Kickstart: A 'tsunami' of business for barrier makers

Updated: The demand for clear plastic barriers in offices and shops is prompting one fabricator to open a side business.

Regal Plastics is an Irving, Texas, supplier of acrylic and other clear plastics. It began making face shields in mid-March as the coronavirus epidemic spread across the U.S. So far it has made 50,000 of them, the company told the Dallas News.

How busy has it been? The company compares it to a "tsunami." CEO Chad Gono told the Dallas News  that in 2019, Regal had $22 million in sales. After COVID-19 hit: "We did $4.8 million sales in one day."

There is booming demand everywhere for barriers.

Southeastern Plastics Inc., a supplier of aircraft interior parts for 30 years, has been able to pivot to turn its expertise into new opportunities supplying protective barriers.

The company even has a new product line marketed at clearlybetween.com, using its experience and capabilities in design and manufacturing in Greensboro, N.C.

"All of our products are manufactured from clear acrylic, are free standing, and require no installation or modification to office counters or furniture. They snap together in just a few seconds," the company says.

The shortage of personal protective equipment is prompting some health care providers to invest in PPE makers.

Our sister publication Crain's Detroit Business has a story on McLaren Health Care Corp., based in Grand Blanc, Mich., and Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System as two of 16 hospital groups investing in Prestige Ameritech, a North Richland Hills, Texas, maker of N95 regulator masks — the masks in high demand by medical staff.

McLaren Chief Financial Officer Dave Mazurkiewicz said 80 percent of McLaren's medical gear is now made in China, so between work stoppages in China when COVID-19 hit there and the big demand in the U.S. as the virus spread here, hospitals saw a double whammy when it came to accessing gear.

"We began using more masks in a month (20,000) ... than in a whole year," he said. "There was a huge decrease and scramble to find more. We want to be able to protect our employees and patients, so we decided to make the investment and make a three-year commitment for supplies."

The medical centers will own about a third of Prestige Ameritech. As Frank Esposito noted for Plastics News, Prestige Ameritech was one of the first companies to warn of an N95 shortage.

N95 masks are made with a range of plastics, including thermplastic elastomer, polyurethane and polyester.

When NewAge Industries began planning for an expansion to its tubing and hose production, it kept the difficulties of production during a pandemic in mind.

As the company noted, the new unit is seven miles from its Southampton, Pa., headquarters will both provide extra capacity and make it possible to maintain production "in case of any potential disruption at the main plant." Demand for NewAge's products "is high," the release said, "especially during this pandemic, and NewAge needs to ensure capacity to produce more inventory."

Read more about when CEO Ken Baker calls a "fail-safe."