BATH, Maine – General Dynamics Bath Iron Works has delivered six of the 30 machines being built for Puritan Medical Products so the medical swab company can rapidly expand its ability to meet demand for COVID-19 testing components.
Guilford, Maine-based Puritan, the only U.S. manufacturer of the sterile testing swabs used in COVID-19 testing, has been tasked by the federal government to increase its production to meet a nationwide shortage. Bath Iron Works, a builder and integrator of complex surface combatants for the U.S. Navy, was hired by Puritan to manufacture industrial machines needed for the medical products company to rapidly expand its production of medical swabs for COVID-19 testing.
The U.S. Air Force, which is coordinating contracts under the Defense Production Act, identified Bath Iron Works as uniquely capable to build the necessary machines within the required time frame. Bath Iron Works has utilized its extensive supply chain with support from General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems in Saco, Maine. Another delivery of machines is scheduled for later this week.
“BIW is pleased to complete the first delivery of these machines which will enable Puritan to expand the important work it is doing to help respond to this pandemic,” said BIW President Dirk Lesko. “Our employees’ skill combined with a well-developed supply chain enable us to meet this critical need on an unusually short timetable.”
More information about General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), can be found at www.gdbiw.com.
