SafeSource Direct, Inc. has hired two professionals with experience in manufacturing and warehousing to manage its state-of-the-art nitril glove manufacturing plant.
Ernest Toussaint III and Charlie Strong have been named comanagers of the nitril glove plant, which will eventually operate 16 production lines, each producing 650,000 gloves a day. The plant has room to expand if necessary. Worldwide, 3 billion gloves are used every year.
Toussaint held a series of positions in the oil and gas industry after a distinguished career in the United States Marine Corp. He worked for global energy technology company Baker Hughes for 25 years, rising to the position of plant and operations manager, where he was responsible for training a multinational team from the U.S., Europe and Israel to support overseas offshore drilling operations.
Strong has spent his career on the shop floor with some of the largest oil and gas manufacturing companies in the world, including Cameron, Schlumberger, Halliburton and Weatherford. He is a business process improvement specialist with over a decade of experience in manufacturing and quality management systems. He holds a master’s degree in business administration/management, and he is an ASQ Certified Six Sigma Black Belt. As a specialist in process improvement, project management, data analytics and quality assurance, Strong has led several large-scale initiatives and cost savings projects.
The plant will eventually employ 976 direct employees with an annual salary of $38,000, plus benefits, and will result in 793 new indirect jobs. The greenfield facility will include 400,000 square feet of manufacturing space located on 49 acres. It will include multiple production lines for PPE manufacturing, with nitrile rubber gloves as the main product.
Ochsner Health partnered with Trax Development on a joint venture to create SafeSource to manufacture, warehouse and distribute PPE for health care and other industries last spring. Since then, SafeSource has invested $150 million to develop facilities in Lafayette and St. Martin parishes. Both plants are already producing PPE, and they have hired more than 400 of what will eventually be a workforce of 1,221.
SafeSource Direct LLC is an American manufacturer of personal protective equipment (PPE) dedicated to keeping our nation’s healthcare and other essential workers safe on the job. At SafeSource Direct, success minded team-members use innovation and automation to provide high-quality American-made PPE at prices competitive with those of foreign suppliers. Headquartered in Lafayette Parish, La., SafeSource Direct operates a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Broussard as well as in neighboring St. Martin Parish. Positioned near the Mississippi River, rail lines and interstate highways, it is well positioned to distribute PPE to the nation. To learn more about how SafeSource Direct is laying the groundwork for sustainability in the healthcare industry, visit SafeSourceDirect.com.
