Bedbugs, pollen and airborne viruses are among the many things that people do their best to avoid. And that’s great for the bottom line at Mount Pocono firm Monadnock Non-Wovens, which makes components for such products as surgical masks, air filters and vacuum cleaner bags. Some of Monadnock’s material ended up in containment booms that were deployed after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico this spring.
“There’s an increasing demand for filtration in general,” says Keith Hayward, managing director of Monadnock Non-Wovens, adding that the recent H1N1 flu pandemic also drove up demand for the company’s wares. Production takes place around the clock.
His company is in the midst of an ambitious expansion. Over the last three years it has grown from two production machines to four, with plans to add two more over the next two years. Earlier this month Monadnock had a ceremonial ribbon-cutting on a 7,500-square foot addition to its facility, which Hayward said was a $1 million investment and the culmination of a three-year expansion project.
The site now employs the equivalent of 61 full-time workers, and about 15 more will be hired over the next year as another machine is installed.
Source: Keith Hayward, Monadnock Non-Wovens
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen