Evco ‘running 24/7' to supply needed test kit parts

Evco Plastics Inc. is running its medical injection molding operations flat out — including parts for COVID-19 test kits — as the U.S. races to offset a shortage during the outbreak.

"We're trying to do everything we can to move that to fast production," CEO Dale Evans said. "We're running 24/7 and we're also putting old molds back into production that might have been taken out. So we're trying to start up older tooling."

The same sense of urgency applies to all of the medical parts made in clean rooms at Evco's MED plant in DeForest, Wis., and in Dongguan, China.

Evco has been moving some people from other molding operations, to medical, where the company runs 26 injection molding machines in DeForest, its headquarters.

"It's a strange mix of a situation. Our challenge is to move the people around to the different plants to where they're needed," Evans said. That includes moving employees from one shift to another, and training those from non-medical into clean room medical work.

"People have been very cooperative so far," Evans said.

Evans said in a March 23 interview that Evco has not had any layoffs.

"I just had this discussion this morning that at the medical plant, we may be short of people. We're training here. We'll be giving raises to encourage weekend work," he said.

Evco also is spending money on automation.

Evans noted that employees have showed a spirit of cooperation.

"People rally around things like this," he said. "There was one person who offered to work for free if we needed it. We've had some offer to trade shifts so other people could get childcare. A lot people have been generous with their time."

Some factories have reopened in China, after they closed earlier year as the coronavirus swept through. Evans said the company's' medical molding plant there is in full production. "They're very busy right now," he said. Challenges remain for shipping parts and getting in raw materials, he added.

The family-owned custom molder is highly international, running nine plants in the United States, China and Mexico. Evans said responding to COVID-19 is like moving chess pieces around and keeping in touch with the situation around the world.

"The things we're doing in the U.S. are some of the things we learned about doing in China. We went through it," he said. In China, all Evco employees have their temperature taken. Now Evco is starting to do that at its plants in other countries.

"We're going overboard with our cleaning," Evans said. "We just started buying them all lunch," through vending machines in the plants.

Evans, 68, is coming into the office for half days.

"We're trying to do everything we can. Really, our people want to stay employed. They're worried about their jobs. And we're trying to do everything we can to keep people employed," Evans said.

On March 22, the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper named Evco as one of the Madison area's Top Workplaces. The award is based on employee surveys.

During these difficult times, Evans said he has been telling coworkers this key message: "You're measured in how you treat people on your worst days."