9120 Lockwood Boulevard
Mechanicsville, VA 23116
(804) 723-7000
www.owens-minor.com
www.halyardhealth.com

Owens & Minor, Inc., (O&M) is a Fortune 500 global healthcare solutions company integrating product manufacturing and delivery, home health supply and perioperative services to support care through the hospital and into the home. Operating continuously since 1882 from its headquarters in Richmond, VA, Owens & Minor is a 140-year-old company with a legacy of innovation in medical supplies and supply chain. Today, Owens & Minor operates more than 400 facilities, serves more than 4,000 healthcare providers, with products sold in more than 90 countries across the globe.

O&M is an innovative global manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) products. Its products are primarily manufactured in its Americas-based facilities using its own nonwoven fabrics produced in Lexington, NC, including spunbond, meltblown, SMS and customized laminate composites.

In 2018, Owens & Minor acquired the Surgical and Infection Prevention business of Halyard Health, a provider of healthcare supplies and solutions that target the prevention of healthcare-associated infections. This acquisition expanded the company’s customer reach globally and allowed it to positively impact more patient care experiences, in addition to adding greater scale to Owens & Minor’s product portfolio offerings for its customers, according to Patrick Robert, senior global director, Surgical Solutions and Nonwovens. “The acquisition also added a global manufacturing network and vertical integration that gives us greater agility to respond to the changing needs of our healthcare customers, for example when we were able to rapidly ramp up our production of nonwoven PPE in response to the emergence of Covid-19,” he adds.

Recently, O&M introduced two AAMI Level 2 isolation gowns and a new version of its flagship AERO CHROME* AAMI Level 4 gown as part of its growing gown portfolio. The company also launched several universal drapes and back-table covers.

Last year, O&M expanded to a new market focused on selling HALYARD* nonwoven rolled goods to customers for medical, hygiene, wipes, industrial and filtration applications, where it has an annualized nonwoven capacity of 60,000 metric tons. “Our commitment to quality, legacy of innovation and our focus on delivering value to our customers differentiate us from our competitors,” says Robert.

O&M has also made several investments to broaden its manufacturing capabilities and better serve its customers. In 2019, the company installed a tri-lamination line to produce composite laminates combining its nonwovens with other substrates such as films to make unique structures. In 2021, it expanded warehouse capacity for raw materials and rolls to ensure supply continuity for its customers. The company also started up a Reicofil meltblown asset to produce meltblown media for wiper and HEPA applications.

“Moving forward, to better service our rolled good customers, we are upgrading our assets capabilities to be more flexible to customer requirements and allocating more manufacturing and warehouse capacity for non-medical applications,” Robert adds.

According to the company, demand for PPE has now stabilized, though it varies by category with certain product segments experiencing less intense demand. O&M anticipates continued demand for products made in the Americas and for products that do not rely on foreign supplies due to the nature of current supply chain interruptions.

“The HALYARD* brand has a long history of manufacturing in the Americas,” Robert says. “We are the only major vertically integrated PPE supplier of nonwovens in North Carolina and an Americas-based manufacturing footprint for the conversion of PPE. With a 90% Americas-based manufacturing footprint, we can be responsive when customer needs shift.”

Presently, O&M continues to see interest in nonwoven products for applications outside of acute care across medical, commercial and industrial sectors, in environments where it is important for employees to remain protected with quality products. “As a leading global provider of surgical and PPE goods to the healthcare industry, we are proud to continue serving customers for a wide range of product applications,” Robert concludes.