Belcamp, MD – On Tuesday, 8 March 2011, Avon Protection celebrated the grand opening of its new 16,000 sq. ft. facility in Belcamp, Maryland. In attendance at the event were Congressman C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger (U.S. House of Representatives, Maryland’s 2nd District), David Craig (County Executive for Harford County, Maryland), Bill Fritch (Branch Chief for Joint Services Ground Masks [JSGM], Edgewood Chemical Biological Center), and Lisa Swoboda (Deputy Director, Office of Military & Federal Affairs), among others.
This expansion follows one of the largest personal protective equipment (PPE) contracts in history. In 2000, Avon Protection won the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) contract for the Joint Service General Purpose Mask (JSGPM) M50 program.
According to Gary Dunn, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Avon Protection, this expansion, which puts the company in close proximity to DoD, will help the company provide the highest level of support to meet DoD’s needs. “Our mission as a company is to protect those who protect us, our families and communities. We take this very seriously and have some of the nations most talented engineers and industrial designers working hard to create the next generation of respiratory protection products that will improve protection for warfighters and first responders working in the field.”
There are now approximately 2.5 million Avon Protection masks in use worldwide. Core end-users for these masks include military, law enforcement, special response teams, first responders, and U.S. federal agencies.
About Avon Protection (www.avon-protection.com) Avon Protection, an Avon Rubber p.l.c. company, is a world leader in the design, development, and manufacture of CBRN respiratory protection equipment. Avon has been supplying respirators to the UK Ministry of Defence and other NATO allies for more than 80 years and is the sole provider of military respirators to the U.S. armed forces, supplying the M50 Joint Service General Purpose Mask. With new conflicts and threat scenarios creating additional daily risks for individuals in military, law enforcement, first responder, and emergency service applications, Avon Protection maintains a market-leading position by investing in continual research and development to meet changing operational requirements.
For more information, please contact: Robert Protheroe, Director of Sales Phone: (484) 639-2445 Email: robert.protheroe@avon-protection.com