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byline: Sydney Lake

A catalyst for change

An unhappy customer was the engine for change at Alpha Omega Integration LLC — and is a major factor the Vienna-based information solutions company attributes to its success.

Alpha Omega won an IT contract from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Information Resource Management in 2018. But three weeks later, the agency said it was dissatisfied with the quality of the company’s services.

It was then that Alpha Omega President and COO Gautam Ijoor took a step back and restructured the company to focus on customer satisfaction. The effort started with retaining and encouraging employees who are passionate about their work.

After Alpha Omega’s restructuring, the State Department became one of the company’s most loyal customers. In 2019, the federal department doubled Alpha Omega’s contract, raising the award ceiling and increasing the scope of work.

Alpha Omega’s annual revenues grew from $11 million to $14 million.

Alpha Omega also provides services to the Small Business Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Navy.

“As a small business, this organic growth has the highest gross profit and is a reflection of the satisfaction the customer has in the work we’re providing them,” Ijoor says.

Alpha Omega’s employee retention rate among its 183-person workforce has increased to more than 90% in the last couple of years, he adds.

“By creating a culture where your employees are passionate about customer success, you give employees a reason to thrive and grow within this environment,” Ijoor says. “You start seeing a sense of purpose and fulfillment with employees.”

Alpha Omega was also ranked No. 30 in the Inc. 5000 D.C. Metro’s Top Companies list, and WashingtonExec named Ijoor one of its 2019 Top 10 leaders of small and emerging businesses.

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Ice age

As the Port of Virginia expands its terminals, it’s prompted warehousing and logistics firms to also create space for more imported and exported goods. One of the largest areas of recent growth has been in the refrigerated storage industry.

Here are some of the highlights:

Preferred Freezer Services

In April 2019, Preferred Freezer Services LLC announced plans to build a $60 million, 200,000-square-foot cold storage warehouse on Portsmouth’s waterfront, expected to create 60 jobs.

Michigan-based Lineage Logistics LLC acquired Preferred Freezer Services in May 2019 for a reported $1 billion. Based in New Jersey, Preferred Freezer Services opened a Chesapeake warehouse in 2017.

The Portsmouth warehouse will sit on the former site of a factory once run by German chemical company BASF, which sold the site for $2 million in 2017. It is expected to open in May 2021, but construction had not started as of mid-March, according to Lineage spokesperson Rachael Collins.

“The state-of-the-art facility will help Lineage meet the growing demand for cold storage capacity in the region and will be used to import, export, process and distribute a variety of food products,” Collins says.

Americold Logistics

Iowa-based Cloverleaf Cold Storage Co. announced in January 2019 that it would invest $21 million to add 100,000 square feet to its Chesapeake facility, creating an expected 33 jobs and increasing its blast-freezing capability, as well as export and import volume.

In April 2019, Cloverleaf was acquired by Americold Logistics LLC for $1.24 billion, and Americold completed its expansion in Chesapeake in the fourth quarter of 2019. 

The Atlanta-based company is a competitor with Lineage Logistics, and with the purchase of Cloverleaf and three other supply-chain business, Americold now has the largest network of temperature-controlled facilities in the world.

Port of Virginia cold-temperature pilot

In February 2019, the Port of Virginia completed the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 16-month Southeast In-Transit Cold Temperature Pilot program, and now importers of perishable products from South America can move their cargo across the port. 

Under the pilot initiative, which started in October 2017, the port could receive cold-treated containers of fruit from Peru, Uruguay and Argentina after a two-week treatment process to guard against fruit flies and other pests. Before, perishables had to first enter ports in the Northeast United States for cold treatment before being distributed to Southern states.

This comes as the port is midway through its $700 million expansion project, which includes more space for refrigerated — known in the industry as “reefer” — cargo at the Virginia International Gateway and Norfolk International Terminals.

“When construction is finished, we’ll have nearly 900 reefer spaces at each terminal, which is a 66% increase in total reefer capacity,” Virginia Port Authority CEO and Executive Director John F. Reinhart said in a statement. The port also handles refrigerated cargo on the Richmond Express barge.

InterChange Cold Storage

A $41.6 million, 230,000-square-foot cold-storage facility built by Rockingham County-based InterChange Cold Storage LLC opened in Mount Crawford last fall, creating more than 100 jobs.

