BEXIMCO’s full-fledged PPE Park proudly presenting Bangladesh in global medical textile market
Kazi Farhan Hossain Purba
Posted on April 5, 2021 5:59:34 pm Last updated at April 5, 2021 6:07:41 pm
BEXIMCO, – The Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited is a multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Dhaka – is manufacturing world-class medical products like personal protective equipment (PPE), masks and other essentials in its PPE Industrial Park.
Figure 1: BEXIMCO’s full-fledged PPE Park is manufacturing world-class medical products like PPE, masks and other essentials in its PPE Industrial Park.
Amid this global COVID-19 pandemic, the Park is serving both domestic and international markets and is aimed at increasing the diversity of the supply of PPE, ensuring that it is not dependent on any one country. It is also the first-ever full-fledged PPE Industrial Park in South Asia.
The 25-acre BEXIMCO PPE Industrial Park has a range of world-class, certified protective clothing at competitive prices. It is worth mentioning that the company has all the international and local necessary certifications complying with the US, EU and UK standards, including CE and DGDA approval to ensure world-class standard medical products. Besides, FDA certification approval is ongoing and it will soon be granted.
The advanced vertical facility is capable of converting polymer chips to melt-blown as well as laminated fabrics in different GSMs and then converting the fabric into isolation and surgical gowns disposable sterile and non-sterile, reusable isolation gowns, N95 cup type and foldable masks, surgical masks, shoe covers, head covers and reusable scrubs with water repellent treatment.
The company has agreements to supply PPE, including masks and protective gowns, to major US healthcare service providers. The PPE Park is targeting the huge US and European market along with the domestic ones to produce 500 million dollar products per year.
BEXIMCO Health partnered with Intertek- a full-fledged one-stop solution
Figure 2: BEXIMCO Health partnered with Intertek.
Beximco and Intertek Group – a 130-year-old leading British multinational doing assurance, inspection, product testing and certification company – developed the PPE Centre of Excellence at ‘Beximco Health’ in the PPE Industrial Park covering an area of 12,000 square feet with major sections of physical, chemical and microbiological testing. Ensuring the regulatory and quality assurance requirements of PPE manufacturers across Bangladesh to comply with the US, EU, UK and other global standards making the PPE Industrial Park a one-stop hub.
Including the Intertek lab, the PPE Park has 4 sections- garment, mask, and fabric factory.
The product range of BEXIMCO Health
BEXIMCO, being a quality accredited manufacturer, is doing large-scale volume production and offering their products at competitive prices. They are currently manufacturing the following products:
Table 1: Capacity of production per month according to each product type.
Information source: BEXIMCO | |
| PPE type | Capacity of production per month |
| Gowns/coveralls | More than 3 million |
| N95 mask | 1.5 million |
| N95 Cup mask | 2 million |
| Surgical mask | 3.5 million |
| Shoe covers | 1.5 million |
| Headwear | 3 million |
| Civilian mask | More than 10 million |
| Face shield | 1.5 million |
World-class gowns
BEXIMCO Health can produce a range of 3 million gowns per month. It is a matter of pride that at the height of the first wave of the pandemic this company provided 6.5 million gowns for the USA immediately.
Figure 3: BEXIMCO Health can produce a range of 3 million gowns per month.
In their reusable medical gowns range, they offer two products-Cotton-Poly 150 GSM AD923 and AD924. Both are suitable for general use and are produced with rugged and durable fabric. They are latex-free, soft and comfortable, water repellent and easy to clean.
In their Disposable Surgical Gowns range, they have SG3000 which is a high quality 100% Poly Tricot woven fabric standard gown with taped seams suitable for procedures with medium to high volumes of liquid.
They also offer SG200, high-quality PP and PE standard specification disposable surgical gown with taped seams with sterile and non-sterile options.
Their non-sterile gowns, NSG-8/NSG-9/NSG-9A/NSG-10, are high-quality PE coated, lightweight and used for minimal water resistance to liquid spray or general use.
Figure 4: Md. Saqib Shakoor (Middle), the Senior GM showing disposable surgical gowns range to Textile Today team.
According to Md. Saqib Shakoor, the Senior General Manager, COS to CEO of the company, makes these products in a Class 8 cleanroom which means 10,000 particles of 0.3 microns per square meter are permissible. They also use their sterilizing machine to maintain the requirements.
