COLORADO SPRINGS — Help countering the U.S. shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) is on the way from a collaboration out of Colorado. “We pulled out all the stops to get the molds as fast as we could,” said Hyrum Anderson with Sovereign Plastics. Sovereign Plastics in Colorado Springs is teaming with Iconic Medical Group out of Denver to design, manufacture and distribute millions of PPE face shields to help combat COVID-19.
The on-going shortage of PPE remains an issue that could derail progress made in the COVID-19 battle. Iconic and Sovereign are joining the fight with expedited action. “Bringing production up from zero units to hundreds of thousands of units within a matter of weeks,” said Iconic Medical Group, CEO, Miguel Sosa. Processes and approvals that typically take six months or longer, have been pushed to happen in just weeks.
Medical grade protective face shields, now in mass production. It required night and weekend work to design and machine molds. Prototypes were sent express delivery to the FDA for testing and approval.
Mass production and FDA approval make the manufacturing more than a stop-gap measure. “We’ve had so much interest in our items, it’s just off the charts,” said Sosa. Production just started and already requests for shipments are coming from across the country. Iconic is working with manufacturers across the United States on other COVID-19 medical needs.
Production is going around the clock seven days a week. “We’re uniquely qualified and in this unique position to be able to build some really large numbers,” said Anderson, “And right now we’re at 50 to 60 thousand a day.” In a month, the number of shields produced will be around 1.2 million. It is so much work Sovereign will be adding close to 40 new workers.
