Two sites switch production to hand sanitizer to support regional needs
Hexion Inc. ("Hexion" or the "Company") is leveraging its global manufacturing footprint and collective resources of its associates to help combat the challenges associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19).
Two manufacturing sites – one wholly owned and a joint venture – expect to produce large quantities of hand sanitizer by repurposing mixing machines typically used to produce other products. Hexion’s Letmathe, Germany site has already begun producing hand sanitizer, while the Company’s joint venture in Bunbury Western Australia is taking the final steps to begin producing in the coming weeks. These two sites alone expect to initially produce approximately 25 metric tons. In addition, four other sites in the network – Brisbane, Australia, Deer Park, Texas, Solbiate, Italy, and Mountview, New Zealand – have produced smaller "laboratory-scale" batches for use by Hexion associates.
In recent weeks, the Company has contributed its chemical products or donated personal protective equipment (PPE) wherever possible for COVID-19 relief, including:
- Hexion’s Application Development Center in Shanghai has donated masks to a local hospital;
- The Company’s manufacturing sites in Springfield, Oregon, and Pernis, The Netherlands, offices donated PPE to medical centers in their respective cities;
- Hexion’s Lakeland, Florida, site contributed several drums of isopropyl alcohol, which can be used as a surface disinfectant, to local law enforcement;
- Hexion’s Iserlohn, Germany, facility is providing fresh food to the trucking companies delivering to the site; and
- The Morganton, North Carolina, site donated glycerin, a key raw material for the production of hand sanitizer, to a local distillery.
"While we are saddened by the devastating impact of the coronavirus globally, we are resilient as a Company and committed to helping support relief efforts whenever we can," said George Knight, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer.
Hexion’s philanthropic activities primarily focus on causes that support children, the less fortunate, health and wellness, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education at all levels.
For more information, visit http://www.hexion.com/en-US/company/responsibility/.