Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • NPE exhibitors question handling of deposits for canceled trade show
      Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Recognizing Plastek Industries for all-around excellence
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
    • Kickstart: Plastics ready to take flight on Mars
      Kickstart: Let's hear it for leftovers
      Kickstart: Big data, big bowls and consumer packaging
      Kickstart: A vexing vaccination question
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • PE resin trends highlighted in Shell report
      Dow's Lowry honored by World Economic Forum for sustainability work
      Africa impacts new colors from Ampacet
      Plaskolite marches into madness with its own online bracket
    • Climate debate in Washington increasingly includes plastic
      There was no choice but canceling NPE still a big deal
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Want prices? Introducing historical resin pricing, now available in a downloadable form
      A new annual ranking: Top processor gains
      Thermoformers: Would you believe a 12 percent gain?
      Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
    • Working from home: Rugrats edition
      Nypro's Gordon Lankton left the plastics industry a better place
      Let's look forward, rather than back, to mark COVID anniversary
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
    • PEX pipe maker Uponor donates $30,000 for Texas storm relief
      Virtual pitfalls derail exhibits for builders' trade show
      PPI puts $200 bounty on exhumed HDPE conduit
      Raise the roof: Housing starts hit a 12-year high
    • Perspective: Making the best of working from home
      Perspective: The Materials Wars: Is plastic actually better?
      Perspective: Plastics manufacturers — a surprising contribution to sustainability
      Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
    • Mailbag: Additional fees for electric vehicles ‘unfortunate'
      Mailbag: Where's the plastics industry's response to critics?
      Mailbag: Manufacturers struggling to follow COVID-19 safety rules
      Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Video: Structural foam molding
      Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      College training, programs
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - April 2021
      Polymer Points Live - February 2021
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Sponsored By Bandera
      Bandera US was born for the North American market
      Sponsored By Ensign Equipment
      Filling systems customized for any process or budget need
      KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei retools in US with investment from parent ownership
      Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
    • KraussMaffei
      Sponsored By KraussMaffei
      KraussMaffei Retools in US with investment from Parent Ownership
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Shell Polymer
      Sponsored By Shell Polymers
      Food and beverage trends impacting the polymer industry
      Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
May 08, 2020 09:50 AM

PPE shortage could delay manufacturing ramp up

Catherine Kavanaugh
Plastics News Staff
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Ford Motor Co.

    Reminders to maintain a 6 foot social distance are shown in a plant. 

    Manufacturing plant operators are having trouble finding personal protective equipment (PPE) for employees as they prepare to resume production following work stoppages related to the coronavirus pandemic.

    As new health and safety protocols are adopted, the main concern for employers is that 43 percent of workplaces don't have enough PPE to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to a recent weekly survey by the Canadian Association of Moldmakers (CAMM) and Automate Canada.

    Demand continues to outstrip supply for face masks, face shields, gloves, safety goggles and hand sanitizer. The shortages have many businesses worried about their restart scenarios.

    "Of course, we want to get back to work, but we can't help but think that the availability of PPE may be slowing that ramp up to some level," CAMM Board Chair Mike Bilton said in a phone interview.

    "It's one thing to have the full intent to open on May 18 for FCA or General Motors but what good is that target if I haven't equipped my human resources and my ramp-up protocol accordingly," Bilton added. "If I can't get the PPE I need, maybe we better push it back a few days to be sure."

    A large portion of the North American PPE supply for masks, gloves and gowns comes from China.

    The head of the Washington-based National Association of Manufacturers is also talking about the need for more PPE.

    NAM CEO Jay Timmons told a media interview May 7 that much more PPE is needed for society to reopen, even as manufacturing companies have switched their production lines and are cranking out more.

    "We're not out of the woods by a long shot," Timmons told Yahoo! Finance. "We are working overtime to produce PPE but honestly it's not enough."

    "We don't have enough to cover every single human being that's going to be coming out of their house and trying to live a normal life. That's going to take time for us to get there."

