13,000-square-foot mask facility opening in Surrey

Eternity Medical Equipment, a startup based in Surrey, BC, will be opening the city’s first medical mask facility this month

Located at 19099 25th Avenue, Eternity Medical Equipment is one of the first companies established in BC to produce 95PFE/N95 masks for distribution.

The 13,000-sq-ft space will specialize in 95PFE respirators, which is the Canadian equivalent to the N95 in the US. All necessary facility designs are in place, which includes air showers at all entrances, air-conditioning purification, dedicated air filtration system, and exhaust systems in the dust-free room.

In response to the government’s call to produce more PPE in Canada, Eternity Medical Equipment projects a monthly production of up to 2.5 million masks, if operating at full capacity.

The company will hire 17 employees at launch, with the possibility of adding an additional 38 openings if production levels intensify.

“Back in early April, we watched the news and saw how hard it was for our frontline workers to get N95 and surgical masks from overseas,” says co-founder Jeff Wang, who was previously a software engineer at a Vancouver IT company.

Jeff Wang/Eternity Medical Equipment

“I really wanted to spearhead an initiative to get them made on Canadian soil, right here in British Columbia. We devised a plan and strategy, signed the lease in Surrey this summer, sourced the equipment and raw materials, and developed a checklist to ensure our products will meet both the Health Canada and strict NIOSH certification process.”

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Wang says that “the requirements for making these masks are stringent, as it should be.”

The ECAN95 respirator includes a moulded-cone design, with two elastic headbands and a foam strip over the nose to make a perfect fit on the face.

Eternity’s surgical masks will have a 4-ply Melt-blown and Spun-Bonded materials to build an extra layer of protection.

Prototype Production/Eternity Medical Equipment

The company has already sent their ECAN95 prototype, the name of their PFE95/N95 product, to a number of Canadian and American labs – including NRC and Intertek – for testing and is pending certification from Health Canada.

The samples received >99% and >98% filtration efficiency, respectively, both of which are above the current National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) certification standard of 95%. 

Eternity Medical Equipment

“I commend Eternity Medical Equipment’s quick action to pivot and step up to produce medical masks here in Surrey that will protect our front-line workers and most vulnerable across Canada,” said Mayor Doug McCallum. “Surrey is home to one of the largest manufacturing bases in the province and these medical masks are a welcome addition to our Surrey Makes PPE program.”

Production for Eternity’s surgical masks is expected to begin in December 2020. The ECAN95 masks are already in production.