American industrial technology firm Honeywell announced Friday that production of N95 respirators has commenced at its Smithfield, RI manufacturing facility. Products made at the site will be sent to the U.S. Department of Human and Health Services for the National Strategic Stockpile. The face masks are an essential piece of personal protective equipment (PPE) used in the fight against COVID-19.

“Building a new production line is a tremendous undertaking that typically takes nine months. Thanks to the dedication of our employees and strong support from our partners, including Emerson (Branson) and several other great US suppliers, we were able to get the Rhode Island facility up and running in just five weeks,” the firm’s chairman and chief executive officer, Darius Adamczyk, said in a release.

Honeywell announced plans to expand the Smithfield site to manufacture N95 respirators and UVEX safety glasses in late March. As part of the effort, the company also said it will hire 500 workers.

The National Strategic Stockpile will distribute the N95 masks to health, safety, and emergency response workers.

“With the full power of private enterprise and the ingenuity and grit of companies like Honeywell, President Trump is orchestrating the most rapid industrial mobilization since World War II to combat an invisible enemy,” said White House Defense Production Act Coordinator Peter Navarro in a statement. “Honeywell’s new facility in the great state of Rhode Island will be churning out millions of one of the most important weapons in this historic fight.”

Honeywell is also working to add N95 production capabilities to its facility in Phoenix. The new assets at the Arizona site are expected to come online in mid-May. Once both plants are operational, the two facilities will manufacture over 20 million respirators per month.

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