Health and Safety Industry

Advanced Peace of Mind

Shorter Supply Chain, Longer Trust

You need to trust your PPE, medical, and safety products every time you put them on and use them. We put that trust into every health and safety product we make, and it starts with US-sourced materials and products engineered and manufactured in the US. 

In addition to its Protex™ lines of N95 respirators and AAMI-level PPE gowns, Shawmut is a supplier of woven, knit, and laminated medical fabrics for critical OEM medical applications such as medical gowns, DVT prevention devices, and a host of technical fabric solutions in the healthcare and personal safety space. 

Health & Safety Industry Challenges We Solve

Looking for a solution to your critical health and safety challenge? Send us your toughest medical material challenge – we’ll take it on.

Maximize comfort and breathability in a medical barrier laminate.

As one of the largest independent technical fabric laminators in the world, Shawmut has decades of experience with both reusable and disposable medical fabric laminates up to and including AAMI Level 4. Working with knits, nonwovens and breathable technical membranes, we are a trusted supplier to some of the world’s leading providers of surgical gowns, drapes, mayo stands, and instrument covers. 

Our reusable barrier medical fabrics meet ASTM 1670 and 1671 requirements for blood and blood-borne pathogen protection. Our lamination services and laminate adhesive technologies allow material composites to maintain their protective properties through the rigors of numerous industrial launderings, autoclaving, and critical end-use applications, while retaining the vital, innovative textile features of the individual components.

Shawmut’s technical expertise excels at solving these types of performance challenges.

Maximize breathability in a filter media that is built to block airborne particles at N95 filtration performance.

It’s a challenge to make a filter media that maximizes airflow but also blocks enough airborne particles to meet NIOSH standards. We started with the world’s best melt blown filter media equipment – from Germany’s Reifenhäuser REICOFIL GmbH & Co – and engineered it to produce the optimal balance of fiber size, thickness, weight, and proprietary static charge to meet this challenge.

The result is Shawmut MB™, a filter media other mask manufacturers are coming to us for due to its high filtration properties, low air resistance, and light weight. 

Reduce dependency on distant supply chains and factories while retaining global competitiveness.

The global pandemic of 2020 highlighted several concerns about putting nearly the majority of our critical safety products in the hands of a distant overseas supply chain. According to HHS, 70% of respirators used in the U.S. at the time of the COVID-19 outbreak were made overseas, and China was the source of 50% of the world’s N95 respirators. 

 

Supply chain issues have demanded that many manufactures look at reshoring or near-shoring suppliers and raw materials sources over the past few years. Shawmut makes PPE in the US and North America.

 

Our supply chain does not cross any international borders as our raw materials are sourced on shore. Our supply chain is not subject to trade embargoes. This results in consistent quality and performance, much shorter lead times and quick turnaround.

Overcome technical challenges where humans, laminates and medical devices intersect.

At the interface of man and machine, technical textiles can be the buffer between hard and non-breathable surfaces and the soft skin and tissue of the human body. For example, a metal knee brace is needed to stabilize that critical joint for mobility, but we can’t put hard metal right up against our skin and tissue without a cushion in between, oftentimes a laminate. This laminate needs to be soft and breathable enough to protect the skin on one side, but durable enough on the other to adhere to the metal brace without ripping, shredding or delaminating, while offering a cushion in the middle to avoid hard shocks to the knee joint and leg area.

 

A similar challenge exists for medical inflatables like DVT prevention cuffs, lymphedema wraps and blood pressure cuffs. The side facing the skin needs to soft and breathable for optimum skin care, but the other layers must withstand the repetitive cycles of air pressure distorting the inflatable bladder the fabric is laminated to.

 

Shawmut has excelled at technical lamination challenges such as these for decades as a proven supplier to the top manufacturers in the medical device field.

We create solutions to your production challenges

How can we help you solve your most pressing medical device materials challenge?

In the ever-evolving landscape of medical device manufacturing, the pursuit of innovative and efficient production methods has become paramount. One such innovation that has been gaining traction in recent years is the utilization of Radio Frequency (RF) welding technology in the fabrication of medical inflatable air bladders. These critical components are integral to various medical devices, such as pressure-relief mattresses, compression garments, and inflatable cuffs used in healthcare applications. RF welding presents a compelling alternative to traditional bonding techniques due to its precision, speed, and ability to maintain material integrity.

READ CASE STUDY

This case study highlights how Shawmut Corporation leveraged its machine design expertise to revolutionize the manufacturing process of hydrogen fuel cell ion exchange media with linear air-flow channels. In an era where sustainable energy solutions are gaining momentum, the demand for hydrogen fuel cells as a clean power source has surged. However, current solutions for manufacturing ion exchange media were hampered by the inability to reliably produce consistent output that performed to spec due to a manual manufacturing process, which could not be cost-effectively scaled up.

 
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Health & Safety Industry Capabilities

Health & Safety Industry Applications

Medical Component Manufacturing
From medical laminates and inflatables to custom soft goods fabrication.

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AAMI Level 3 and 4 Medical Barrier Fabrics
We specialize in the lamination process to achieve barrier protection.

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Made-in-the-USA Meltblown Media
USA quality for a wide range of respiratory applications.

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Custom Dyeing and Finishing
Precise color matching and finishing for your healthcare application.

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NIOSH-Approved N95 Disposable Respirators
We produce the best-fitting disposable N95 respirator for a wide range of face sizes.

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Medical Device Component Parts
From straps to loop fabric and more, we excel at medical device soft composite materials.

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Level 3 3-Ply Facemasks
Made-in-the USA quality and assurance.

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Reusable and Disposable Isolation Gowns
Engineered solutions for on-shore or near-shore production.

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