This week we’re celebrating a Tividale company which has created or secured over 500 jobs in the region by scaling up its operations to meet national demand for PPE.

Ramfoam, founded in 1995, specialises in the manufacture, conversion and supply of foam to a huge range of industries. It supplies lightweight products for the aerospace industry, polyethylene foam for the construction industry, packaging materials for electronics, buoyant foams for the marine industry, impact protection products for the sports industry and high-spec materials for the military and museums. The company operates two sites in Sandwell serving the UK market, and one in Dubai, serving the Middle East.

When the global pandemic hit, Ramfoam responded quickly. It rapidly developed a lightweight, reusable and hypo-allergenic foam headband which can be easily connected to anti-fog visors and adjusted to fit within seconds. These kits went into production in May, and are now being produced at the rate of three million every day.

The company has just been awarded a government contract to supply the visors to NHS staff, so far creating a total of 294 new jobs – 130 at Ramfoam’s Tividale manufacturing facility and 164 across the company’s West Midlands supply chain, plus securing many more from furlough.

International director Timothy Mulqueen said: “Our primary motivator throughout this whole project has been to protect the NHS and help save lives, and we’re proud to have been able to create a large number of new roles in the West Midlands as part of that goal. For our staff, nothing is more motivating than knowing they are helping to support frontline healthcare workers every day.”

Ramfoam is now hoping to build on this success by making the visors commercially available across the country, boosting business while keeping even more people safe from infection.

#MadeInSandwell Monday is a celebration of the talent and diversity within our borough. If you’re interested in being considered for a #MadeInSandwell Monday profile and having information about your organisation shared on Think Sandwell and through Twitter, read this.