Kickstart: A cooler way to contribute

Igloo Products Corp., the Katy, Texas-based molder of coolers and other consumer products, is donating 100 percent of the profits from sales of its Playmate-brand cooler from its website to the CDC Foundation's Coronavirus Response Fund to purchase personal protective equipment for emergency responders.

The company, which has its own in-house molding, already has donated $100,000 to the foundation, which used the funds to purchase PPE distributed through the Houston Department of Health.

The success of the program so far prompted the company to extend it through May 1.

"We're incredibly proud of our team, grateful to the CDC Foundation, and humbled by our fans and customers who all pulled together so quickly to make this happen," Dave Allen, Igloo president and CEO, said.

(And yes, that's the Igloo factory guard shack pictured above, fashioned to look like the Playmate cooler.)

A lot of companies have been getting involved in making personal protective equipment, especially face shields.

The shields are fairly straightforward for companies to understand, with a headband made from 3D printing, injection molding or even foam, attached to a clear shield.

But the rise in demand also means that clear plastic for the shield is getting harder to find. So the plastics industry is finding new niches.

All-State Plastics in City of Industry, Calif., was told it would take weeks to access film for face masks, with the chance film wouldn't even be available then. Instead the injection molder and toolmaker repurposed an old tool to make ear savers, a small plastic part that medical staff can use to alleviate the pain around the ears from continually wearing masks.

Geon Performance Solutions, meanwhile, has launched Project Collaboration, a program offering free services to smaller companies who need rapid development on health care devices.

I'm sure you've heard some dates tossed out there for when the North American auto industry will reopen production. I wouldn't ink any of them on the calendar as the final answer just yet. Turns out the actual date is a bit of a moving target.

Volkswagen of America, for instance, had announced May 3 as the date to reopen its Chattanooga assembly plant in Tennessee. But now it is indefinitely delayed, according to our sister publication Automotive News. In addition, Toyota Motor Corp. has moved its proposed North American start date to May 11 rather than May 4.

"Before setting a new start date, Volkswagen will weigh the readiness of the supplier base, as well as market demand and the status of the COVID-19 outbreak," the automaker said in a statement released April 29. "The company will continue to work from an organizational perspective and refine and strengthen the health and safety measures to safeguard our employees."

The plant has been closed since March 21.