High Quality Protection & PPE Trends

Spray Foam Magazine – Show Issue 2022 – The last two years have emphasized the importance of PPE, not just for the contractors but the world. The COVID-19, pandemic has put personal protective equipment in the spotlight with “PPE” now a common term among the public. How is this affecting trends in PPE, and what may the consumer consider when ordering supplies. Spray Foam Magazine spoke with some employees of Bullard, a global PPE manufacturer based in the United States, to get their take on the current PPE situation.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic first began, we quickly realized our need to increase production of respirators. We first focused on streamlining and improving production processes and capabilities. In fact, within four weeks, we had increased respirator production to 30-times what we typically produce in a week,” says Carlos Lopez, Director of Operations for Bullard.

Supply chain issues PPE manufacturers experienced intense demand for their products when COVID-19 took a grip. Large and small U.S. manufacturers invested millions of dollars to increase domestic production of masks, face shields, ventilators and additional protective gear that was urgently required. There was a sense of pride that these American Made products were helping save Americans. Buying American-made products became important to customers who recognized and experienced that importing from overseas during supply shortages was problematic. People were wanting to support local businesses, the economy and trusted receiving high-quality protection which is tested to the governing regulatory bodies.

“Personal protection equipment has been our company’s focus for more than 120 years. So, we knew how critical it was to supply respirators to the front line in this pandemic. With Bullard’s manufacturing being based in the U.S., we’ve been able to respond quickly to changes in demand for respirators for so many industries we serve, not only in healthcare, but also other areas where workers need life-saving equipment,” says Katie Hunt, Bullard Marketing Manager.

Cost Stabilizing

During the pandemic The United States Department of Justice even made a webpage for people to report hoarding and price gouging of PPE. Stating that they were committed to preventing hoarding and price gouging for critical supplies during this crisis.

During 2021 there was yet another shift with foreign products flooding the market once more. According to the New York Times, 27 members of the American Mask Manufacturer’s Association have laid off 50 percent of their workforce.

Due to the unprecedented demand for PPE products, raw material costs and freight/shipping have exponentially increased throughout the pandemic. There are apparently indicators of this stabilizing but also a lot of uncertainty whether costs will return to pre-COVID rates in 2022.

Digital Market Watch Since the pandemic hit people are generally more aware of the PPE market and don’t exclusively depend on a sales rep to inform them on changes and or developments with availability and distribution factors. Monitoring e-commerce to assess PPE needs has become routine and there is no evidence this will change in 2022.

As prices start to level off and slowly return to the pre-crisis point it will be a challenge for any new American Made products to be cost competitive as they could have been pre-pandemic. However, there may still be an opportunity for companies already established in PPE to receive good results if they have met quality standards and try and stay cost competitive.

Rob Conway, Bullard Supply Chain Manager deals daily with the obstacles faced by supply chain disruption. “Today, with each new virus variant and constantly shifting conditions globally, we still encounter supply chain challenges that we work diligently to surmount, just like many other PPE manufacturers. We know the work we do is impacting the world in a real way. We continue to mobilize, work smarter, and stay agile to overcome challenges as they arise – with the goal of providing high quality U.S.-made PPE that helps workers in many industries continue to work safely,” notes Conway.

As we go to print, the new Omicron variant is on the rise. We are left with these questions–will manufacturers of PPE be ready for another surge/demand for PPE in 2022, and is there still a risk of people stocking up creating even more of a shortage at this time?