KITCHENER -- A local company manufacturing PPE has ramped up production of surgical masks thanks to a $1.9-million loan from the federal government.

"We probably sold 15 million so far and now we are gearing up new equipment on its way in so we will be able to make up to 350,000 masks a day," said Paul Sweeny, CEO of Swenco, Ltd.

The company pivoted to mask production in late 2020.

"We are not having trouble selling the masks, but we have been in the business for PPE directly for at least 12 years with customers based all over the world," Sweeny said.

However, Sweeny said it can be difficult to get contracts to sell to health-care workers and governments.

"Governments have supported all kinds of us financially to help us get going," he said. "You would think a natural step would be to support those companies that you either gave grants or loans to by buying products from them."

Steve Mai, CEO of Eclipse Innovations, said roadblocks to long-term contracts is an issue across Canada.

"We have to be fairly able to bid in competitive markets for any type of long-term contracts that are coming through the supply chain that represent our health-care system," he said.

He said there are concerns those roadblocks could wipe out local manufacturers.

"If we fail to do that within the next three months, I would imagine that more than 50 per cent of the companies that set out to the do the right thing this year will no longer be around," Mai said.

"Ontario’s continued commitment to build its domestic supply capacity has been supported by Ontario companies who have retooled their operations to support our COVID-19 response. Ontario has also launched Supply Ontario, a centralized supply chain agency that will stabilize access to a high-quality supply of critical products, including PPE," a statement from the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services said in part.

Eclipse Innovations recently donated 1.5 million masks to small businesses in Waterloo Region as part of their plan to phase out surgical masks and focus on N95 production. However, Mai said there are still 1 million surgical masks sitting on the shelves at their Cambridge facility.

"Currently we have been made aware that there is enough supply of masks in Canada so that every single Canadian in Canada can have them," Mai said.