Kickstart: Thinking outside the pizza box

We've been writing a lot about molders getting into new industries to help fill the need for medical supplies since the coronavirus outbreak began.

Auto suppliers are making ventilator parts, packaging companies are making masks, film makers are turning out gowns and chemical companies have started producing hand sanitizer.

University of Massachusetts Amherst worked with Southbridge, Mass.-based K+K Thermoforming on a project to produce 80,000 face shields.

But this story is about someone from outside the industry thinking outside the, well, outside the pizza box.

Dimo's Pizza in Chicago's Wicker Park is using its pizza ovens to heat and shape acrylic face shields.

Owner Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau told Block Club Chicago he wanted to respond "in the best way" he can. So he worked with a local metal specialist, Avenue Metal Co., to make molds that could shape the acrylic.

Once it cools, the pizza shop adds headbands.

"We are used to making things very quickly, in large quantities, very cleanly," he said. "It's like a win-win. Buy local. … I would love to up hours to produce face shields."

Dimo's isn't ignoring pizza, however. In addition to making pizzas for takeout, it's also been donating them to local hospitals.

The plastics industry in Europe has also been active in providing goods to support the fight against COVID-19.

Italy's Radici Group is donating gowns to a hospital in Bergamo, Italy, and bio-based materials company Total Corbion in Netherlands is giving PLA resin for production of face shields and other items.

Aerospace giant Boeing and resin maker Solvay have partnered on the production of face shields using Solvay's high-performance, medical-grade Radel polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) and Udel polysulfone (PSU). Both are transparent specialty polymers widely used for medical devices because of their ability to be sterilized and withstand aggressive disinfectants.

Karen Laird, the editor of our sister publication Sustainable Plastics, has more in this roundup.

Let's set aside the coronavirus for a moment to think about some big projects that will be waiting in the auto industry once COVID-19 is behind us.

PN auto reporter Sarah Kominek has a story about the "virtually limitless" role plastics will play in electric and autonomous cars, including a look at the American Chemistry Council's latest automotive road map.

And our sister paper Automotive News gets the details on lithium-ion battery supplier SK Innovation of South Korea and its $1.6 billion project to build a battery factory in Georgia.

That plant is only part of SK's global expansion plans.

"We felt that the market was very ripe and we did have a competitive advantage," CEO Jun Kim said. "This could be one of the biggest opportunities for us if we invest now. So I made the decision to enter the market aggressively."