PETALING JAYA: Supermax Corp Bhd will begin commercial production of gloves at its first US manufacturing facility in Texas by January 2025.
The glovemaker’s wholly owned subsidiary Maxter Healthcare Inc will begin testing and commissioning its first production lines in December 2024, a release yesterday said.
Supermax anticipates achieving half capacity in the first phase of operations by next year, producing up to 2.4 billion gloves a year.
The scaling up of production in the first phase is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2025, adding another 2.4 billion pieces a year for a total of 4.8 billion gloves a year for its US production capacity.
“Our US plant incorporates a smart-manufacturing process, featuring digital process control and fully automated end-to-end manufacturing.
“This approach reduces our reliance on blue-collar labour and leverages the latest technology, including artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics,” founder and executive chairman Datuk Seri Stanley Thai said in a statement.
Supermax has plans for the second phase of its production capacity to be installed within the next two years and will be subject to its monitoring of global demand and consumption.
Supermax shares rose 14 sen to 93 sen yesterday on news that import tariffs on Chinese gloves entering the United States would be raised by 50% in 2025 and jump to 100% by January 2026.