COVID-19 triggers switch to diverse manufacturing
List of products local companies have delved into amid pandemic still growing
When 2020 rolled out the welcome mat in January, Papp Plastics and Distributing project lead Joe Luckino didn't expect the year to end with some of his most promising new accounts being for COVID-19 nasal test swabs, face shields and ventilator parts.
Largely a Tier 1 and 2 plastics supplier to the auto industry, Papp Plastics has become one of many local firms to find unexpected inspiration for diversification in the national health-care crisis.
Partnering with Harvard University's Wyss Institute, the company is in a final clinical trial with Health Canada to produce a new swab for testing (www.covidtestswab.com).
“The trial should be done by Christmas or shortly after,” said Luckino, who credited local firm Integrity Tool for playing a key role in helping Papp produce a prototype for Health Canada in four weeks last spring.
“It's based on Harvard's design. In testing it has been rated better than current swabs.”
The swabs look like a Q-tip but are made of softer, more comfortable resin with a honeycombed tip to hold the sample. They're also designed to snap easily in the middle to put the sample in a vile or test tube.
The company can produce 500,000 swabs weekly with the capability of tripling that volume if necessary.
Papp Plastics has also filled a federal government order for a million plastic face shields with a more robust plastic-moulded headband with a standing agreement to produce millions more when needed. The company also was involved in making quad-split ventilator components.
“The medical equipment segment is something we plan to remain in having made the investments,” Luckino said.
“We've already got agreements with two large GTA companies to supply the swabs for their new COVID test kits once Health Canada gives us final approval. There are other opportunities we see in the field also.”
Windsor Essex Economic Development Corp. manager of business retention and expansion Wendy Stark said Papp Plastics' story is being repeated locally across the manufacturing sector.
Nearly 50 local companies pivoted into PPE with 80 per cent of those saying in a recent Canadian Association of Mold Makers/automate Canada survey they intend to stay in the health-care equipment sector.
“I've seen a transition from the early days of the pandemic when companies and their employees just wanted to do something to help and didn't look at it as a business opportunity,” said Stark, who oversaw the connecting of companies and resources to help orchestrate the local manufacturers' response.
“The crisis has shifted the focus and interest and there are opportunities to look at a different cluster of business. It has highlighted companies and the workforce's capabilities and ability to adapt and that's a huge selling factor for the region.”
The list of new products and services local companies have delved into is varied and still growing.
Among them are portable isolation rooms, hand sanitizing solutions and touchless sanitizing pumps, masks and plastic shields, gowns, hospital beds, testing booths, ventilator components, tools and moulds to make parts for medical equipment, clean sanitizing cell monitors, test kits, swabs and more.
The speed at which manufacturers pivoted was as impressive as the variety of PPE produced.
Ontario declared a state of emergency on March 17 and by early April, the Trillium Network of Advance Manufacturing had a list of 233 provincial firms producing PPE.
Thirty-two of those companies, or nearly 14 per cent, were based in Windsor-essex despite the Windsor area representing only about three per cent of Ontario's 14.7-million population.
Automate Canada chair Shelley Fellows said there's no doubt the sector was given a boost in confidence by the public and government recognition, for helping avert a PPE supply crisis.
“The spotlight was shone on us a bit and manufacturing was even recognized for playing a bit of a heroic role,” Fellows said. “One of the benefits has been people recognizing manufacturing is important. We may have had a bit of an inferiority complex because we're not visible.
“When you have a boost in confidence, you're more willing to try new things, to diversify. That's absolutely happening.”
Such an example is Essex Weld Solutions, which has been a predominately automotive company supplying the Detroit Three, Mercedes, BMW and most recently Tesla.
However, the Essex-based firm has created an entirely new division focused on PPE.
The company has plants in Ontario, the U.S. and Mexico.
“We're full throttle into PPE,” said Brian Campbell, Essex Weld's senior sales representative. “The demand is amazing.”
Campbell said the company has added 50 to 100 people focused on PPE production.