InterChange plans to grow its total cold-storage space to approximately 600,000 square feet, and state officials expect the cold-storage facility to be an integral part of the supply chain serving Shenandoah Valley’s growing cluster of food and beverage manufacturers, which employs more than 9,200 workers.

InterChange also has a 200,000-square-foot logistics center in Portsmouth, which has 20 drop trailer locations and 28 docks. 

Shenandoah Growers

Rockingham-based Shenandoah Growers Inc. Logistics Services announced in January 2020 that its business grew nearly 170% by the end of 2019, and it is adding 15 dual-temperature trailers to its fleet. 

The company transports produce, food service and floral products, which require varying temperature controls.

The company also added service points and lanes to its system. Shenandoah Growers has six facilities and transports goods to the Southeast, Middle/North Atlantic and Midwest regions of the country.

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Digging deep

The Port of Virginia’s aim to become the deepest port on the East Coast continues apace, even during the outbreak. The $350 million project to dredge the Norfolk Harbor started more than two years early in December 2019. Meanwhile, the Virginia International Gateway (VIG) in Portsmouth and the Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) are both undergoing expansions, as are inland port projects, to accommodate more imports and exports. Here are more details about the projects:

Norfolk International Terminals

  • Following the VIG phase, it’s now the NIT’s turn in phase two of the $700 million terminal expansion project.
  • The project includes 18 more container stacks and 36 rail-mounted gantry cranes, which arrived earlier this year.
  • Annual container capacity to expand 46%, or 400,000 units, when complete.
  • The port has purchased 25 hybrid shuttle carriers in a $23 million contract with Kalmar, part of Cargotec Corp., with delivery set
    for July 2020.
  • In spring 2020, the port was in the engineering phase to modernize the central rail yard.

Virginia Inland Port

  • VIP received $15.5 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation in December 2018 to increase terminal capacity in Front Royal.
  • The projects include the addition of three long loading tracks, two hybrid straddle carriers and a new highway bridge grade separation.
  • Final design of the project took place in early 2020, with construction scheduled to start later in the year. 

(at both terminals)

  • The Truck Reservation System, started in 2018, manages trucks moving to and from NIT and VIG.
  • Earlier in 2020, 92% of all trucks had turn times of less than an hour, and 55% were under 40%.
  • NIT averages 567 reservations per day, and VIG averages 765.

Richmond Marine Terminal

  • In March 2019, the Virginia Express, a second river barge, was put into service.
  • U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD) has granted the port $1.8 million to expand transportation between Richmond Marine Terminal and the Norfolk Harbor.
  • The project is also expected to reduce congestion on Interstate 64.

Virginia International Gateway

  • Started in February 2017, a $320 million project to expand capacity at the VIG container terminal was completed in July 2019.
  • The project includes four, 170-foot-tall ship-to-shore cranes and 26 rail-mounted gantry cranes.
  • Terminal’s annual throughput capacity expanded to 1.2 million container lifts.

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Rising above

Sea-level rise is happening faster than ever in Hampton Roads, experts say, up to an inch every four years. And if that doesn’t sound like a big deal, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science said in a February 2020 report that coastal waters could rise by more than a foot and a half by 2050.

Second only to New Orleans in flooding risk due to sea-level rise, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office for Coastal Management, the Hampton Roads region is making strides toward safeguarding its land, although some larger localities are confronting the problem with bolder and more expensive solutions than smaller, rural localities can afford.

Buildings, roads and railways in areas already prone toward flooding will be increasingly impacted in coming decades — including the movement of freight into and out of the Port of Virginia — said retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Ann C. Phillips in a January speech to the Virginia Bar Association in Williamsburg.

In a region with a water-based economy, critical transportation infrastructure will be compromised by this environmental shift, she said, including recurring flooding, high winds, intense rainfalls and other factors.

NOAA predicts that three feet of sea-level rise could inundate 162 to 877 miles of the region’s roads, impacting up to 176,000 residents. It would also deliver a blow to military bases and the maritime industry.

