Praise for staff at Gowna's Foamalite

A Cavan company has dramatically shifted its production focus, as the world struggles to battle the Coronavirus pandemic.

Gowna-based Foamalite has seen its PVC and PET composite sheeting increasingly used in a making of a range of protective measures for both the medical and retail sectors.
As a result, the local business has never been busier, operating around the clock to ensure orders are met and the material is ready and available where and when it's needed most.
“We're in high demand at the moment, an essential service provider. It's all health and safety related and its all to fight the COVID-19 crisis. So we're proud to play our part in protecting frontline staff,” says Foamalite plant manager, Cathal Hawkins.
PET for instance is a thermoplastic polyester sheet regularly used in the making of food preparation surfaces, signage, vending machines, shop fittings and even car number plates.
However, Foamalite is now seeing its products used to make of a range of equipment from sneeze screens in shops and pharmacies to the sheeting used in visors and face shields for medical staff, as well as in the erection of emergency walls in temporary hospitals in the UK and elsewhere around Europe.
“We're exporting all across Europe. We've always been doing these products, but they've found new uses for the material with the coronavirus,” explains Cathal.
Of the PVC product, he says it has been used in the making of segregation panels but “nothing to this extent” where use is now being widely implemented in mobile examination units.
The Cavan operation, which began as a family owned business in 1997, was acquired by the leading composite panels and materials company, 3A Composites.
3A Composites, which manufactures composite panels and materials for the architecture, display, marine, transportation and wind energy markets, entered the Irish market through the acquisition of Foamalite and another indigenous Irish company, Athlone Extrusions in Co. Westmeath.
Since 2012, 3A Composites has invested €10 million in its business in Ireland. Included in that was a development programme to better qualify the Irish products for use on the continental market with the addition of new machinery, high quality production, increased product specifications.
Foamalite currently employs more than 80 people from across Cavan and surrounding counties, a figure that has risen by more than quarter in the last five years.
Cathal paid tribute to staff at the Cavan plant, who he said are “going above and beyond” to meet the demand for materials in the fight against the spread of COVID-19.
“We're under serious pressure but we're working away. Social distancing is of course paramount, but I have to say our staff have been unbelievable. Everyone here feels as if they're fighting for a cause. They're working extra hours, and the workers are really putting in a serious effort.”