The U.S. Department of Defense is once again giving Teel Plastics LLC funds to boost domestic production of COVID-19 swabs.
Baraboo, Wis.-based Teel announced Nov. 18 that it was awarded a $4.65 million firm-fixed price contract to expand production capacity of extruded swab sticks.
The company will use the funds to add a climate-controlled room to its recently opened second factory in Baraboo, plus add silos, four Davis-Standard extruders, Conair downstream equipment and other associated auxiliary items, according to Christian Herrild, Teel's director of growth strategies.
"The lines will be qualified and then available for excess work," Herrild said. The facility they are in runs 24/7, but this would be a 24/5 operation.
The grant will allow Teel to produce millions more swab sticks annually for COVID-19 test kit manufacturer Puritan Medical Products of Guilford, Maine.
"We're proud of the role our employees have played in helping to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. This additional funding will both increase our capacity and allow for more secure production in a second facility," Teel CEO Jerry Pritchett said in the release.
Teel announced plans to add the second plant a year ago. At the time, it said it would lease the then-vacant 180,000-square-foot facility near its headquarters to expand polyethylene pipe production. The large industrial site was formerly occupied by LSC Communications, a commercial printer.
At the onset of the pandemic, there were two major suppliers of the specialized swabs in the world: Puritan Medical Products and Copan Diagnostics Inc. Puritan's swabs are made by Teel Plastics.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration officials were concerned that shortages of swabs could limit the health care sector's ability to test people for COVID-19. So the government and the medical supply chain have been scrambling to boost swab capacity, including molded, extruded and 3D printed sticks.
With the latest grant, Teel will boost production of extruded sticks by 200 million sticks per month by July 2022, to reach a capacity of more than 330 million per month. Teel also plans to add 25 employees.
Last year the Defense Department awarded Teel a similar contract, for $6.8 million, which it used to boost production of injection molded sticks.
The DOD's Defense Assisted Acquisition Cell led this latest effort in coordination with the Department of the Air Force's Acquisition COVIS-19 Task Force. The effort was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act.
Teel is tied for No. 58 in Plastics News' ranking of North American pipe, profile and tubing extruders, with sales of $68 million. PN currently does not estimate Teel's injection molding sales.
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