Their gowns conform to various international standards like AAMI PB70-Level 1/2/3/4 performance, EN 13795-1 etc.
Coveralls to provide complete protection
BEXIMCO’s coveralls are made from high-density, high-performance fabric. Their type 5/6 Coverall (C A-2) is made from breathable 100% PET non-woven fabric with TPU coating. Typical applications include healthcare settings, paint spraying, powder handling, maintenance, cleaning, etc. Approvals from USDA, FDA, OSHA and others are in progress.
Reliable respirators and surgical masks
Figure 5: BEXIMCO’s N95 Mask (BNM-1) is a foldable, disposable respirator, designed to give protection against solid and liquid aerosols that do not contain oil.
BEXIMCO’s range of face masks and respirators provides the comfort, protection and clinical support that the wearers need.
Their N95 Mask (BNM-1) is a foldable, disposable respirator, designed to give protection against solid and liquid aerosols that do not contain oil. It is designed to protect the wearer against solid particulates and liquid mists which they produce 3.5 million per month.
Latex-free 4-5 layer design, TPE straps for comfort, aluminum nose adjuster clip for easy adjustment are the key features and it meets the requirements including NIOSH 42 CFR 84 N95 for a minimum 95% filtration. They also produce N95 cup-type masks which have the same parameters.
Their Disposable Surgical Masks (SM-1) are type IIR SM-1 masks which are intended for use in infection control practices to reduce the potential exposure of the wearer to blood and body fluids. BEXIMCO can produce 3.5 million surgical masks each month.
Disposable shoe covers
BEXIMCO’s shoe covers are made from non-woven Polypropylene for the best comfort, grip and protection. Their DMO-1/DMO-2/DMO-3/DMO-4/DMO-5 shoe covers are suitable for use as an over-shoe in medical and leisure environments. The company can produce as many as 1.5 million shoe covers per month.
Disposable surgical caps
The disposable surgical caps are suitable for medical use as they are soft non-woven polypropylene fabric. They have anti-static composition and are secured in place with self-ties. BEXIMCO can produce such 3 million caps monthly.
Reusable civilian mask
BEXIMCO offers five different reusable 3-layer civilian face masks-MZL, BPS, SAQ, DNS and NAV, made from 100% water repellent cotton woven fabric with elastic ear loops and an adjustable nose bridge. Available in three colors and with either an anti-bacterial treated middle layer or a removable N95 HEPA filter layer.
Figure 6: BEXIMCO offers five different reusable 3-layer civilian face masks.
Since these are woven fabric-based products, the company can produce more than 10 million such masks each month.
Face shield with ergonomic design
BEXIMCO’s face shield provides optimum protection with comfort and greater freedom of movement because of its ergonomic design. It is chemical abrasion resistant, anti-static and the frame is dishwasher safe. It is possible to produce more than 1.5 million face shields per month by them.
Safety goggles for frontline users
BEXIMCO offers safety goggles made with medical-grade PVC, a high definition PC lens which has strong impact resistance doesn’t fog and has chemical and UV protection.
BEXIMCO’s prudent role at the hike of the first wave of pandemic showed their prowess and farsightedness. During the first wave of the pandemic when even the very next day seemed foggy, BEXIMCO kept all of their workers safe under their umbrella. Using their perseverance and manpower, they presented the country the very best.
Figure 8: Beximco invested $100-million for this 25-acre highly equipped industrial park.
According to the US Ambassador to Bangladesh Earl R. Miller in the Park’s inaugural speech, this phenomenal effort depicts “the capability of Bangladesh enterprises to move beyond ready-made garments in producing products for export and the ability of the Bangladeshi labor force to produce goods meeting the exacting standards of the healthcare industry.”
When asked which one is the big market for BEXIMCO Health, Saqib Shakoor said, “Definitely it’s America because as I told you that Cardinal has 167 billion dollar business, which indicates a huge market. So, our main target will be America and also European countries because they are more aggressive to follow the regulations.”
Figure 9: Syed Naved Husain, CEO, Beximco.
“The new facility shall help manufacturers, buyers, retailers, brands and the government with required services since all the services will be available under one roof encompassing European, American and other global regulatory standards,” said Beximco CEO Syed Naved Husain.