“Much like the region’s federal facilities,” said Phillips, a special assistant to Gov. Ralph Northam for coastal adaptation and protection, the Port of Virginia’s “future resilience is inextricably linked to that of the surrounding cities and other localities that support and provide its critical utilities, transportation, logistics and supply chain infrastructure.”

This comes as no surprise to John Reinhart, CEO and executive director of the Virginia Port Authority, which oversees the port’s Hampton Roads terminals.

“When we started all of our implementation of our infrastructure, we looked at the sea-level rise effects, and we did raise our substations at [Norfolk International Terminals] to take into account some sea-level rise,” Reinhart says.

In December 2019, Virginia Beach made waves by issuing a policy report on sea-level rise that acknowledges it currently has no system or review process for retrofitting or maintaining roads to protect them against flooding. The city has devoted $3.8 million since 2015 — including an $844,000 grant from NOAA — to study flooding and identifying measures to reduce risk.

In January, the city’s public works engineering department, with consulting firm Dewberry, presented an extensive study to protect its watersheds and flood-prone property. The city’s even considering buying out or elevating properties that often flood — spending previously covered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — but using $1.5 million in city funds initially and then $500,000 annually. The question is whether the city can still afford to do this following the economic devastation from .

A regional approach has long been the argument of many experts. The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission recommended in October 2018 that localities need to work together to best prepare for sea-level rise.

“Large regional solutions, like floodgates, pump stations and seawalls, will likely be deployed to protect economically important and defense-related infrastructure,” Mark W. Luckenbach, associate dean of research at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science, said during the VBA conference.

Organizations like the Norfolk-based RISE are working to fund development projects to address flood management, reestablishing critical utilities, and urban mobility as it relates to sea-level rise in Hampton Roads, awarding up to $250,000 per proposal. It’s seeking applications through June 1.

Kyle Spencer, the city of Norfolk’s deputy resilience officer, says “creative, smaller-scale, affordable solutions” are welcome, even while the region considers larger programs. “Big infrastructure projects take years and billions of dollars to implement.”

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Ballad Health furloughs 200 Virginia workers

Not even health care systems are immune from the effects of .

Tennessee-based Ballad Health announced in early April it had furloughed between 200 and 250 Southwest Virginia employees to cut administrative costs and ensure it can keep critical frontline medical workers employed during the crisis. Other health systems operating in Virginia such as Bon Secours Mercy Health, Inova Health System and Carilion Clinic have taken similar measures.

Ballad Health furloughed 1,300 employees across its health care system, which also serves parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and North Carolina, including about 600 corporate and administrative positions primarily in Tennessee. It projects revenue losses to total more than $150 million by mid-July. The health care system has seven hospitals, six urgent care facilities and 84 physicians’ practices in Virginia. Two of its urgent care clinics in Bristol and Marion have been temporarily combined with other nearby clinics.

“The COVID-19 crisis has placed a strain on our team members and our organization that is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before,” says Ballad Health Chairman and CEO Alan Levine, who is waiving 100% of his compensation until at least June 8.

More than 600 of the furloughed Ballad employees had already been working reduced hours due to elective procedures being canceled amid the crisis. Many of these employees tapped into their paid time off to recoup the lost income.

“Many of our team members have been called off or had their hours reduced over the past few weeks because of volume declines of up to 70% in many of our services,” Levine says. Those who are furloughed can be recalled or rehired by Ballad Health at any time.

Furloughed workers are eligible for unemployment.

Frontline Ballad medical workers, such as bedside nurses, respiratory therapists, nursing assistants and licensed practical nurses, are guaranteed work hours. This is to ensure that staffing levels will be adequate in case of a COVID-19 patient surge, Ballad Health spokesperson Teresa Hicks says.

“At the same time we are facing these challenges, Ballad Health must also ensure critical staffing can meet the ongoing needs of the communities we serve,” Levine says.

Furloughs will be reviewed on June 8.

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Pomp and absence

With the rest of the spring semester moved online, her graduation was the only thing Tannah Blair, an accounting major in Virginia Tech’s class of 2020, had to look forward to. 

“When they made the announcement that graduation was canceled and was being moved online, I was beyond devastated,” Blair says.

Due to the crisis, Virginia colleges and universities postponed, canceled or moved their ceremonies online — essentially evaporating the 2020 commencement season.

