Excerpt: The Pivot from Seat Covers to Facemasks
In March 2020, the reality of a worldwide pandemic began to take hold and the ripple of uncertainty spread out across nearly every industry.
Organizations were flooded with questions: what was essential/nonessential; how to manage a tele-workforce; how to manufacture a product that may not be in great demand in the short-term; and how to keep staff active during a shutdown? Everyone needed answers, and fast.
Meeting a Need
TigerTough Group is a manufacturer of seat covers; their way forward came when medical professionals on the frontlines put out an urgent call for personal protective equipment (PPE). The company was uniquely suited to make a contribution and fill this great need.
We recently caught up with NAFA Associate Member Nathan Zitzmann, Operations Director for TigerTough. The company has been able to make washable face masks and is working on adding gowns to meet the short supply. “Switching over to manufacturing PPE was a boost to the team here. There was a lot of excitement around being able to pitch in and help in the fight. We have a great group of people and they embraced this project wholeheartedly,” explains Zitzmann.
Manufacturing Reset
Flipping a manufacturing process is not as simple as turning on a light switch. Not all the materials at TigerTough’s disposal were suitable for PPE, particularly those which might touch a person’s skin. “It took some time in research and development to find the correct raw goods and in purchasing to source enough of them,” Zitzmann says.
A key tool in TigerTough’s manufacturing process is the computer numerical control (CNC) router, a computer-controlled cutting machine used for cutting various hard materials, such as aluminum, plastics, and glass. “The CNC cutter and all of our sewing machines needed to be adjusted to work with material that is far different from the seat covers we typically manufacture,” Zitzmann says. “The sewing machine operators had to learn new techniques to minimize the time required to sew the masks, but they rallied to it and learned quite quickly.”
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