Lindal Converts Aerosol Manufacturing Equipment to Make Sustainable and Needed Face Shields in Fight Against Coronavirus

In a bid to combat the impact of COVID-19, international aerosol dispensing packaging specialists, Germany’s Lindal Group have transformed some of their manufacturing equipment at their French production site to produce vital face shields that will all be donated free of charge to local key workers in France. (Lindal made its U.S. entry in 2000 and moved to its new state-of-the-art 100,000-sq.ft. facility in Colombus, Ind. in 2018.)

It took the company’s R&D team from their Global Innovation Centre in Val de Briey and their production team, under a week to design and modify selected assembly lines and initiate a daily production of 1,000 face shields.

Initially created using 3D printing technology, the shields are now injection molded utilizing recycled plastics from Lindal’s own production waste, making them sustainable, as well as vital. “The head clip which is created on our injection molding machines uses a standard PP which is predominantly made of recycled material. The face shield that is attached to the clip is made of a standard PVC sheet,” junior product manager Joe Tyrrell told PT.

The final assembly of the masks is completed by hand, which is the longest part of the process. Some dedicated employees are even completing the assembly in their own time to ensure as many face shields as possible are available.

Considered to be a valuable type of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for key workers, the face shields are now in mass production, with the first donation of 100 masks made to local firefighters at the end of April and a total of over 4,000 shields given to key workers to date. To ensure the continued and appropriate allocation of the shields, and to prioritise demands based on critical needs, Lindal has partnered with local Health Authority, ARS (Agence Regionale de Santé) who will centralize all donation requests and coordinate distribution.

Internally, Lindal has ensured all employees are equipped with full PPE, including the new face shields, so they can continue the essential job they are doing. At Lindal’s factories and offices in France and across the world, strict additional hygiene controls, social distancing and home office working have also been introduced.

To increase the volume of mask production and to further protect the community from COVID-19, Lindal is offering to share its 3D printing and injection molding CAD designs with other companies who may also want to produce the shields.