PHOENIX — Editor's Note: The above video is from an earlier broadcast.
Auctioneers are planning to sell Honeywell's mask-manufacturing equipment nearly two years after Gov. Doug Ducey touted the new mask production facility.
Heritage Global Partners announced Monday it was hosting a webcast auction on Feb. 17 to sell mask-making equipment used by Honeywell at the company's Valley facility.
Honeywell told Bloomberg News last summer it was reducing production at the facility and laying off about 700 workers due to a drop in demand for masks. The company told Bloomberg it would shift production over to its automated factory in Chandler.
Heritage Global said Honeywell's equipment can be useful for another manufacturer interested in preparing for another surge in COVID-19 cases.
"The concerning spike in COVID cases, the like-new condition of the assets, as well as the wide appeal for this type of equipment should be a great opportunity for the global buying community," David Barkoff, Heritage's senior vice president, said in a press release.
Arizona reported 13,937 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday and the Arizona Department of Health Services urged residents to continue wearing masks and getting vaccinated to reduce the virus' transmission.
In March 2020, Honeywell announced it was expanding production in Phoenix to manufacture more than 20 million N95 disposable masks each month. Honeywell made a deal at this time with the state to produce 6 million masks over a 12-month period for Arizona's health care workers.
Much fanfare was made about Honeywell's mask production facility after Gov. Doug Ducey invited then-President Donald Trump to tour the plant during a visit to the Valley in May 2020.
"I’m grateful to Honeywell for stepping up and partnering with Arizona to help get these masks to our doctors, nurses and EMTs on the frontlines,” Ducey said in April 2020.
But demand for masks apparently started to wane as the pandemic dragged on, resulting in Honeywell deciding to reduce manual production.
"We appreciate the hard work and dedication these employees displayed in helping protect American frontline workers battling the pandemic," Honeywell wrote in a statement.
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