Biddeford Manufacturing Company Changes Mission to Create Personal Protection Equipment
More Than 12 Thousand Face Shields Created in a Week
If You Need Medical Face Shields CLICK HERE
(Biddeford, Maine) – Thermoformed Plastics of New England (TPNE) is now manufacturing face shields for healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus.
TPNE has partnered with one of its customers, Alene Candle, to manufacture face shields that will be donated to health care facilities and first responders in Maine and New Hampshire.
TPNE is donating the plastic shield, and Alene is donating the other components and labor to assemble the shields. The two companies have produced 12,500 face shields so far.
“This effort is about teamwork in a time of national crisis. Two weeks ago, we realized the need for face shields, and we immediately knew we could help address the shortage. Alene Candle reached out and asked if we could help them source the necessary plastic, we immediately told them yes, and that we could do one better – provide them the finished part if they would, in turn, agree to donate their time to put it together,” said TPNE General Manager Paul Tyson.
“We’ve had several requests for the shield since then and requests to partner. We have said yes to all of them as long as the companies are committed to donating their efforts. For those who are fulfilling contracts, we have said we will support their efforts as long as they are selling their product at market rates. We have orders for over 600,000 shields to produce in the next several weeks. We are going to use all of our resources to make sure we facilitate the production of as many face shields as possible”.
TPNE donated 1,000 face shields to the City of Biddeford for use by its police and fire departments. TPNE has donated face shields to SMMC, CMMC, Hospice of Southern Maine, Hospice of New Hampshire, and New Communities.
“We recognize the shortage is taking its toll on all aspects of workers in health care communities. Hospital workers need these products, but we also wanted to be sure that hospice workers, nursing, and eldercare communities have access to personal protective equipment as well. We will manufacture 600,000 in the next few weeks, but it truly is a drop in the bucket. We intend to do as much as we can as quickly as we can,” Tyson said.