Mainebiz

V O L . X X I X N O. X V J U LY 1 0 , 2 0 2 3 8 B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S M A I N E B U S I N E S S N E W S F RO M A RO U N D T H E S TAT E Sustainability For Your Business: People, Profit, and Planet 7:30–10:30AM / HOLIDAY INN BY THE BAY, PORTLAND AU G . 22 REGISTER AT MAINEBIZ.BIZ/SMALLBIZ23 SP ONSORED BY PA N EL IS T S MORE PA NELIST S TBA MOD ER ATOR Becky McKinnell Founder/CEO, iBec Creative Richard Bilodeau, MBA, ACUE: Senior Lecturer of Entrepreneurship and Marketing, University of Southern Maine Aaron Anker Chief Granola Officer, Grandy Organics Steve Mills CEO, Maine Beer Company With sales of COVID tests waning, Puritan Medical Products cuts 272 jobs, closes Tennessee plant B y P e t e r V a n A l l e n P i t t s f i e l d — Puritan Medical Products — a Maine-based family-owned busi- ness that took on a global profile in 2020 when the federal government picked it to produce millions of swabs to be used in COVID tests — said June 28 it would cut 272 jobs, or more than a third of its workforce. About 214 employees in Pittsfield who have been on furlough since March 20 are being informed that their jobs will be eliminated. Another 50 employees at Puritan's Orlinda, Tenn., operation, which opened in 2021, will be let go and the factory will be closed. The balance of employees let go will be administrative staff. From a peak of 1,270 employees at the height of pandemic swab production — when it became North America's largest manufacturer of COVID testing swabs — after the layoffs the com- pany will have 400 employees, split between two factories in Pittsfield and one in Guilford, where the company is headquartered. Robert L. Shultz, Puritan's presi- dent and chief financial officer, told Mainebiz that five of Puritan's seven- largest customers have already under- gone restructuring. Sales of test kits — with Puritan's swabs as part of the package — have fallen off dramatically since the World Health Organization declared an end to the pandemic emer- gency effective May 5. Earlier this spring, Abbott Rapid Diagnostics, which uses Puritan swabs in its COVID test kits, filed separate WARN notices with the Maine Department of Labor saying it was cutting 418 jobs at its site in Westbrook. "These actions are the latest — and hopefully last — measures taken in response to the post-COVID downturn," Puritan said in a news release. "With lower demand for swabs and other products — compared to the COVID driven peaks — Puritan has implemented these measures aimed at strengthening its operational and financial base to ensure it is best positioned to succeed given the new market realities." How Puritan became the center of swab production Puritan, which was founded in 1919, had long been a leader in swab production, building a catalog of 65 types of swabs used for some 1,200 varieties of tests. At the height of the pandemic, Puritan was tapped to be the primary supplier of swabs used in COVID test kits. With roughly $275 million in federal funding, Puritan worked quickly to build, outfit and hire for three additional factories — two in Pittsfield, Somerset County, and one in Orlinda, Tenn. The company was considered a model for how a manufacturer could respond in a global health crisis. "People really stepped up," Shultz told Mainebiz. "There was no remote work here. [Production was] seven days a week, with long hours. It speaks to the people who worked here." The Tennessee plant, which represented an investment of $220 million, was expected to create 220 jobs over five years, Puritan said when it opened in 2022 in a ceremony with Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. The 350,000-square-foot plant was expected to produce 200 million swabs a month. B R I E F Puritan Medical Supplies said it will cut 272 jobs, including roughly 220 in Maine, and close its Tennessee factory (pictured here). F I L E P H O T O / P U R I TA N M E D I C A L P RO D U C T S

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