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Puritan Medical Products is an American manufacturer of swab, diagnostic, and specimen collection products.[1][2] Puritan is North America's largest manufacturer of COVID-19 testing swabs.[3]

Based in Guilford, Maine, Puritan was a subsidiary of Hardwood Products Co., LP (its two subsidiaries being Hardwood Products Co., LLC and Puritan Medical Products Co., LLC), but has since split from Hardwood Products.[4][5][6] Guilford has been described as America's "swab capital," with Puritan's manufacturing reportedly ushering in the "golden age of the swab."[7][8]

Puritan operates three facilities in Maine (one in Guilford and two in Pittsfield), as well as a manufacturing plant in Orlinda, Tennessee, producing swabs and diagnostic testing supplies.[9][10] In June 2022, Puritan was named "Innovator of the Year" by the Maine International Trade Center.[11]

History

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Established in 1919, Puritan began as a producer of mint-flavored toothpicks in Saginaw, Michigan.[12][13] The business moved to Maine in 1920, where white birch (needed for the toothpicks) was plentiful.[13] Puritan eventually pivoted into the medical field with the introduction of tongue depressors and aseptic wood applicators, and in the mid-1970s began to focus specifically on medical and healthcare products.[13]

Leadership

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Puritan is a family-owned business.[14] The company is led by co-owner Timothy Templet, who serves as executive vice president of sales. Templet's grandfather, Lloyd Cartwright, founded Puritan in 1919 during the influenza pandemic.[15] His daughter, Virginia Templet, serves as Puritan’s manager of marketing.[16][17]

A business advocate, Templet urges American workers to join small companies and other private-sector employers as a way of combating labor shortages.[18] He also believes in proactively bracing for the next global health crisis, claiming the COVID-19 pandemic was a "wake-up call about stockpiles and being prepared."[19] Puritan urges people to practice vigilance in the face of new COVID spikes by continuing to test for emerging variants.[20]

Bob Shultz is the president and CFO at Puritan.[21] He is focused on recruiting workers from rural parts of Maine and Tennessee to join the company.[22] Derek McKenney serves as Puritan's director of corporate engineering.[23]

COVID-19 pandemic

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In April 2020, Puritan received over $75 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to produce more "flock tip testing swabs," which are preferred for COVID-19 testing.[24][25][26] In June 2020, President Trump visited the company, highlighting its "noble tradition of American manufacturing excellence for more than 100 years."[27][28] In July 2020, Puritan received another $51 million from the Defense Department to "expand industrial production capacity of flock tip testing swabs."[29] To meet demand, the company partnered with Cianbro Corp. to open another swab production facility in Pittsfield, Maine.[30] Granted federal funding to churn out 40 million swabs per month, the new Pittsfield facility is hiring and training hundreds of workers to produce up to 100 million swabs a month.[31] In total, the federal government provided Puritan with more than $250 million in funding to accelerate COVID-19 testing swab production.[32]

In November 2020, Puritan was awarded over $11 million to produce three million more testing swabs per month, with the money coming through the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act.[33]

In December 2020, Inc. named Puritan the magazine's "Company of the Year," describing it as "the most important manufacturer in the world."[34][35] Governor Janet Mills praised Puritan for "stepping up during tumultuous times to meet the needs of our state."[36] According to Bloomberg, Puritan offers full benefits and pays fully trained employees $15 an hour, higher than the $12.15 hourly minimum wage in Maine.[37]

In April 2021, Puritan announced plans to open a new manufacturing and distribution center in Tennessee, expanding the company’s national presence.[38] With construction underway, the Tennessee plant will create as many as 625 new jobs over the next five years.[39] In addition to accessing a larger workforce than in Maine, Puritan chose the Tennessee location for "the location, logistics, and incentives offered by Tennessee state and county development officials."[40][41]

Other work

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In addition to manufacturing COVID-19 testing swabs, Puritan is also active in the environmental, forensics, genetics, and microbiology media industries, among others.[42] This includes the production of environmental surface sampling kits.[43]

In September 2023, Puritan partnered with GenoTyping Center of America, a Maine-based genetic testing company, to produce specialty swabs that collect DNA from rodents without the need to use a surgical procedure or harvest a fresh tissue sample from each rodent.[44] Improving animal welfare, the new genotyping process is a DNA collection method that supports necessary biological research.[45] Heather Johnson, commissioner of the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, claims the partnership "illustrates the growth of Maine’s life sciences industry."[46]

In October 2024, Puritan announced a hiring spree, eyeing 50 employees to add to its roster of 450 workers.[47] The company cited orders being up 45 percent from pre-pandemic levels, including demand for U.S.-made testing products for the flu, RSV, strep, and COVID.[48]

