Platform to match companies with safety gear suppliers

TORONTO Canadian industry players have thrown their support behind a new online matchmaking platform that facilitates connections between legitimate suppliers of personal protective equipment and companies seeking the gear required to protect workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Startup Bulky.io, a platform for shippers to match chemical bulk freight loads with available tanker capacity, decided to use its Ai-enhanced matching technology to help Canadian manufacturers find buyers for products they’ve raced to make during the pandemic including hand sanitizer, surgical masks, N95 masks, surface sanitizer, face shields and gowns.

The new Rapid Response Platform is free and has the backing of the federal government, businesses and industry associations, including the Business Development Bank of Canada, Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters, chemical producer BASF Canada and the Automotive Parts Manufacturers Association.

“Our small team in Alberta and Newfoundland quickly realized we could make real impact during this COVID -19 crisis by automated and instant matching of supply and demand,” Devshree Gavande, Bulky’s vice-president of architecture, said in a statement.

Transactions take place outside of the platform once suppliers and businesses use it to find each other.

With PPE supply chains facing unprecedented stress due to the spike in global demand, the platform is needed so manufacturers can keep employees protected once factories reopen, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters director Matt Poirier said in a statement.

Trust will be one of the key elements of the platform, given its backing from industry heavy hitters. “We’re all giving it our stamp of approval,” said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association.

Manufacturers and businesses alike have had problems sourcing legitimate suppliers in the scramble to make and buy medical gear during the pandemic.

Many auto parts manufacturers “lost hair chasing sources down rabbit holes” when they shifted gears to produce medical gear when the automotive production industry shut down, Volpe said.

The APMA was happy to support a platform that sources real PPE and cuts down on the work of sifting out substandard products, Volpe said.

Plus it makes it faster for buyers to move product and for any business to figure out who has what, how much they have and when they can deliver.