From fuel cells to face shields: Michigan company adapts machinery, talent for coronavirus fight

On March 23, the chemical engineers at Adaptive Energy LLC were mixing hand sanitizer from a widely used World Health Organization recipe.

By March 27, they were assembling face shields and plastic intubation boxes that health care workers across the country need to treat COVID-19 patients.

Most weeks, the Ann Arbor, Mich.-based company produces propane-powered fuel cells for the railroad infrastructure military-grade drones.

But with business slowed by the coronavirus outbreak, the company's owner turned his employees' attention to making 11,000 8-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer from the WHO's isopropyl alcohol recipe.

"Given that we have multiple chemical engineering Ph.D.s on staff, this isn't technically very challenging for us, and we thought it would be good for the community," said Ranvir Gujral, who owns the fuel cell company through his private equity firm Sleeping Bear Capital.

Gujral, a San Francisco-based entrepreneur and metro Detroit native, set up an e-commerce store at arborapothecary.com for the hand sanitizer to be sold to Ann Arbor residents through curbside pickup at the factory off South State Street.

But seemingly everyone from craft alcohol distilleries to the tour guides at Detroit Bus Co. with the chemistry know-how was making hand sanitizer.

And the supply of isopropyl alcohol was starting to run short, calling into question how sustainable the hand sanitizer business is for even sophisticated producers.

"All of the supplies are very challenging right now," said Rich Martin, vice president of operations of Adaptive Energy. "Even if we had orders beyond the 11,000 bottles, it might be a challenge. There's a lot of people trying to do this.

"In normal times, you wouldn't have any trouble procuring isopropyl alcohol," Martin added. "But for us, after this, I don't think we could get it at a cost that was even close to reasonable."

As the need for personal protection equipment grew dire, though, Adaptive Energy was among numerous Southeast Michigan manufacturing companies that began responding to the need — and business opportunity — to make medical equipment.

"If I can keep people employed, and we can help with the crisis, it's not a selfless thing; it's helpful," Gujral said.

From his home under quarantine in California, Gujral assessed all of the machinery Adaptive Energy had running at low production: an industrial laser cutter, a laser welder, a CNC milling machine, ovens for curing and a skilled workforce.

"Part of the problem is just matching supply and demand. Why is my CNC milling machine not running 24 hours a day right now?" Gujral said. "There's certainly a need. What is it?"

By midweek, Adaptive Energy's engineers quickly made a prototype for medical face shields and clear plastic acrylic intubation boxes, which allow doctors to intube patients with needed ventilators without risking themselves to the virus from a patient's coughing, sneezing and bleeding.

On March 26, Adaptive Energy started taking orders for 10, 100 or 1,000 packs of face shields on the e-commerce website.

Gujral said March 29 that the company has received orders for the intubation boxes and face shields from individual doctors, hospitals and government agencies and hopes to be producing 10,000 shields per day and at least 25 intubation boxes by the end of this week.

Adaptive Energy still has fuel cells to build for its customers, but that business has slowed as the economic calamity of the coronavirus outbreak sets in, Gujral said.

Gujral is looking for other manufacturers to partner with on producing needed medical equipment.

"I have all of this equipment. It definitely has a lot more capacity," Gujral said. "… Tell me what I can do for you."