Tech last canceled commencement in 1917, when the U.S. entered World War I, says Ann Brown, director of strategic communications for Tech’s libraries. Back then, more than 50% of the graduating class left to receive training at the Fort Myer Army post in Arlington County.

In late March, Virginia Tech President Tim Sands sent a message to graduates alerting them that their 2020 graduation ceremony would be held virtually on May 15. Keynote speakers will include Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier, a Tech alumna. He also invited graduates and two guests to a tailgate before the Sept. 26 home football game with an “Enter Sandman” — the Metallica song played at the beginning of each Tech home game — entrance into the stadium in place of the May commencement ceremony.

Nearly 7,000 Hokies were originally expected to fill Lane Stadium for spring commencement, says university spokesman Bill Foy.

 “I’m not expecting much from this virtual graduation they are planning, nor the special event they have proposed to us in the fall,” Blair says. “It’s all just very disappointing and I feel that myself and my class of 2020 are not going to be properly recognized for our accomplishments, as well as the hardships we are experiencing during our last semester of college.”

 Students can also attend either the commencement ceremony planned for December 2020 or spring 2021.

 “It would be great to schedule a commencement [for the class of 2020], but the reality is we need time to do that and everyone who would want to participate would also need time for planning,” Sands said during an April virtual town hall. “We decided that it just didn’t make sense to organize something that we thought might have to be postponed, maybe many times.”

 The University of Virginia and James Madison University, among others, opted to postpone 2020 commencement ceremonies. And some, like George Mason University, postponed it indefinitely. 

 “As things got worse, I knew it was inevitable,” Blair says. “But I held out hope that they would reschedule it rather than canceling.”

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Leveraging the past

Vernon Green served 20 years, five months and 18 days in the Army, retiring in 2014 as a chief warrant officer after three deployments to Iraq and one to Kuwait. Today he heads his own information and cybersecurity business responsible for 10 major government projects. And he hires veterans like himself.

During his time in the service, Green was the officer in charge of the U.S. Army Information Technology Agency’s Executive Communications Team at the Pentagon, providing data and voice communications support to the Army’s top leadership. Leveraging his experience, Green founded GCubed Inc. in 2014 and landed his first contract with the Department of Defense’s Web Center of Excellence.

After proving its capabilities, GCubed won the $2.63 million contract again in September 2019.

“I was the program manager for that contract originally when it came out in 2014,” says Green, CEO of GCubed. “Then, the contract went away. Someone else won it after that year in 2015. We kept track of it. But I got a call one day and basically said, ‘Hey, the current customer is not doing a good job. We’d like you to throw your hat in to see if you can provide these services.’ And so we did. We submitted a proposal and then we won the contract.”

GCubed now has 38 employees at its Stafford County headquarters. Of those, 28% are veterans, and the company is certified through Virginia Values Veterans, a state initiative to train companies in how to hire, attract and retain veterans.

“As always, the best candidate gets the job, but what I will say is that veterans bring a unique skill set to the work environment,” Green says. “They’re committed toward a mission instead of time, and I know the values that they bring to the table from their military service.”

GCubed also is listed No. 29 on the 2019 Vet100 list of the 100 fastest-growing companies owned by military veterans, No. 386 on the 2019 Inc. 5000 list and is No. 72 on the 2020 Financial Times list of America’s Fastest Growing Companies.

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Highway projects around Virginia

HAMPTON ROADS

Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion

The $3.3 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion is the largest construction project in the history of the Virginia Department of Transportation. In February 2019, Hampton Roads Connector Partners, a joint venture led by New York-based Dragados USA, won the design-build contract for the project, which is expected to be completed by November 2025. The expansion will add two-lane tunnels and widen the four-lane sections of Interstate 64 in Hampton between Settlers Landing Road and the Phoebus shoreline. It will also widen the four-lane section of I-64 in Norfolk between the Willoughby shoreline and I-564 interchange.

This spring and early summer, workers are relocating utilities on South Island and shifting lanes on the
south-approach trestle, with North Island expansion set to start in October.

