Countering COVID-19, Part II: Small manufacturers show big heart to help fight

Long Island Racing is developing, designing, and printing reusable face masks/shields. LIR is running its 3D printers at full capacity and has been printing up to 100 masks a day. Image provided by Long Island Racing

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of a two-part series looking at how manufacturing companies, big and small, are shifting their business models to help the fight against COVID-19. Part I focused on larger manufacturers.

Long term, the answer to the worldwide personal protective equipment (PPE) shortage will be continued mass production on a global scale. But the machinery, tooling, and space to do that takes time, time we don’t have. So many small businesses are stepping in to fill that void. Here are some examples.

Mark Maruska at Gravity DesignWorks in Newton, N.J., has been raising money to buy 3D printers to produce as many masks as he can. “If you have a machine and you want to help, contact me. If you want to help us bring in another machine to make more, I welcome that as well.” He will not be keeping the printers they acquire; eventually they will be donated to his local New Jersey high school’s robotics program. (Here’s how you can help: Venmo: Mark-Maruska-1; PayPal: gravitydesignworks@gmail.com Please send as friends and family through PayPal. For other contributions, the address is 262 Spring St., Newton, NJ 07860.)

Indiana’s Vera Bradley, a women’s fashion brand, is turning a distribution center in Fort Wayne into a sewing factory to make masks for local hospitals. And a coalition of freelance CAD designers at caddesignhelp.com have designed and will be 3D printing face masks for a hospital in Charlotte.

Husband and wife duo Joey and Kayte Krussow, owners of Welders Wife Custom Beanies, are making masks for medical personnel. “We are making masks, and nurses have started to order caps to cover their hair as well.”

Many small distilleries, too many to list, are joining the fight as well With hand sanitizer shortages everywhere, they’ve converted operations to produce as much as possible. In the metro Detroit area, Griffin Claw Brewing Co., Valentine Distilling Co., and Detroit City Distillery have all begun producing hand sanitizer. Heck, even my good friend Andy Didorosi turned his Detroit Bus Company facility into a hand sanitizer production center. On top of that, a common issue is also finding enough containers and shipping boxes for distribution. Canadian distillery Dillon’s Small Batch Distillers partnered with VW Canada to bring sanitizers to first responders across Ontario.

In Indiana, Safe Harbor's Michigan City Robotics team and Project Lead the Way engineering students and teachers are using 3D printers to make face shields for hospitals in LaPorte County and Starke County. They’re able to make five headgears per day on each of their 16 3D printers, but they need material for the actual shields that clip into them. If you have transparency sheets to donate, please contact MCHS Associate Principal Julie Fregien at jfregien@mcas.k12.in.us or 219-588-1801 to schedule a pickup.

Drew Petty of Petty Welding Co. in Knoxville, Tenn., said a hospital contacted him about prototype stainless steel curtain rods and stated that "We gotta have ‘em today.” “From what I understand, surgeons want to completely wrap the surgical bed in plastic to operate on anyone with COVID-19,” Petty said. “I guess these are just glorified curtain rods that slide under the mattress to hold plastic up and off of the surgeon and patient. Dropped the parts off a little over two hours after I got the drawing.”

A couple of other welders on Instagram said they are helping out too. Welder Connor Brasier of Valencia, Calif., posted that he is repairing a hinge for a Red Cross trailer to get it operational so it can provide 10,000 meals a day in Los Angeles. Another welder, Thomas Butler of Traverse City, Mich., posted that he’s fabricating sanitary cabinets and tabletops for area hospitals.

In New York, Long Island Racing is developing, designing, and printing reusable face masks/shields. LIR is running its 3D printers at full capacity and has been printing up to 100 masks a day. It’s also working on a design that’s easy to duplicate and download. To help, visit their Go Fund Me page.

Petty Welding Co. in Knoxville, Tenn., is fabricating prototype stainless steel curtain rods for area hospitals. Image provided by Drew Petty

Three Wisconsin companies, Denali Home Collection, Monterey Mills, and Eder Flag Company, have banded together to manufacture reusable safety masks. Currently, they’re supplying only the medical field. Contact them at 877-252-6538 or info@safeusamasks.com to discuss pricing, orders, and any special requests.

Our friend and fellow Detroit small-business owner and apparel manufacturer Josh York of York Project and Soft Goods Detroit is sewing up masks just down the street from our loft too. Another Michigan-based clothing brand, Stormy Kromer, is making face masks and hospital gowns.

Brookville Glove Manufacturing in Pennsylvania shut down until the government asked if it could retool to make masks.

These are just a few of the thousands of small businesses that are working to get much-needed supplies to the people and organizations that need them most and in short order. No matter where you live, there will be local clinics and hospitals that need donations and your support. This is very much a fight for our lives.

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