Essex Weld offers everything from masks/face shields and gowns to touchless hand sanitizing stations, hospital beds and testing booths.
The focus at its Essex and Leamington plants is on the equipment side, such as the touchless sanitizers and hospital beds. Plants in the U.S. and Mexico are also producing masks, shields and gowns.
Campbell said the pandemic has helped foster more collaboration and created new relationships between local businesses.
“In working together, we all learned how we can help each other more and we showed we can do a lot of things other than automotive,” Campbell said.
“You're seeing huge diversification going on without a doubt. I think the main lesson here for everyone is Windsor-essex is a leader in providing solutions.”
With new markets opening up, combined with an auto industry that has come back stronger and quicker than anticipated, Statistics Canada figures show manufacturing is now exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels in February.
Employment in the sector has also shown a sharp increase.
There were 40,900 people working in manufacturing locally at the end of first quarter of 2020, but the pandemic drove that down to 35,800 by the end of June.
However, the local manufacturing sector has not only recovered those 5,100 jobs, but had grown to 45,600 people by the end of September.
According to Statistics Canada, the region hasn't seen such robust employment numbers in manufacturing since 2005.
“We're recovering our financial base,” Fellows said. “Some sectors are doing better than others.
“Those working with building supplies, pharmaceutical and automotive have regained numbers, but aviation is not doing well.”
For Windsor-based Durobyte Technologies, the impact of COVID-19 has been more dramatic than most.
The industrial controls/automation company has not only been forced into adding new products and services, it has had to completely change its business model.
“Durobyte had been mostly a purchased service organization,” said business development manager Curtis Laurie. “There's a lot of risk in that business model.
“With COVID most places didn't want people from outside coming in. It was a shelter in place mentality and conserve what you have.
“That didn't play well for our business model.”
The result has been the company began exploring building equipment, making new products and services.
Laurie anticipates the change in direction will result in the company's Windsor and Lansing, Mich., plants being even more prosperous in 2021 and 2022 than normally expected.
“Without COVID-19, I don't know if we would've gone down this path,” Laurie said.
Among the firm's new products is a sanitizing cell.
The network feeds information to a central location notifying the supervisor a workstation needs cleaning.
Laurie said the sanitizing cells are designed for use in factories, grocery stores or workplaces where shift changes or multiple workers use the same equipment.
Durobyte has also expanded into retrofitting machines with updated programming or tools to extend the life of equipment at a time when companies are conserving cash.
In addition, Durobyte is working with the many local firms expanding into the PPE and medical devices field to “program the brains” of their equipment to function in this new field.
Among those companies are Harbour Technologies and Windsor Mold Group.
Harbour Technologies has created a 20,000-square foot plant dedicated to PPE.
Windsor Mold Group is producing face shields and headbands in the millions for the federal government and plans to stay in the PPE market.
Windsor Mold Group's technical sales manager and past chair of the Canadian Association of Mold Makers Mike Bilton said COVID changed the perception of manufacturing.
“I think we opened eyes that we do more than just make automotive products down here,” Bilton said. “We essentially said, `Try us.'
If anything, it showed the Canadian manufacturing sector has serious prowess.
“The manufacturing sector has hit another level of maturity.”
Bilton added companies were able to pivot successfully once they realized their processes and skill sets were transferable to healthcare products.
Tight timelines, pressure to produce high-quality, cost-effective products in volume form the normal environment for the automotive sector.
“We just needed to know the rules and regulations and understand how to work with Health Canada to meet certifications,” Bilton said.
The automotive sector also had another huge advantage that allowed it to move quickly.
The automakers' drive to nurture innovation and improve quality, efficiency and productivity by adopting Industry 4.0 standards has made the sector a technology leader.
“The automotive industry has increased the use of technology by tenfold in the last 10 years,” Laurie said.
“No other industry, perhaps other than medicine, is increasing its technology at the rate automotive is doing it.
“Its showed Windsor-essex has a deep pool of very skilled people, knowledge, technology and ability beyond building engines and assembling vehicles.”