MP for Windsor Tecumseh Irek Kusmierczyk is celebrating the success of a local business that made a crucial pivot to support the production of personal protective equipment during the pandemic.
A year and a half ago, Harbour Technologies started to engineer and design new technology to automate the cutting and welding of medical-grade face masks and gowns.
"It's engineered, designed, and built here in Windsor, in our facility. It's completely 100 per cent Canadian IP, Canadian engineered, and it's something that we built along with our N95 equipment," said Harbour Technologies Co-founder Andrew Glover.
That equipment is now being used by manufacturers throughout Ontario to build up the supply of N-95 and surgical gowns in the country.
"We not only manufacture the gowns, but that equipment is also for sale. The market is just too big, and we have to support the Canadian market," said Glover.
The company also has a contract with the Canadian government to supply gowns for pandemic storage.
"Local companies like Harbour Technologies stepped up, incredibly innovative, to help find these solutions to produce these gowns, produce these PPEs, and really address a critical shortage at a critical time," said Kusmierczyk. "They really stepped up, this is an incredible success story. Now they've pivoted. It's part of their business, and there is tremendous opportunity here."
The manufacturing of the PPE at Harbour Technologies supported around 600 jobs throughout Ontario during the pandemic. Since pivoting, operations Harbour Technologies has manufactured over 2-million masks and 3-million gowns.
Glover indicated they intend to continue to grow the business in this direction. He said the technology is completely unique to their business and allows them to compete on a global scale.
