Lydall Awarded Defense Department Protective Mask Contract

MANCHESTER, CT — Manchester-based Lydall Inc. has been awarded a $13.5 million U.S. Department of Defense contract related to the production of billions of protective masks.

The contract was announced Wednesday.

The deal calls for Lydall to ramp up two new production lines at its plant in New Hampshire to supply a "critical filtration layer of N95 respirators and surgical masks."

The layer will be used to make 1.7 billion N95 masks and 6.5 billion cloth surgical masks over a year's time, according to the announcement.

According to the announcement, with the installation of the two new production lines, Lydall's New Hampshire facility will be "the largest site for meltblown filtration media production in the United States."

Lydall has been manufacturing filtration materials for more than a century.

"As with the equipment the U.S. military provides our soldiers, our face masks, and the filtration media inside, must be highly engineered, backed by science and adhere to the rigorous standards," Lydall President and CEO Sara A. Greenstein said.

The contract was secured at a critical time for Lydall. Company officials said in a first-quarter earnings report that production slowed at three of its global manufacturing plants, and had posted a $56.4-million loss for the three-month period.

"As a market leader in specialty filtration solutions for nearly 100 years, we are proud to bring the full extent of our deep manufacturing expertise, assets and people to bear in the production of personal protective equipment for our first-responders, medical professionals, military personnel and the general public," Greenstein said.

The contract is the result of an ongoing collaboration between the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services, led by the Department's Joint Acquisition Task Force and funded through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES Act.