Quebec startup eyes key role in surgical mask production
Barely a month into existence, a startup created by four Quebec entrepreneurs is looking to become one of Canada’s key players in the production of surgical masks.
Entreprise Prémont plans to churn out more than 10 million masks a week by May — up from several hundred thousand currently — as new machinery is added, Patrice Barbeau, one of the venture’s partners, said Thursday. Recruitment is underway to hire about 30 production staff at the Prémont plant in Louiseville, about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal.
Barbeau, who runs a cosmetics firm in Quebec City, teamed up with three business acquaintances to launch Prémont: air-filtration entrepreneur Luc Girard; automation specialist Dany Bergeron; and Serge Parenteau, whose Drummondville-based company, Vêtements
Flip Design, makes school uniforms. The project required about $5 million of capital.
“The main reason we’re doing this is to play our part in fighting the pandemic,” Barbeau, 48, told the Montreal Gazette in an interview. “It was extremely jarring to hear that front-line workers in Quebec lacked proper equipment. People often refer to these workers as guardian angels, and we felt we really needed to do something to help them.”
Prémont joins a growing list of Quebec companies that have embraced the production of personal protective equipment as the province grapples with the coronavirus pandemic.
More than 21,800 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Quebec as of Thursday, and the death toll of 1,243 represents 57 per cent of all Canadian fatalities.
For now at least, Prémont is focusing on so-called “Level 1” single-use surgical masks because this is where the needs are greatest.
With regulatory approvals secured, several million units have been ordered, Barbeau said. More elaborate Level 2 and 3 masks will be produced in the coming weeks, he added.
Production initially will be aimed at hospitals and essential-services businesses — such as supermarkets and pharmacies — that need to equip their own workers, Barbeau said. Masks will eventually be sold to the public, but only after production has been increased.
Mining giant Rio Tinto is one of Prémont’s first customers, having placed an order for thousands of masks. The aluminum and iron ore producer also contributed $75,000 to help Prémont acquire a production line.
Prémont buys its raw materials from Asia, the U.S. and Canada. Over time, however, the goal is to procure a majority of supplies from North American companies, Barbeau said.
“We’re here for the long term,” he said. “At first we got involved mostly to help, but we realized very quickly that we could make a difference to the ecosystem. We’ve made major investments, and we want to make sure we can help Quebec become self-reliant in terms of essential equipment.”
While Prémont’s current focus is on Quebec, Barbeau said the company will start looking for customers in Ontario and elsewhere in Canada as soon as output has been ramped up.
“Right now we can’t meet demand,” he said. “Every day we have to turn down orders.”
Prémont also plans to start making N95 respiratory masks, whose availability became a political issue this spring after countries such as the U.S. tried to ban exports.
“We’ve already helped a few Quebec companies develop machines to make N95s, so we have the know-how to play at that level,” Barbeau said. “But first, we’ll need to fine-tune our production system. We don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”