The Willoughby Bridge is scheduled for widening starting in January 2021, followed by replacement of the north and south trestles in February, as well as the widening of the Oastes Creek Bridge. Next March and April will see the Mason Creek Bridge widened and the replacement of the Mallory Street Bridge. In February 2022, the tunnel-boring operation is set to begin, the first time the state has used this tunneling method, which is considered less disruptive to the environment than an immersed-tube approach that requires dredging the waterway.

The Hampton Roads Transportation Accountability Commission is the primary funding agent for this project, using local revenue from sales and gasoline taxes in the Hampton Roads Transportation Fund.

I-64/I-264 interchange improvements

This $158.7 million project includes four miles of interstate improvements — from the Twin Bridges in Norfolk to the Witchduck Road interchange in Virginia Beach. The bridges will provide additional capacity, reduce congestion and improve safety and traffic operations. Phase I of the project widened I-64 between the Twin Bridges and the I-264 interchange; added two ramps from I-64 west to I-264 east; and added a system of Phase II, which started in March with drilled shaft construction that will support the new bridge and will improve collector-distributor roads on I-264 east. Phase II will improve the interchanges at Newtown and Witchduck roads in Virginia Beach, and crews are adding a Greenwich Road flyover across I-264 that connects with Cleveland Street, which is set to open to traffic in late 2020.

Denbigh Boulevard Bridge replacement

The $23 million construction project, which began in March 2019, will replace the Denbigh Boulevard Bridge over I-64 and CSX Railway between Warwick Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue in Newport News. The current bridge, which was structurally unsound, is being demolished in stages, and a new bridge is being constructed with four 12-foot lanes, a 16-foot raised median and two 8.5-foot sidewalks. During the first stage, traffic was shifted to one lane in each direction, allowing demolition, construction work and the creation of a training wall. During the second stage, which started in March, traffic is being shifted to the new portion of the bridge, and the remaining demolition and construction will be completed. The project is scheduled for completion in summer 2021.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA

Connectivity on interstates 495 and 95

The commonwealth of Virginia and road operator company Transurban invested $1 billion in a public-private partnership to reduce traffic congestion and improve connectivity on interstates 495 and 95 in Northern Virginia. The projects include a 2.5-mile extension of I-495 express lanes to the American Legion Bridge and the Maryland border. (In December, Virginia and Maryland entered into an agreement to replace the bridge by 2025.) There will also be an auxiliary lane to reduce bottleneck traffic on the Occoquan Bridge, which will connect the southbound Route 123 ramp onto I-95 with the westbound off-ramp of Prince William Parkway. The project also will add a reversible ramp to improve access to Potomac Mills and the Sentara Virginia Medical Center. The fourth project will extend the I-95 express lanes in Fredericksburg by 10 miles to increase the highway’s capacity by 66% during its peak hours.

Transform I-66 outside the Beltway

This $3.7 billion project is a public-private partnership between the Virginia Department of Transportation, the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation and I-66 Express Mobility Partners. The project will create 22.5 miles of express lanes on I-66 and I-495 to University Boulevard in Gainesville. New bus service and transit routes, expanded park and ride lots, interchange improvements, additional auxiliary lanes between interchanges and 11 miles of bike and pedestrian trails are included in the project. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Washington Metro-politan Area Transit Authority, which has already reduced service due to , will shut down the Metro Orange Line to accommodate construction. The express lanes are scheduled to open in December 2022.

SHENANDOAH/SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA

I-81 improvements

Localities along the Interstate 81 corridor saw a 2.1% regional fuels tax bump last July. The approximately $150 million in revenue generated by the tax will go toward $2.2 billion in improvements recommended for I-81 by the Commonwealth Transportation Board. Gov. Ralph Northam opted for a fuels tax as opposed to tolls after months of debate in the 2019 General Assembly. The improvements will address major safety and reliability concerns on the highway’s 325 miles in Virginia between the Tennessee and West Virginia borders. Projects include bridge replacements, ramp extensions, widening the highway, curb improvements and adding auxiliary lanes.

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GO Virginia earmarks funding for SW Va. tech talent program

The GO Virginia Region 1 Council, which covers Southwest Virginia, announced Thursday it has recommended $1.38 million in funding for the United Way of Southwest Virginia to create a talent development program. 

