Industry Interview: Avon Protection
Q: What is Avon Protection’s background and primary focus?
A: Avon Protection is part of Avon Rubber, which is a U.K. company listed on the London Stock Exchange that is very much part of the scenery in North America. We were established in 1875 in the U.K., so we have a very long history. Avon Rubber specializes in the defense and dairy markets.
The company has been involved in protecting warfighters against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats for nearly a century now. We’ve actually been making gas masks and respiratory equipment alongside many of our other products since the First World War.
In 2000, after a competitive proposal process, we were awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a protective mask [the M50/51 and M53 series] to replace all the current ground use protective masks that are currently in service by all four services: the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines and, more recently, the Coast Guard.
So what we’re really about is providing cutting edge equipment to protect warfighters against weapons of mass destruction and terrorist threats that they might see in the form of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear event or even a dirty bomb type of event.
Q: Are respirators your core products?
A: Yes, respirators, also known as protective masks and self-contained breathing apparatuses. We offer a range of equipment to provide respiratory protection— from negative pressure systems, where you use your lungs to bring the air into the mask, to supplied air where you use a tank or reservoir to supply clean air. We’re now moving into a more systems- oriented approach. I believe our task now is to provide a complete systems solution to users so they can be protected from head to toe and be confident that they have the best integrated protection.
Q: How much research and development goes into developing these masks?
A: Since we were awarded the DoD contract back in 2000, we spent about seven years in design, development and testing, which has resulted in the 50 series protective mask products now being fielded by the DoD.
To support the products now in production, Avon has invested approximately $35 million in research and development and the creation of a dedicated, state-ofthe- art factory in Michigan that has unique processes and technologies exclusive to our 50 series masks. Many of the process needed to make the masks did not exist before. We are using new materials and new technologies that previous to this program had no proven manufacturing processes. We developed all of those.
So we’re real proud of this facility and the work done there. Our DoD customer is happy with this facility as well, and uses it as a showpiece facility to demonstrate how it can work in concert with industry to develop the best products in the world in the best manufacturing facilities in the world.
Q: How valuable have partnerships in this industry sector been to advancing your products?
A: We recognize that our success in North America, beyond the DoD contract, is going to be born by strategic partnerships with a number of companies. The C50 full facemask is a variant of the M50 that we deliver to DoD. All four services use the M50. The Coast Guard and Special Forces use a variant of that mask. Part of what Avon Protection is doing now is leveraging the technology of the 50 series to the homeland security, first responder marketplace. The benefits for DoD are that as we sell more masks, we reduce our cost base to offer them a lower price. We also recognize that we need a lot of different channel partners to get to that marketplace.
Q: Is there a lot of competition in this sector and what sets Avon apart from it?
A: Yes, there is plenty of competition in this marketplace. North America represents probably 50 percent of the world market for this sort of equipment. By the award of the DoD contract, we have been given a major head start and have leapt over our competitors, because we’ve been able to develop technology and products that are relevant to today.
All of the other products that are out there, were developed 20 years ago, using technology that was relevant 20 years ago against threats that were considered to be relevant 20 years ago. So we have a hot product now that is very relevant because we use the latest technologies. We continue to invest.
I think, in deference to our competitors, we continually invest in our facilities and our resources and our people to make sure we keep moving forward. We’re not going to rest on our laurels.
Q: Any new partnerships or roll-outs on the horizon?
A: In the next couple of months the market will see us launch a couple of very innovative powered air and supplied air products that will significantly lower the physiological burden of the operator. We believe these products will be able to increase their endurance in-theater. These products are the result of several years of internal design and development completely funded by Avon. We’ve recognized the need of the market and the users as well as the shortcomings and age of the current products that are out there. ♦