Kickstart: COVID-19 and the benefits of flexibility

Auxiliary equipment makers don't generally get a lot of attention, especially from politicians (unless those politicians are doing some kind of press event and want a manufacturing backdrop for an event). So recognition for Industrial Heater Corp. of Cheshire, Conn., by U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy as "Murphy's Monday Manufacturer" is a nice gesture.

Industrial Heater employs 47 people at a 35,000-square-foot facility, mostly making band heaters used in injection molding. But as Murphy's office pointed out in a June 8 news release, "during the COVID-19 pandemic, Industrial Heater stepped up in a major way."

"Since March, the manufacturing company has supplied over 50,000 nose clips for critical face masks for front-line workers at the U.S. Coast Guard, Yale New Haven Hospital and multiple local police, fire and EMS departments throughout Connecticut," Murphy wrote.

In addition, his office noted, Industrial Heater is setting up a domestic manufacturing line of personal protective equipment (PPE) utilizing the domestic supply chain. The company hopes to have it up and running by October.

Manufacturers' ability to shift into PPE production may also point to new trends in manufacturing and the economy, according to a University of Michigan professor.

In a post from the university's Ross School of Business, Jerry Davis, a professor of management and organizations and associate dean for the school's Business + Impact group, says lessons from the pandemic could apply to a forecast for reshoring.

"Capital equipment has gotten really cheap and really flexible. It can be programmed to do lots of different stuff," Davis said. "It used to be the advantage of China was cheap labor. Because capital equipment has gotten so good and so cheap, you can replicate that ability in the U.S. Next door to every Amazon warehouse you could build a universal manufacturing facility.

"I think about Ford Motor Co., where both my grandfathers were welders. Could Ford be a universal manufacturer? It's consistent with their heritage — the idea of converting to wartime production as part of the Arsenal of Democracy. ... Design globally, manufacture locally."

Another example of the flexbility of plastics shown by COVID-19? An Illinois nursing home has created a visiting area that keeps residents safe behind a barrier made with clear plastic shower curtains, but still able to interact with family and friends.

"This is so much more of a better option. It makes you feel that much more close with your loved one," Ashlee Van Gundy, social service director of Piatt County Nursing Home, told television station WCIA.

Previously, the only visits available were through windows or via tablets or phones. Now set up under the shade of the front awning, families can spend more time visiting.

"Just from a well-being perspective, being able to be in that close of a physical proximity, not having to be on the phone, not having to talk through a window inside of a building, it brings so much more closeness," Van Gundy said.