Honeywell Hiring 500 In Phoenix To Make Urgently-Needed N95 Masks
The manufacturer Honeywell says it’s creating a new production line to make N95 masks at its Phoenix plant and will need 500 new workers.
Honeywell said this new production line, plus an earlier expansion in Rhode Island, means it can make over 20 million N95 masks each month.
The masks will go to the U.S Department of Health and Human Services for the nation’s Strategic National Stockpile. Honeywell said it’s possible it will make N95 masks for other buyers as well.
Honeywell also committed last week to producing 6 million N95 masks for Arizona health care workers.
Gov. Doug Ducey’s press secretary Patrick Ptak says these will supplement the state’s share of the Federal Strategic Stockpile at a much-needed time in the state’s coronavirus curve.
"It will definitely help but we know we need more, especially in the near term, in the next coming weeks and months, as models predict that cases and hospitalizations will peak," Ptak said.
Hiring has already started for the new positions, and manufacturing equipment is on its way, the company says. Honeywell will continue to make aircraft technology at its Phoenix factory near Sky Harbor.
N95 masks (also called an N95 filtering facepiece respirator) filter out 95% of airborne particles. They are in high demand to protect health care workers from infection as they treat patients with COVID-19.
