James City County’s Bicast, Inc. of Toano has switched up its operations from manufacturing souvenirs to making protective face shields to help health care workers on the front line during the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier in the month, Gov. Ralph Northam requested help in addressing the shortfall of personal protective equipment. The demand for face masks and other PPE has surged as the virus continues to spread.
“This time of year we normally would be busy manufacturing magnets, glassware and other souvenir items. However, on account of the dire need for PPE and wanting to help, producing face shields seemed like a good fit. We are fully staffed and have on hand all of the equipment we need,” said Forrest Harris, Bicast’s vice-president, in a statement.
Bicast’s face shields are manufactured from high-quality plastic sheeting, according to the company’s news release. Their equipment cuts the plastic sheet to the required specifications. The team on the production line then attaches the foam backing and elastic band creating a reusable protective face shield.
Stacy Harris, CEO of the family-owned business, said switching to face shield production was more difficult than she anticipated.
“We had to do the design, source materials which are scarce, and test our design. The first few attempts certainly failed. It has taken us almost two weeks to actually get the best materials and get into production, but we are rolling now,” she said in an email.
Harris said making their new product should be helpful in keeping their staff of 17 employees. She said they have artists, customer service, and office personnel working from home. The necessary production employees are working from their facility and following strict protocol including face masks, distancing and sanitation, she said.
The company will be delivering the face shields to health care workers and local hospitals to save on shipping time.
“Some customers from Northern Virginia and Richmond want to come and pick theirs up so we will have them packed and load them straight out of the back door to avoid any unnecessary contact,” she said.
Bicast, Inc.’s President Bill Gaertner said these are trying times for all small businesses. “As a family-centered business, taking care of our employees is extremely important to us. The beauty of this plan is that we can provide a needed product and keep our employees working,” he said in a statement.
Bicast projects that they can produce about 2,000 face shields per day, and hope to have made 50,000 by the end of April.
Cleo-Symone Scott, 757-446-2270, cleosymone.scott@pilotonline.com
