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In this file photo, Rich Renehan, president and CEO of Renco, the parent of American Performance Polymers in Colebrook, dons a full-length nitrile glove made by APP on May 4, 2021.

A welder works Nov. 10, 2021, to install one of the two high-speed, rubber-glove production lines at American Performance Polymers in Colebrook. Four lines are planned in total.

In this file photo, Rich Renehan, president and CEO of Renco, the parent of American Performance Polymers in Colebrook, dons a full-length nitrile glove made by APP on May 4, 2021.

COLEBROOK – Last November, Rich Renehan was struggling to hire and house hundreds of new employees for his company, American Performance Polymers, which makes nitrile exam gloves, glovebox sleeves and other products.

But more recently, and especially since July 3, when he furloughed about 170 of his 180 full-time staff members for eight weeks, Renehan is looking for a major infusion of capital — be it from the government or private investors — and for orders.

The latter were supposed to flow into his expansive facility after a national hand-wringing borne of the fact that in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. was dependent upon foreign manufacturers and twisted supply chains for vital, personal protective equipment, including exam gloves.

To make sure that gloves were available when needed, the Department of Defense, and then the DOD along with the Department of Health and Human Services, awarded APP and its parent company, Renco, more than $35 million, to also increase production.

As APP awaited the call to make gloves for the federal government, the fact that it was a domestic maker of gloves was supposed to trigger an avalanche of orders, something that as of Wednesday, had not yet happened, said Renehan.

Fundamentally, APP is not competitive with Asian glove makers who, he said, are “dumping” gloves onto the U.S. market at well below their costs in an effort to gain an increased share of the market.

A welder works Nov. 10, 2021, to install one of the two high-speed, rubber-glove production lines at American Performance Polymers in Colebrook. Four lines are planned in total.

Buyers, including the federal government, are buying the lower-priced gloves, he said, which is understandable but unfortunate since it means APP had to go the furlough route while also suspending its expansion, which is 80% complete.

“There was some massive imports of Asian manufactured gloves in the past year so now everyone has a lot of stock and they still use gloves — which are one of the most widest-used products in the world for medical, food, for industry — but we are in a situation where the prices have scared buyers from the U.S. product,” said Renehan.

Overall, the U.S. should adopt a national industrial policy, he said, while President Joe Biden should consider an executive order promoting the purchase of American-made personal protection equipment, as well as a tariff of up to 40%, but not a ban, on foreign-made products because they are important, too.

“I’m not a big ‘unfair competition guy,” said Renehan. “It’s a global market and we need the imports but if it’s unfair and if it doesn’t support our industrial base then l’ve got a problem because the government just plunked down half a billion on U.S. factories,” like APP.

The government, both the federal and state ones, should consider direct purchase orders, which would be very helpful to APP and the two other U.S. companies that make gloves, Renehan.

Asked whether APP is in danger of closing, Renehan answered with an emphatic “no.”

“I see large orders in the future,” he said, adding he has reached out for help from Gov. Chris Sununu and members of the state’s congressional delegation, including U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, whom Renehan described as an “awesome” champion of APP.

In retrospect, the federal awards that APP and Renco received would have been better if they came with a five-year contract to make gloves, said Renehan, who pointed out that funding for such contracts remains available in the form of appropriated but unspent COVID-19 relief money.

Renehan said keeping glove manufacturers open is better and cheaper than letting them close and having to re-open them.

“We have to act smart because we’re competing with people who are taking us out at the knees. At least give us a chunk of consistent business to compete on and I will tell you that we will invent better gloves and manufacturing.”

Because APP “has a little bit of diversity” in its product line, it can weather the current situation, said Renehan, but it can’t sustain “that high level of employment” of just a month ago.

APP is paying for the furloughed employees’ health care, he said, adding that the employees are also eligible for state unemployment benefits.

A furlough is not ideal, Renehan acknowledged, but it’s better than a complete shutdown.

“Some people told me that ‘we’re really glad you did this’ rather than just posting a sign on the building saying ‘closed,’” he said.

COLEBROOK — Like many other businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic, American Performance Polymers has encountered problems with its supply chain.

The federal government’s goal to avoid relying on foreign suppliers for protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic has been good news for medical-glove maker American Performance Polymers, which is doubling the size of its plant and its workforce.

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