A new collaboration to fight COVID-19
When it comes to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn’t matter the size of the company. Everyone has a role to play.
For ExxonMobil – one of the world’s largest producers of isopropyl alcohol (IPA), a key ingredient in medical hand sanitizer – it means getting the product to where it’s needed most.
For E.T. Browne – the small, family-owned manufacturer of Palmer’s® personal care products – it means pivoting its business to make medical hand sanitizer for U.S. military personnel and medical first responders.
The decision to repurpose its factory in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, from making lip balm and body lotion to making hand sanitizer wasn’t the hardest part for E.T. Browne. It was obtaining key ingredients like IPA, which is in high demand due to the global emergency.
Without IPA, E.T. Browne would not only be unable to make the hand sanitizer, but it also faced the prospect of shutting down its factory, which employs nearly 300 workers. That’s when ExxonMobil, whose Baton Rouge chemical facility is home to the world’s largest plant producing IPA, agreed to help.
ExxonMobil is maximizing its supply of IPA and other chemical products used in making a range of essential tools in the fight against COVID-19. The first shipment of E.T. Browne’s medical-grade hand sanitizer is expected to go out Friday, April 10, to the Army and Airforce Exchange Service and the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Health Network.
ExxonMobil is also planning donations to other area hospitals. And E.T. Browne’s 280 hourly employees are able to continue working to help meet society’s needs during the pandemic.
“Our business was facing extreme uncertainty – we had never seen anything like this,” said Jordan Nissensohn, director of special projects at E.T. Browne. “Pivoting to produce hand sanitizer, and securing the isopropyl alcohol that goes into it, is the biggest source of optimism we have today.”
For ExxonMobil, supplying isopropyl alcohol is standard business, but doing so in this case required a swift response and a high priority.
“Once we saw what E.T. Browne was facing, and what it was trying to achieve, we knew we needed to respond, and do it quickly,” said Greg Bass, Americas Fluids product manager, ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company.
Isopropyl alcohol is just one of many products helping to keep medical workers safe and people healthy. IPA, as an effective disinfectant, can be found in hand sanitizers, alcohol wipes and disinfectant sprays – products that are important in fighting the spread of COVID-19.
More information on isopropyl alcohol, including product data sheets and gradeslates, and other innovative ExxonMobil Product Solutions healthcare solutions.
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Isopropyl alcohol
A clear, colorless and volatile material with a light odor that possesses physico-chemical and solvency properties similar to those of ethyl alcohol, making it miscible with water and soluble in most organic solvents.
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Healthcare and medical
ExxonMobil Product Solutions is a long-term supplier to the healthcare industry with highly specialized products and focused technical service.
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Medical nonwovens
Improve barrier performance, fit and fabric comfort in medical nonwovens with a wide range of products from ExxonMobil Product Solutions. These include Achieve™ Advanced PP, ExxonMobil™ PP, Vistamaxx™ performance polymers and polyethylene products, including Exceed™ performance PE polymers. Applications include surgical drapes and gowns, medical protective gowns, face masks, shoe covers, disposable bedding and hospital apparel, sponges, pads, wraps, and filtration media.
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Our Coronavirus response
ExxonMobil is working to help meet the needs of health care professionals fighting this pandemic on the front lines, as well as those socially distancing themselves at home. While those needs continue to evolve, the company remains focused on working to meet global energy demand.
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Helping doctors and nurses breathe safely
An ExxonMobil team of experts in chemicals, materials science and manufacturing is offering their experience to help a collaborative effort organized by the Global Center for Medical Innovation. By quickly connecting its customers to solution providers, ExxonMobil helped create a new supply chain to respond to the medical needs in hospitals across the country.
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Producing solutions for frontline professionals
ExxonMobil is maximizing its production of the high-performance polymers used to make face masks, surgical gowns and other critical medical supplies for those treating patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. The company’s plants around the world manufacture the building blocks for plastics, like polypropylene and polyethylene.
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Getting disinfectant into the right hands
ExxonMobil is helping to meet demand for products like medical hand sanitizers, alcohol wipes and disinfectant sprays by manufacturing a key ingredient, isopropyl alcohol (IPA), and providing it to the customers and areas that need it most.
