In response to hospitals’ growing need for personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic, Duro-Last® Inc., Saginaw, Mich., united its engineers, product developers and manufacturing staff to fabricate isolation gowns and face masks for health care professionals.
Duro-Last reformulated products and retooled processes to quickly manufacture the supplies. In one week, the Duro-Last team advanced from prototype to production to delivery. The isolation gowns are made from flexible PVC, making them water- and fluid-repellant, and the masks are washable and reusable.
“This is about helping health care professionals in any way we can and at the same time keeping people employed,” says Tom Saeli, CEO of Duro-Last. “I am proud of and impressed by the people in our company who quickly developed these products. Our country is full of tremendously smart, entrepreneurial people who can bring timely solutions to this unprecedented need. The need is real, and I believe it’s our obligation to act now. If the efforts of our team inspire just one other company to join this fight, it will be worth it.”
