A SEALANT and adhesive factory in Bewdley has switched half of its operations to making hand sanitiser to help meet demand during the coronavirus lockdown.
Bondloc UK has adapted its factory at Bewdley Business Park during the pandemic and, within a week, perfected a 75 per cent alcohol formula to sell to customers.
In the last six weeks, Bondloc has supplied over 150,000 bottles of hand sanitiser and have now launched a new range of automatic dispensing units for offices, retail and commercial settings.
Joint owner Warren Wilkinson said: “We knew the lockdown was going to have an impact on our business and the demand for our core adhesive ranges, so when an existing customer enquired about hand sanitiser we decided to evaluate how feasible it was for us to produce it.
“Within a week, we had a proven and tested 75 per cent alcohol formulation conforming to WHO and EN12791.
"By recycling our slow moving packaging, we were able to react immediately to the increasing demand and supply quickly.
"I’m super proud of what the team at Bondloc has achieved in such a short space of time.
"We owe our survival to firstly our customers and our dedicated employees who make the business what it is today.”
Bondloc started manufacturing engineering adhesives for JCB, and has been supplying to the industrial, engineering and automotive sectors for 25 years.
Its products are sold in 30 countries and its Bewdley factory employs 30 staff.
One of Bondloc's newest customers is mental health charity Rethink Mental Illness.
Head of accommodation services Rachael Glover-Winfield said: "Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, we were struggling to obtain hand sanitiser for our accomodation and nursing services across the UK.
"When I heard Bondloc had started to produce it locally, I contacted them immediately to see if they could supply us directly.
"Not only did they oblige but they consulted with us on packaging options to ensure our needs were met effectively.
"It’s ensured our teams are as safe as they can be and they can continue to provide safe support during this difficult time. We can’t thank them enough.”
The company is now finalising deals to supply hand sanitiser to local schools, which are set to see some children from select year groups return from next week.
Bondloc founder and co-owner Mark Adams added: “During and after this crisis, everybody will be more conscious of hand sanitising going about their daily routine; eating out, driving, going to the cinema or the gym, and we are keen to support this shift change by evolving future sanitising products that help keep both the workplace and communities safe.”
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