    CAMM is trying to connect businesses to PPE resources as it addresses concerns raised weekly in the surveys distributed by the Canadian Tooling & Machining Association.

    "I think it's a solvable problem," Bilton said. "There's no reason we can't begin to reshore and take care of our own without disrespecting other parties. I really do believe in a large movement of reshoring here in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico and in all countries around the world to make sure you take care of the house first before anything else."

    Bilton likened reshoring PPE to being on an airplane when the oxygen masks drop down before passengers during a flight problem.

    "The first thing you do is put the mask over your mouth. I'm a big believer in that. We have to make sure we're ready and take care of No. 1 and then take care of others," Bilton added.

    The 61 respondents that offered feedback about PPE and other pandemic issues are primarily in the mold making and tool and die industries as well as the industrial automation sector.

    "One thing we talk about an awful lot is the cost of COVID for companies that want to take precautions to a higher level than government guidelines and recommendations, like using thermal sensors when employees walk through a door" Bilton said.

    Although workplace screening with a temperature sensing device is a recommended best practice, only 20 percent of respondents are currently using one and only 40 percent eventually plan to use one.

    "There's a cost associated with that," Bilton said. "For the most part, those who can't afford to buy such things for their company because cash is tight now are doing everything they can to work with the tools they have and get creative."

    Other results of the survey, which closed April 28, show:

    • The number of employees out of the workplace due to isolation or quarantine is up to 73 compared to 58 the prior week; and, 43 manufacturing workplaces reported having no employees on quarantine.

    • The number of employees laid off temporarily decreased to 90 employees compared to 143 the prior week.

    • The number of employee furloughed increased to 515 compared to 395 reported the prior week. Two-thirds of the workplaces reported no furloughed employees, which means the 515 people out of work were concentrated in one-third of the respondents.

    • Eight new employees were hired.

    John F. Martin for General Motors

    Workers begin final preparation for manufacturing Level 1 face masks April 1 at the General Motors facility in Warren, Michigan.

    Suppliers turning vendors?

    Some molders and manufacturers are helping churn out PPE for health care workers thanks to government contracts. Bilton said more discretion is needed in these supplier-customer relationships. He would like to see suppliers get the opportunity to become a vendor to other customers.

    "We need to satisfy the front line, where the need is most, and outside of that, if there's extra product on the floor, what's stopping Home Depot from saying: Mr. Mike, can you provide me the extra 2,000 masks if you've got them," Bilton said.

    Such a relationship is highly dependent on who owns the capital tooling, he added.

    "If the government has cut me a purchase order and now they own the tooling, as a supplier I'm not allowed to contractually sell to anyone other than the owner," Bilton said. "But if there's no clause there, I'd hope doing the right thing would sort of trump over the request of the initial order."

    John F. Martin for General Motors

    Workers produce N95-style filtering facepiece respirators April 21 at the General Motors manufacturing facility in Warren, Michigan. 

    Money woes

    Financial concerns continue to weigh heavily on survey respondents. There is some good news regarding requests for quotes, which have increased and are almost equal to cancellations.

    However, a subsequent survey about how manufacturers are preparing financially to survive the global pandemic shows respondents expect consumer demand to remain depressed for six to nine months or more.

    As manufacturers move along the "back to work curve," CAMM recommends they focus on liquidity and preparing cash flow models to support requests for future assistance from financial institutions.

    To date, 88 percent of respondents have not received an increase to their operating lines of credit or any interest relief or deferrals from their current financial institution, and 40 percent have not reached out to their primary bank.

    Decisions related to finances, restart dates and safety protocols create a tricky balancing act. "Suppliers and customers are trying to find that sweet spot of comfort where the must-haves are met, the nice-to-have are close behind, and preparations for getting back to a sense of normality is right behind that," Bilton said. "We're all trying to find that little sweet spot in this moving target of disruption."

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Processor of the Year submissions