughes Investments and also holds Maritec Corp., Ellcon National, Alfmeier Corp., Specialty Bar Products, Cintas and FW Tool & Die Co.

“We’re delighted that health supply us is going to call Greenville, South Carolina, home with this latest investment,” Garcia said during Monday’s event. “You’ve welcomed us with open arms, you’ve opened doors for us that has helped us to overcome key obstacles, and have shown us the pro-business climate that has been referenced today several times, which is exactly what we’ve been looking for.

“Moreover, and most importantly, we are now helping America return manufacturing of critical medical supplies to the United States.”

GADC conducted its annual meeting in person for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting featured congratulatory comments by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, U.S. Rep. William Timmons, GADC CEO Mark Farris and other public figures and business leaders.

“This major investment by Health Supply US is further proof that our increased efforts to recruit life science companies to South Carolina are paying off,” Gov. Henry McMaster said at the meeting. “Expanding our life science industry is critical to safeguarding our supply chain and ensuring life-saving medical supplies are readily available during future emergencies. I congratulate Health Supply US on their investment and look forward to the impact they will have statewide.”

Last July, West Columbia-headquartered Nephron Pharmaceutical Corp. launched Nephron Nitrile, slated to produce three billion nitrile gloves in its first year of operation at its Saxe-Gotha Industrial Park facility.

The gloves are manufactured in the Kennedy Innovation Complex, part of Nephron’s $215.8 million expansion at its Lexington County headquarters. CeramTec, a global ceramic and medical technology company with North American headquarters in Laurens, makes the glove molding forms.

Since 2017, life sciences have become South Carolina’s fastest-growing industry. The state’s life science industry also is growing at a faster rate than in any other Southeastern state. More than 1,030 life sciences companies are spread across 42 of the state’s 46 counties and employ 87,000 citizens.