Thermoformer Develops Face Shields Needed in COVID-19 Pandemic

Prent Corp., a thermoformer of custom plastic medical device packaging, has designed a new face shield for healthcare workers and dedicated a new line to producing the shields, in just 48 hours. As of March 30, the company had produced and donated more than 20,000 shields to Mercyhealth Hospital and Trauma Center and other local healthcare facilities, Joseph Pregont II, vice president of corporate sales at Prent, told MD+DI. The company is planning to ramp up production to offer face shields to healthcare workers throughout the United States. “We heard there was a dire need in our community and we knew we could help, so we dedicated a team to work on it immediately,” explained Pregont in a news release. Pregont told MD+DI that Prent typically adds “a new line, which we build, in one of our facilities about every 6-8 weeks, which is what this line was. We have kept it out of our regular production to build these face shields.” Dedicating the new line in this way won’t impact the company’s other operations. Because the shields can cover a healthcare worker’s entire face, they can be used to keep face masks clean, according to Prent. The company initially sought to create what it calls a “traditional face shield with three parts (shield, foam cushion, and elastic headband)” but then to expedite production decided to des...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Packaging Source Type: news