05/12/2020

INVISTA Helping Front-line Healthcare Workers Suit Up

Koch Industries’ textiles, polymers, fiber and resin producer, INVISTA, produces nylon 6,6 polymers at its facility in Kingston, Ontario, that are normally made into car airbags. But amid the COVID-19 pandemic, its customer Autoliv Canada will use the nylon produced at the facility to make a different kind of protective equipment: medical isolation gowns for doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals.

“It’s particularly heartening to know that the products that we’re making are going to go into the medical gowns to support front-line workers,” plant manager Dennis McAllister told the local Kingston Whig-Standard newspaper.

Local officials also praised the move. Canadian MP Mark Gerretsen said the transition to medical gown production “shows we're all working towards a common goal,” while Mayor Bryan Patterson called it “great to see our local businesses stepping forward to help address the critical need for PPE in our hospitals and health-care centres.”

In addition, the INVISTA Kingston site is also supplying an airbag customer in the U.S. for similar isolation gowns for the U.S.