Arizona will get 500 new jobs from the manufacturing expansion.
The news comes on top of Honeywell’s recent announcement that it is expanding operations at its Smithfield, R.I. eye protection products plant — adding at least 500 jobs — so that the plant can also manufacture millions of N95 masks.
The new capabilities in Arizona and Rhode Island will enable Honeywell to make more than 20 million N95 disposable masks monthly to combat the coronavirus pandemic in the U.S.
“We have moved quickly to expand our production capacity for N95 masks globally and are pleased to announce our second new U.S. manufacturing line to supply the Strategic National Stockpile,” Honeywell CEO Darius Adamczyk said in a March 30 news release.
Honeywell said the Phoenix facility will prioritize fulfilling the U.S. government’s procurement, but it will also have the capacity to produce face masks for U.S. states and American healthcare and emergency response organizations.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said over the weekend that the state has secured an agreement with Honeywell to receive 6 million of the masks produced at the plant.
“I’m grateful to Honeywell for stepping up and partnering with Arizona to help get these masks to our doctors, nurses and EMTs on the frontlines,” Ducey said. “This is what exemplary corporate citizenship looks like. Honeywell is setting the example for others to follow, and we’ll continue forging additional private-sector partnerships to get our medical professionals the supplies and resources they need.”
