Manufacturer increases production of plastic PPE to help tackle coronavirus pandemic

Manufacturer and designer, Placon, has increased production in two of its manufacturing facilities to help get plastic Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to healthcare workers during this pandemic. 

Placon received a call from University of Wisconsin professor Tim Osswald, who was helping local manufacturers to get PPE face shields to local healthcare workers. Placon quickly agreed to donate plastic die-cut sheet to the project and worked over the weekend to create the products by hand. The process to die-cut the sheet is extremely manual and labor intensive.

As more people became aware of the project, there was an increase in the number of requests for the die-cut plastic sheets. John Rhoades, director of engineering, Placon, commented: “We knew we had to automate the process if we really wanted to deliver a significant number of visors quickly to make a positive impact, and protect our healthcare workers and first responders battling the coronavirus,”

Dan Mohs, chairman and CEO, Placon, said: “Our designers, tooling, packaging, and quality engineers acted rapidly to scale up production.

“We are currently producing the subcomponent plastic face shield for several companies to assemble into the finished PPE product.

“We hope that our small part in producing PPE helps our community and country overcome the challenges we face together.”