U.S. Medical Glove Company (USMGC), a manufacturer of the machines, components and chemicals necessary to make nitrile gloves in the U.S., marked its first anniversary in June at a previously dormant 350-acre high-tech manufacturing facility on the Wisconsin-Illinois border in Harvard, Illinois.
USMGC employs hundreds of workers at the facility, including engineers, chemists, supply chain experts, welders, electricians, CNC technicians, forklift operators, landscapers, general laborers and other support staff.
Currently at the Harvard facility, USMGC has 10 nitrile-glove production lines in operation and an additional 21 production lines under assembly, providing a total capacity of 2.48 billion nitrile gloves per year. This is in addition to the machines it has built, sold and now services for American allies and partners in strategic locations around the world.
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USMGC moved its team, consisting of over 200 members, to the former Motorola factory in June 2023, bringing American-made machines, technology and supplies to the 1.8M square-foot industrial site that previously lay vacant for 20 years.
To transform the site into a high-tech manufacturing hub, USMGC has heavily invested in full-time USMGC employees and local Midwestern vendors to rehab electrical work, HVAC, plumbing, security, telecommunications, landscaping and other critical systems.
In under a year, these construction crews have recycled and reindustrialized the facility into several strategic sectors, including sites for:
- Glove production
- Machine production
- Mask filament production
- Nitrile stockpile
- Administration and R&D
- Industrial outdoor storage
Motorola opened the facility in 1997 to build cellphones before closing the plant in 2003. At its height, the facility employed 5,000 people.
USMGC’s growth was made possible by funding from the U.S. Government and Administration for Strategic Preparedness & Response’s (ASPR) mission to re-industrialize American manufacturing. Specific funding and support are secured by the Department of Defense, Department of Health and Human Services and ASPR.
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