References

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  1. ^ "Puritan Medical Products Inc - Company Profile and News". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  2. ^ "Swab manufacturer Puritan staffs up as Covid cases soar". CNBC. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  3. ^ Jewett, Lauren Weber, Christina (17 March 2020). "As Coronavirus Testing Gears Up, Specialized Swabs Running Out". Kaiser Health News. Retrieved 8 December 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Eichacker, Charles (21 March 2020). "This Guilford company is one of the world's top 2 makers of COVID-19 testing swabs". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  5. ^ "Hardwood Products Company". www.hwppuritan.com. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Hardwood Products Company, LP has changed its name to Puritan Medical Products Company I, LP". www.puritanmedproducts.com. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  7. ^ Zimmer, Ben (13 January 2022). "'Swab': A Mop for Ship Decks and Viral Specimens". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  8. ^ "It's the golden age of the swab, a 99-year-old invention that has never been more crucial". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Register". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  10. ^ "Maine-based Puritan Medical Products, one of North America's largest manufacturers of COVID testing swabs, purchases factory in Tennessee". newscentermaine.com. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  11. ^ "Newsworthy people and performances for June 27, 2022". Mainebiz.
  12. ^ "Puritan Medical Products". Inc.
  13. ^ a b c Jusko, Jill (6 November 2024). "Century-Old Manufacturing Companies: A Celebration Of US Longevity". IndustryWeek. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  14. ^ Eichacker, Charles (5 June 2020). "How a family-owned company in Guilford came to host a visit from the president". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  15. ^ Bhattacharji, Alex (3 December 2020). "How This 101-Year-Old Family Business Became the World's Most Important Company Overnight". Inc.com. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  16. ^ Bhattacharji, Alex (3 December 2020). "How This 101-Year-Old Family Business Became the World's Most Important Company Overnight". Inc.com. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  17. ^ Marino, David Jr. (19 March 2021). "COVID-19 swab maker from Piscataquis County to open plant in Tennessee". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  18. ^ "Let's get back to work. America depends on it". Fortune. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  19. ^ Bhattacharji, Alex (3 December 2020). "How This 101-Year-Old Family Business Became the World's Most Important Company Overnight". Inc.com. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
  20. ^ "Preparing for COVID's return: New spike requires vigilance, more testing". New York Daily News. 3 September 2023. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  21. ^ "Opinion: Puritan Medical is a poster child for Maine's economic recovery". Bangor Daily News. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  22. ^ Cordes, Renee. "Widgets, workers and wages: Maine manufacturers get more strategic about recruiting". Mainebiz.
  23. ^ Van Allen, Peter. "40 Under 40: An engineer behind millions of COVID swabs". Mainebiz.
  24. ^ Graphics, WSJ com News. "Trump's Turn-Out-the-Base Strategy Is Tested in Maine County". WSJ. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  25. ^ Clifford, Tyler (22 April 2020). "Trump taps medical supplies-maker Puritan Medical to ramp up coronavirus swab testing production". CNBC. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  26. ^ "DOD Details $75 Million Defense Production Act Title 3 Puritan Contract". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  27. ^ "WATCH: Trump delivers remarks following tour of Puritan Medical Products in Maine". PBS NewsHour. 5 June 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  28. ^ "Remarks By President Trump At Puritan Medical Products". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 8 December 2020 – via National Archives.
  29. ^ "DOD Awards $51.15 Million Undefinitized Contract Action to Puritan Medical Products Company". U.S. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  30. ^ Sentinel, Amy CalderMorning (12 October 2020). "Puritan, Cianbro to build second COVID-19 swab factory in Pittsfield". Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  31. ^ "Puritan hiring hundreds of workers to manufacture COVID-19 swabs". newscentermaine.com. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  32. ^ "America's Covid Swab Supply Depends on Two Cousins Who Hate Each Other". Bloomberg.com. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  33. ^ "Maine company contracted to produce million of testing swabs". AP NEWS. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  34. ^ Bhattacharji, Alex (3 December 2020). "How This 101-Year-Old Family Business Became the World's Most Important Company Overnight". Inc.com. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  35. ^ "Guilford swab maker Puritan wins Inc. 'company of the year,' and a legal victory". Mainebiz. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
  36. ^ "Maine-based swab producer, Puritan Medical Products, nationally recognized as Inc. Magazine's '2020 Company of the Year'". newscentermaine.com. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  37. ^ "America's Covid Swab Supply Depends on Two Cousins Who Hate Each Other". Bloomberg.com. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  38. ^ Young, Nicole. "Maine-based Puritan Medical Products to expand operations in Tennessee, manufacture COVID-19 swabs in Robertson County". The Tennessean. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  39. ^ "Maine-based Puritan Medical Products, one of North America's largest manufacturers of COVID testing swabs, purchases factory in Tennessee". newscentermaine.com. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  40. ^ Marino, David Jr. (5 May 2021). "Swab maker's Tennessee expansion lets it access a workforce larger than Maine's". Bangor Daily News. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
  41. ^ Milliken, Maureen (14 April 2021). "Puritan grows southward: Workforce, incentives made Tennessee 'right fit' for expansion". Mainebiz.
  42. ^ "Puritan Medical Products". VWR. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  43. ^ "Puritan Medical Products Company". www.rapidmicrobiology.com. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  44. ^ "Puritan Medical Products, GenoTyping Center partner on innovation for life sciences lab work". Mainebiz. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  45. ^ "Puritan Medical Products, GenoTyping Center partner on innovation for life sciences lab work". Mainebiz. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  46. ^ "Puritan Medical Products, GenoTyping Center partner on innovation for life sciences lab work". Mainebiz. Retrieved 8 November 2023.
  47. ^ "A year after major restructuring, Puritan Medical Products is hiring again". Mainebiz. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  48. ^ "A year after major restructuring, Puritan Medical Products is hiring again". Mainebiz. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
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