Duro-Last Manufactures Medical PPE in Record Time!
Mike Tracey, Vice President of Operations (L) and Crint LaBrosse, Senior Product Manager (R) don mask and gown manufactured for health care and essential workers. While both were highly instrumental in the development and manufacture of the medical PPE, it required a team effort to make it all come together.
Duro-Last, a commercial roofing industry leader in manufacturing custom-fabricated PVC roofing systems, has come to the aid of America’s health care communities and essential workers. Spray Foam Insider (SFI) interviewed Tom Saeli, CEO of Duro-Last, to learn more about the company’s remarkable story in developing and manufacturing medical masks and gowns in record time. Their quick-thinking and fast-acting efforts to produce medical PPE has helped to protect front line health care workers during the Covid-19 pandemic. Inquiries for their gowns and masks are coming in from all over the country.
Duro-Last, the Single-Ply Roofing System company, now includes manufacturing medical PPE.
Duro-Last employees working around the clock to make essential medical PPE.
SFI: How did Duro-Last come up with the idea to manufacture medical PPE?
TS: When shelter-in-place orders were going into effect, a group of our team from engineering, research and development, manufacturing other departments got together to brainstorm what they could do to help our front line health care and essential workers cope with the covid-19 epidemic. They understood the dire need for PPE and immediately set to work to determine how we could best accomplish meeting this need.
SFI: So, this was a broad team effort, within the company, that involved so many of your employees, departments and personnel who coordinated their efforts and worked closely together to create a solution.
TS: Absolutely. This was an effort by so many within our company who stepped up with unwavering dedication to find a solution to the PPE shortage. I give credit where it is due. Our employees worked tirelessly around the clock to turn their ideas and efforts into viable products during a critical time. There is no other way all of this could have been accomplished in such as short time-frame.
SFI: How was the PPE developed and what is it made of?
TS: Due to the shelter-in-place order, some of our team worked remotely to coordinate their planning efforts, while some worked in the lab to re-tool our manufacturing floor to accommodate PPE production and testing. They knew that time was of the essence, so they had to work fast but effectively to make every second count. The gowns are made of a clear PVC product and the masks are made of polyester material with a PVC frame. The gowns and masks can be sanitized for re-use thus conserving the numbers needed; however, the need has been so great that we are continuing to manufacture them 24 hours per day.
SFI: I understand that the Duro-Last team successfully accomplished this goal in record time–that this endeavor went from idea to design to testing to hospital approval to production in as few as 7 days. How was this possible?
TS: I attribute our success to the mindset of our employees and the culture of our company. It goes back to our founder, John R. Burt, who developed the ethics we still embrace today. Duro-Last is a company that is used to taking on challenges—things that others may think are not possible. Some ask “why” while we ask, “why not?” We value our employees’ ideas and encourage an entrepreneurial spirit. It is in our legacy, our heritage, and indeed the very DNA of our company. This ideology has always served us well.
SFI: What feedback have you received from hospitals about Duro-Last’s PPE?
TS: We’ve worked closely with Beaumont Hospital (Michigan) to collaborate on products that work best for them. The hospital’s administration enthusiastically supported our efforts to create a final PPE product that would meet their needs effectively and efficiently. Everything we did had to meet the hospital’s specifications for quality PPE. We know that our efforts have been successful because we have received positive feedback from Beaumont, and the orders for more PPE keep coming in. We are doing our best to serve our nation during its time of need, and we sincerely hope that we will inspire other companies to do the same.
SFI: What do you think is a good take-away from this experience?
TS: During this crisis, we have talked with many other industry’s manufacturers, including our competitors, who have asked what they can do to help. If there is one thing that we wish to impart, it is to encourage others to see what they can do to innovate and contribute too. We did not enter into this for profit or recognition. The current crisis we all face will require the cooperation and efforts of many, indeed all of us, to make a difference. We are only one part of the solution; however, I couldn’t be prouder of our team for rising to this challenge. Had our founder been alive today, he would have said, “I stand proud of your ingenuity, and I would have expected no less from you.”
Spray Foam Insider wishes to thank Duro-Last’s CEO, Tom Saeli for granting us this interview. In recognition of the personal sacrifices and initiative taken by the employees of Duro-Last, our heart-felt gratitude. For being an inspiration to all of us and most importantly for helping to protect our front line health care workers, we thank you. A special thanks to Andrea Fisher of Duro-Last for her outstanding assistance in helping to make this article possible.
Jay Davidson, Writer/Editor
Spray Foam Insider
April 16, 2020