Kickstart: Making Purple beds in Georgia

Maybe, like me, you've seen that commercial involving the Purple mattress and an egg one too many times. Or, like me, you would like to know exactly what makes up the mattress company's "hyper-elastic polymer" beyond some kind of urethane.

But don't write off the company as just some trendy "bed in a bag" direct-to-consumer business.

Purple Innovation Inc. announced a couple of weeks ago that it is about to open its third U.S. manufacturing plant, in Henry County, Ga., where it expects to hire "hundreds" of employees.

"We are proud to be a U.S. manufacturer," Joe Megibow, CEO of Purple, said in a news release. "During these challenging times, we feel especially proud that we are able to invest in significantly expanding our manufacturing and production capacity domestically, creating many new jobs in the process."

The Georgia site will be Purple's first factory outside Utah, where it currently has a total of 670,000 square feet of manufacturing at sites in Alpine and Grantsville. And the company says it expects to expand manufacturing capabilities elsewhere in the U.S. to keep up with demand.

This is not the kind of automotive plastic that plastics suppliers may wish that automakers embrace.

Ford Motor Co. now has its own credit card, one that rewards users with cash for auto-related purposes. Our sister paper Automotive News first reported Ford's planned credit card in March and now has more details.

The rewards don't go toward a down payment on a future vehicle, but instead offer cash back for spending at Ford dealerships as well as for fuel, auto insurance and parking fees.

For those customers who are really into coordinating their wallet with their Mustang, the company will offer credit cards with colors that match your car. Or if you prefer, you can get basic black, just as Henry Ford promised with the Model T.

The NFL's newest safety equipment for professional football players is a thin, clear piece of polycarbonate that fits inside the helmet to cover players' mouths in a move to help fight the spread of the coronavirus.

In an Aug. 4 NFL Player Health & Safety post, the NFL unveiled its mouth shield collaboration with Oakley.

"Designed to fit inside the face mask of a helmet, it provides face coverage to help reduce the transmission of large respiratory droplets during active play in games and practices. Its aim is to mitigate the spread of COVID-19," the NFL said.

Oakley already is a supplier of eye shields for more than 700 players. Vent patterns in the mouth shield allow players to breathe normally but reduce the passage of droplets away from the mouth.

"I'm really pleased with how the work is going," NFL Chief Medical Officer Allen Sills said. "We're hoping to continue to innovate and improve as we go. We're excited about where we are and about the potential role this may play in risk mitigation on the field."

The shields were made available to teams in time for their training camps, allowing players to get used to them. The shields won't be required, however, so some players may opt to remove them.