— Combined lines will offer comprehensive system of respirators and cartridges
Smithfield, RI — Survivair and Willson, two of the best-known brands in respiratory protection, announced today the consolidation of their product lines in the Americas effective September 2004. Survivair and Willson are divisions of Bacou-Dalloz(tm), the leading manufacturer of personal protective equipment. As a result of the respiratory product line consolidation, reusable respirators will now be offered only under the Survivair brand, while the Willson brand concentrates on disposable respiratory products. There will be a brand transition period for reusable respirators through the end of 2004, and a total switchover within 2005.
“This consolidation makes sense from a number of perspectives,” said Rick Sustello, Vice President of Strategic Marketing for Bacou-Dalloz respiratory products. “End-users and distributors will be offered a broader, more complete range of respiratory products, and in most cases, reduce their overall inventory requirements. Plus, reduced manufacturing requirements will allow us to focus on developing new products and providing better customer service.”
According to the consolidation plan, the entire respiratory product lines from both companies were evaluated on the basis of benefits to the user, and the best products were selected to remain in each line. These include air purifying respirators (APR), powered air purifying respirators (PAPR), supplied air respirators (SAR), and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), which will now be marketed only under the Survivair brand name. Disposable respiratory products, including the popular Freedom(r) and new SAF-T-FIT(r) Plus, will be marketed exclusively under the Willson brand.
A major benefit, according to Sustello, is that now Survivair has the greatest range of facepieces to fit an entire workplace with one cartridge system. Both bayonet and threaded style are now available for most Survivair APR products, dramatically simplifying and reducing distributor and end-user’s inventory of cartridges and filters. “All NIOSH approvals for the majority of Willson APRs will be maintained and converted to the Survivair brand, making this a seamless transition for Willson users,” Sustello said. “Only the name will change.”
“The result of all this,” said Sustello, “is that together we can now offer one of the industry’s most comprehensive systems of respiratory products in a way that makes sense both economically and functionally. We think it makes for a better fit.”
The new Survivair line of reusable respirators will include fourteen half-mask and eight full facepiece size and model configurations, including such well-known product brands as ValuAir(r), PREMIER(r), Opti-Fit(tm), Blue 1(tm) and SurvivairMax(tm), providing a fit for almost every face. In addition, the line is designed to be as adaptable as possible. With appropriate conversion kits, selected models of half-mask respirators and Opti-Fit full facepiece respirators can be readily converted to PAPR or continuous-flow SAR configurations.
Willson and Survivair, both divisions of Bacou-Dalloz, are leading manufacturers of world-class respiratory protection equipment. Willson has provided respiratory protection around the world for over 100 years and was acquired by Dalloz Safety in 1989. Survivair has been protecting firefighters and offering respiratory protection from airborne workplace hazards since 1961. For more than four decades, Survivair has manufactured air purifying respirators (APR), supplied air respirators (SAR), powered air purifying respirators (PAPR) and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). In 1997, Survivair was acquired by Bacou USA, Inc., which joined with Dalloz in 2001 to form the world’s largest personal protection safety equipment company. Bacou-Dalloz provides head-to-toe protection through their core businesses: respiratory protection (gas detectors and respirators); eye and face protection (safety eyewear, laser protection and eyewash products); hearing protection (helmets, earmuffs and earplugs); fall protection (harnesses, lanyards, lifelines and fall arrest systems); and body protection (gloves, apparel and shoes).
For additional product information, contact:
Survivair
3001 South Susan St.
Santa Ana, CA 92704
Tel: 888-APR-SCBA or +1 714-545-0410
Fax: 714-850-0299
http://www.survivair.com
Email: scba@survivair.com or apr@survivair.com