As more tech companies enter the Virginia market during the next decade, it’s estimated that more than 200,000 IT jobs in Virginia will be unfilled, according to Region 1’s data review and data from Richmond-based research firm Chmura Economics & Analytics JobsEQ. In Region 1 specifically, there will be a demand for more than 1,300 workers. And it’s expected that the IT industry in Virginia will grow 9.3% by 2024, compared to the national expectation of 6.5%, according to the Virginia Employment Commission Virginia Job Outlook.

The Ignite Technology Talent development program would work to funnel students into information technology careers in Southwest Virginia. As part of the program, middle schoolers would participate in career exploration and career planning in the IT sector. Then, high school students would take technology courses and dual enrollment classes with community college partners including Mountain Empire Community College and Virginia Highlands Community College.

The partnership would span across K-12 schools, community colleges, colleges and employers in Southwest Virginia. 

The Ignite Technology Talent development program would work to funnel students into information technology careers in Southwest Virginia. Graphic courtesy United Way of Southwest Virginia

“The partner collaboration on this technology initiative is unparalleled in our region,” Melinda Leland, director of youth success at United Way of Southwest Virginia, said in a statement. “The strong commitment to providing the workforce needed to support existing economic development initiatives focused on attracting technology sector employers is vitally important to the long-term success of our region and the commonwealth.”

The funding is contingent on the FY21 per capita allocation from the state’s GO Virginia economic development initiative. Half of the funds are expected to be awarded in the near future, with the other half funded after Region 1 receives its FY21 per capital allocation. 

The GO Virginia Board will consider the funding in June, and it’s expected that partners will contribute an additional $1.43 million to the program. 

Partners for the project thus far include:

  • The University of Virginia’s College at Wise
  • Mountain Empire Community College
  • Virginia Highlands Community College
  • Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center
  • New River Mount Rogers Workforce Development Board
  • MajorClarity LLC
  • Region 7 Superintendents Association
  • Bland County Schools
  • Bristol City Public Schools
  • Buchanan County Schools
  • Carroll County Schools
  • Dickenson County Schools
  • Galax City Schools
  • Grayson County Schools
  • Lee County Schools
  • Norton City Schools
  • Russell County Schools
  • Scott County Schools
  • Smyth County Schools
  • Tazewell County Schools
  • Washington County Schools
  • Wise County Schools
  • Wythe County Schools

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Hanover County packaging manufacturer making isolation gown material

-based packaging manufacturer INDEVCO North America announced Thursday that it’s shifting its materials to make materials for protective isolation gowns, worn by first responders and medical workers.

The company typically produces house wrapping material under its Barricade Building Products brand, but due to , there’s been a decrease in U.S. housing starts — but a surge in demand for personal protective equipment (PPE). 

Isolation gown material close-up. Photo courtesy INDEVCO North America

Possessing the raw materials and equipment, INDEVCO North America’s Specialty Coating & Laminating (SC&L) plant in Doswell, Virginia, has begun to produce and supply fabric for the gowns. Industrial fabric rollstocks are sold to Virginia companies that produce disposable medical PPE to be cut and sewn into gowns. 

One of INDEVCO’s customers, a Virginia-based manufacturer (that INDEVCO asked not to be named in the story) sells the finished isolation gowns to be used by first responders and health care workers within Virginia. SC&L’s manufacturing processes can produce volumes of gown rollstock that can be converted into millions of gowns per week, according to Geoff Baldwin, president of INDEVCO North America Paper Division.

The fabric rollstock is used by Virginia manufacturers to create isolation gowns. Photo courtesy INDEVCO North America

The fabric that is manufactured is water repellent and breathable. 

“When health care professionals wear these materials, they’ll find them lightweight and breathable,” Baldwin said in a statement. “Most importantly, they meet ANSI PB70 standards, which means they’re reliable in protecting against fluids and cross-contamination.”

The challenge to obtain PPE has been a struggle since the pandemic began, as materials were primarily sourced from overseas manufacturers. 

“As local manufacturers, we have a social responsibility to pivot production to help keep our communities safe and healthy,” Pierre Khattar, CEO of INDEVCO North America, said in a statement. “We’re taking assets geared toward construction and producing isolation gown fabric that will protect givers and receivers of care in clinics, hospitals and nursing homes.”

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