Over the last two months, one thing has become very clear: The plastics industry is filled with people able to take on projects they never would have considered in the past.
For some companies, it's easy to see how they could contribute to fighting the coronavirus, whether its converting film production to personal protection gowns, making sanitizer rather than other chemicals or converting thermoformed sheet lines to make shields rather than packaging.
But consider the work being taken on by toolmakers who usually supply massive molds for the auto industry. Rather than months of bidding and engineering and production for a car that won't roll off assembly lines for another year or so, they're working at an all-new pace for small parts needed yesterday.
Proper Group in Warren, Mich., went from an initial call to molding within a month for a ventilator project. Cavalier Tool in Windsor, Ontario, delivered a tool for a hand pump for sanitizer in 14 days. And, as Cavalier's Tim Galbraith points out, there are far more small companies out there delivering other crucial items whose names haven't been publicized.
