EVEN as the Brightway Group has emerged the fifth Malaysian glove maker to be slapped with a withhold release order (WRO) ban by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) yesterday (Dec 21) over forced labour practices, debutants personal protective equipment (PPE) are least perturbed by such development.
Penang-based Iconic Worldwide Bhd has today joined the fray of potential nitrile examination powder-free gloves exporter to the US with its wholly-owned subsidiary Iconic Medicare Sdn Bhd having obtained the 510(k) premarket notification clearance from the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec 14.
“According to the Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (MARGMA), the global demand for gloves is expected to hit 420 billion pieces next year,” the company’s managing director Datuk Tan Kean Tet pointed out.
“Our aim is to manufacture at least 5% of the total global glove demand within five years, targeting export markets such as US & Europe.”
Apart from FDA, Iconic Worldwide which is primarily involved in tourism, property development and PPE manufacturing has also obtained CE and ISO certifications for its nitrile gloves and medical face masks, all of which will enable the group to export its products globally.
“In the 3Q and 4Q of the current financial year, we will ship out 500 million pieces of rubber gloves to the US, Europe, Africa, Middle-East and Southeast Asia. This will be in time for us to materialise it in our financial year 2022 accounts,” he added.
Completed on Nov 9, Iconic Worldwide’s RM200 mil PPE manufacturing facility for gloves and medical face masks currently runs six double former glove dipping lines with a total of 12 double former glove dipping lines and 20 medical face mask production lines to be installed and commissioned by February 2022.
Earlier on Friday (Dec 17), AT Systematization Bhd through its wholly-owned subsidiary AT Glove Engineering Sdn Bhd also received similar 510(k) premarket notification clearance which provides for the potential to ship and market its nitrile examination gloves into the US.
“Our US expansion will support the take-up of additional production capacity coming on stream,” noted AT Systematization’s managing director Choong Lee Aun. “There will be four new lines to be commissioned soon at our Chemor (Perak) plant which will boost our production capacity to two billion pieces per year.”
AT Glove, which entered into the production of medical-grade nitrile examination gloves in 2020, is currently running six production lines with an annual capacity of 1.2 billion at its Chemor plant.
Aside from the additional four lines, AT is also aggressively ramping up capacity expansion for its glove division with acquisition of several industrial plots in Kamunting (Perak) to cater for more than 50 production lines that will boost its annual production capacity.
On Dec 4, Mah Sing Healthcare Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mah Sing Group Bhd, has also obtained the 510(k) Premarket Notification clearances to market nitrile examination gloves from the FDA.
Mah Sing’s glove division which commenced operation in May 2021 has been producing mainly non-medical and industrial gloves. – Dec 22, 2021
