Automotive firms scramble for PPE as restarts loom
With the auto industry planning to come out of its COVID -19 hibernation in two weeks, southern Ontario’s automotive supply chain is struggling to find enough personal protection equipment to ensure a smooth restart.
Inflated prices, massive minimum order requirements, scams and inferior quality gear remain a problem.
“It’s still the wild, wild west out there for PPE,” said Laval International Ceo/president Jonathon Azzopardi.
“You have to be cognizant of what you’re getting. Our employees are our first priority.”
In a recent Canadian Association of Mold Makers/automate Canada survey, 43 per cent of respondents said they didn’t have enough PPE.
Azzopardi said that could pose significant problems as production scales.
“People forget how fragile the manufacturing sector is,” Azzopardi said.
“We’ve become so just-in-time delivery and delicate. If you’re missing one component and you only have one supplier of that component, the whole thing breaks down.
“The supply chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”
N95 masks remain the hardest equipment to get.
Prices also remain high for PPE, though the market has settled from the peak period a few weeks ago.
“Before the pandemic, a N95 mask that costs $1.25 to $1.50 to produce, could be had for $2,” Azzopardi said.
“It got as high as $12 per mask at the peak of the pandemic. The price gouging is huge.”
Azzopardi said the KN95 masks imported from China have been tried and have proven greatly inferior to the N95.
Reko International Group CEO Diane Reko said companies face a real risk of getting taken in the scramble to get PPE because of the volume of unregulated product on the market.
“It’s been really challenging because there’s a bit of game playing going on,” Reko said.
“It goes beyond that one Canadian distributor selling 3M N95 masks at inflated prices. We’re looking at too much defective equipment being delivered to Canada.
“People are making some good stuff and others are passing off stuff that’s garbage.”
Reko said initially hand sanitizer was difficult to get but supply has improved in recent days.
Azzopardi added another barrier to procuring equipment is the enormous minimum order requirements or questionable arrangements.
“I had a guy call me from Europe saying if I had $200,000 cash and government backing he could get me masks,” Azzopardi said. “One had a $400,000 minimum order.”
Federal Minister of Economic Development Melanie Joly said local industry’s plea for more PPE was one of the key issues raised recently at a virtual meeting.
Joly added Canada’s lack of a medical supply chain is a key lesson learned from the pandemic.
“That will be one of the things we’ll be looking at because never again do we want to depend on other countries to protect the lives and health of our citizens,” Joly said.
Windsor’s Cavalier Tool and Manufacturing recently receive a shipment of 500 N95 masks, but protection didn’t come cheaply.
“We spent about three times the normal going rate for them,” said Director of Sales Tim Galbraith. “We found a company that had excess masks. We paid $6.50 apiece for them.
“We did it not just for the physical protection, but also to relieve any anxiety and give people confidence they were safe.”
Galbraith said Cavalier has also set up a 3,000-square-foot tent in its parking lot to create more plant floor space. The company will use it for storage and smaller operations to allow for better physical distancing.
Cavalier is also adding more hand sanitizer stations and mounting them on modular poles for mobility.
In addition to having as many employees work from home as possible, those coming into the plant will have their temperature taken.
Other common measures area companies are putting in place are restricting visitors, staggered shifts, quizzing employees on their health, virtual meetings, sanitization hours, plastic face shields, the creation of handbooks offering best practices and limiting access to common areas.
Cleaning costs for companies have also skyrocketed. Laval International’s monthly bill for janitorial services has increased eight-fold.
Reko International has provided its employees with plastic face shields, which it’s producing for local health care workers, and masks.
“Not many employees are wearing the face masks,” Reko said.
“They tell me they cause the shields to fog up and get in the way of doing their jobs.”
Reko said the company initially tried to get temperature-sensing equipment, but couldn’t find any available.
“We’re not pursuing that option now,” said Reko, who added the company has had no cases of COVID-19.
“What we’re doing is working, so I don’t think we’ll monitor temperatures given our experience already.”
Only 40 per cent of companies are planning to use temperature-sensing equipment, according to last week’s Camm/automate survey.
“The cost is a factor for some companies,” said CAMM president Mike Bilton. “Some companies right now are short cash and it’s hard to afford.
“There’s also a challenge in getting temperature-sensing equipment.”
Automate Canada Chair Shelley Fellows said the province needed to be firmer in defining its requirements.
Masks, plastic face shields and temperature sensing devices are recommended but not all companies are opting to follow every recommendation for differing reasons.
“The requirements are clearly not well expressed and the regulations from the province are quite vague,” Fellows said.
“I think companies are looking for what do I have to do and the equipment I have to have. There’s some ways to go on this.”