■ Manufacturers racing to produce face masks and thermometers.
Face masks and thermometers are among the supplies Illinois manufacturers are racing to produce amid coronavirus outbreak
Illinois manufacturers are revamping production to make face masks, thermometers and more as the fight against the new coronavirus pandemic escalates. Companies are heeding a call from Gov. J.B. Pritzker to help supplement dwindling supplies of equipment that could protect health care and other front-line workers from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, and aid in the treatment of those already infected. Illinoisans have been ordered to stay home amid the outbreak, which so far has resulted in a total of 1,285 cases and 12 deaths in the state. Here’s how some manufacturers are retooling production lines.
From mattresses to masks
In ordinary times A. Lava & Son is not a sleepy business, although it does make components for mattresses. This week, its activity is focused on converting excess sewing capacity at its 235,000square-foot plant on Chicago’s Southwest Side to help fight the nation’s critical shortage of protective face masks.
“The mattress industry isn’t a sexy industry, but right now we’re lucky that we’re able to help out,” said Adam Lava, owner of the fourth-generation family business. “We’re very happy we can keep a lot of our employees off the unemployment line and in the factory working and that we’re helping anybody that needs the product.”
Lava said his firm also stands ready to make mattresses, which might be necessary as the city and state add excess hospital capacity to care for the expected influx of COVID-19 patients.
“We have a lot of sewing machines and a lot of skilled people,” he said.
First, though, the focus is on face masks for the company whose website proclaims, “If You Can Dream It, We Can Sew It!” Lava said the company could make
about 2.5 million masks if it averages 200,000 a week for three months.
The firm, in the Archer Park neighborhood near Midway Airport, is contributing to a nationwide multicompany initiative including Hanes, the underwear maker, to convert available sewing capacity to produce masks for the government.
Medical supplies, including face masks, are in short supply in the United States and abroad as the novel coronavirus spreads. Hanes is shipping 25,000 pounds of fabric to Lava to get started this week, and he expects the work will keep between 150 and 200 employees busy, or about twothirds of the company’s Chicago work force.
“All we’re trying to do is keep people off the unemployment line,” he said. “There’s no real profit in it.”
The product will not be the N95 mask most needed by medical personnel who are treating patients infected with the virus. The N95 has filters small enough to effectively ward off the virus, which is highly contagious and infects people most readily through the mouth and nose.
But the three-layer cotton mask Lava and fellow American sewing firms will make can be effective in preventing infected or quarantined people from spreading the virus via sneezing or coughing, a Hanes spokesman told The New York Times.
The company’s regular business, primarily mattress covers for consumerfacing mattress makers, has dried up quickly, Lava said.
“No one’s buying mattresses right now except for our e-commerce customers, who seem to be hanging in there,” he said. “No one’s going to a brick-and-mortar store to lay down on a mattress to try it out.”
A million thermometers
LCR Hallcrest makes thermometers that can be used in health care. Some of its thermometers also hang on the walls of deli counters at grocers, while others measure the surface temperature of dishware in dishwashers. President and owner Rocco Sapienza said the manufacturer shifted its production to increase the number of disposable forehead thermometers for use in hospitals.
“Our goal is to make a million a week,” Sapienza said. “We have had to increase production four times.”
The company has filled orders for Cook County Department of Corrections, where the thermometers will be used to take the temperatures of prisoners. LCR Hallcrest has also sold directly to a handful of consumers.
During the SARS outbreak in 2003, it manufactured hundreds of thousands of thermometers, Sapienza said.
To meet demand during the COVID-19 outbreak, the Glenview-based company hired 15 temporary workers, adding to its production line workforce of 55, Sapienza said.
“This is quite larger in terms of demand,” Sapienza said. “We can handle it. It just happens to be unusual for forehead thermometers.”
Containers for COVID-19 tests
Medical packaging manufacturer Com-Pac International has made shipping containers for disease tests such as the Ebola virus and anthrax. About three weeks ago, it started making shipping containers for COVID-19 tests, too.
“We took some of our miscellaneous components, put them together to fit what the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) requires,” said Greg Sprehe, president of the Carbondale-based company. “We have just been getting orders like crazy.”
The coolers Com-Pac are assembling for the COVID-19 tests are about the size of two shoe boxes, Sprehe said. Labs need the tests to remain frozen, so the coolers must be outfitted to do so.
Com-Pac uses a production line to make specimen bags, like the biohazard bags that hold vials of blood after it is drawn from a patient, Sprehe said. Shipping containers are typically assembled by the employees as orders are placed.
But Com-Pac had to triple capacity to fill the orders coming in for COVID-19 test containers, Sprehe said. It set up a “pop-up production line” to more efficiently assemble the coolers, which each need the proper labels, specimen bags and other components.
The company added about 10 new employees to its 250-person workforce, and many people are working overtime.
Com-Pac also produces food packaging, including bags that hold the breading in Shake ‘N Bake mix, Sprehe said. As people stock up on shelf-stable items, demand for the company’s food packaging has increased threefold.
The increase in food and medical packaging demand comes as some workers must stay home to care for children because schools are out of session, Sprehe said.
“You’re having to do more business than you ever have,” he said. “But you sort of have one hand tied behind your back at the same time.”
Special parts for production plants
Joel Niekamp and his four employees at Wesco Machine & Tool in Shorewood are working on weekends to make or repair specialty parts for chemical and food manufacturers that have ramped up production during the health crisis.
Repairs are a majority of the company’s work, but Niekamp, Wesco’s president, said the firm is making parts for companies that can’t get them shipped in time from countries hard hit by the pandemic.
“They can’t get replacement parts for a pump that’s made in Italy. So they may call us and say this is now months out and we can’t wait that long,” Niekamp said.
Some of its major clients are chemical manufacturers like Northfield-based Stepan Company, which makes disinfectant products, soaps and cleaning solutions.
Last week, Wesco delivered parts to fix a food processor’s heat exchanger, which is used to reduce microbials to make food safe for consumption. “We are relied on as their go-to fixer,” Niekamp said.
Gallons of disinfectant
Nyco Products Company, a cleaning products supplier in Countryside, manufactures disinfectants, sanitizers and floor cleaning products. In the past week, the firm increased production of its Sani-Spritz Spray One-Step DisinfectantCleaner, which can be used on hard surfaces. Nyco makes tens of thousands of gallons of it each day.
The product is registered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a surface disinfectant. The Environmental Protection Agency approves disinfectants that can be used to reduce the spread of illnesses through the Emerging Viral Pathogen Guidance, and only products the agency approves can be marketed and sold for use against a virus outbreak.
Nyco’s products are sold to businesses, not consumers. John Wunderlich, Nyco’s president, said the company has hired eight employees as it adds a second shift to meet demand. Nyco typically has between 20 to 25 employees working on its production line.
“We’ve moved production from Monday through Saturday. And we’ve approached some of the local restaurants that furloughed workers to come work with us,” Wunderlich said.
“We’re very happy we can keep a lot of our employees off the unemployment line ... and that we’re helping anybody that needs the product.”
— Adam Lava, owner of A. Lava & Son