Kickstart: Doing something

As COVID-19 spreads and shutdowns expand to nonessential manufacturing, companies from a range of end markets are stepping up and pulling together to help fill gaps in the supply chain.

A lot of companies out there are already in full production, especially those supplying the medical industry. California's M.R. Mold is open and so are others.

We're following up on stories of what companies are doing, whether with donations of face masks to shifting production to make disposable gowns.

The pandemic is also prompting companies outside their usual markets. Ex-Tech Plastics is supplying PET rollstock to thermoformers as part of a University of Wisconsin project to produce face shields. (And the information on how to replicate the program is available for free.)

Feel free to reach out to us if you're involved in similar projects.

France-based chemical company Arkema SA is now making 20 tons of sanitizing solutions per week at a facility near Lyon, France, to supply hospitals. Changing the chemical you're producing should be relatively easy.

But what about getting into a completely new industry, one with its own regulations and proprietary products? Our sister publication Automotive News Canada has a story on Canada's Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association and its attempts to get the information car parts makers need to begin making medical parts.

"There are suppliers … that do have clean rooms. And if we're part of the solution, and we need clean rooms to be part of the solution, we'll make clean rooms. End of story," APMA President Flavio Volpe said. "The first part is to be able to secure the specifications, then commit to capacity."

Brian Bendig, president of Windsor, Ontario-based toolmaker Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing Ltd., said in a video posted on Twitter that his company is standing by.

"If somebody needs, perhaps, hospital bed parts, ventilators and different things, we're open for business and we want that ability to help people," he said. "Anything we can do in this crises, doors are open and we're here to help."

One publication note here.

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