As fears of the coronavirus spread like wildfire throughout the country, many companies and manufacturers had to implement layoffs and furloughs in an effort to survive the downturn.
One Orangeburg County manufacturer — Quality Models South Carolina — also saw its supply chain dry up during the coronavirus-induced lockdowns. QM’s main customers have been industrial, automotive, and lawn and garden.
“Going into the spring months we were faced with some very tough decisions with regard to downsizing of our workforce,” Quality Models South Carolina Technical Sales Manager Mike Newman said. “Nearly all of our customers went into a shutdown mode and we were left with making tough decisions that affected our employees and their families.”
Newman said the Orangeburg plant went from 130 employees to around 25 during the March and April 2020 period.
The company’s plants in Canada and Indiana also saw employment levels fall to near zero during the March and April 2020, Newman said.
Quality Models South Carolina was able to survive these difficult times thanks to being able to supply Husqvarna and an Upstate appliance company with product, but company officials sought a creative way to keep more individuals working and to become a catalyst in fighting against the coronavirus pandemic.
“With what was at stake, I decided to draft a letter to the governor of South Carolina, which advised his team of our manufacturing capabilities and our ability to convert our production lines over to products that could help to protect front-line health care workers,” Newman said. “Gregg Robinson from OCDC made sure that this letter was brought in front of the decision-makers and within two weeks we were contacted by FEMA.”
In the letter, Newman noted the QM Group had the ability to produce injection molds using rapid mold-manufacturing techniques.
The letter noted products the company could produce include plastics and mold manufacturing for ventilators, masks, hospital beds, respirators, medical packaging, over-the-shoe booties and vital-sign monitors.
Soon a contract was signed between FEMA and QM to build face shields.
“In a matter of days, we were building molds and shortly thereafter were producing around 250,000 face shields per week,” Newman said. “This immediately brought our workforce levels back to 130% of pre-pandemic levels.”
The company had to create five new tools to make the required 1.4 million face shields. About 200,000 face shields were shipped to front-line health care workers.
QM was given a six-week period to make the shields with production beginning in May 2020 and ending in early July.
“During this challenging time, we all played our part in reducing the impact, playing our part in this global pandemic to make safety a top priority for everyone,” Newman said. “QM Group would like to thank the leadership of FEMA and GCMI (Global Center for Medical Innovation) for the support of making this project a reality.”
“We were able to create a sense of community and self-worth for all of the associates that would normally have been subjected to the isolation that so many people faced last year,” Newman said.
“The employees of Orangeburg County accepted the challenge to help beat this pandemic and provide safety and comfort to not only front-line workers but anyone that helped to get America back to business safely and responsibly,” said Gregg Robinson, executive director of the Orangeburg County Development Commission. “The over 120,000-square-foot facility can easily mass produce quality products of any size.”
Throughout the pandemic, the OCDC worked with local manufacturers and directed them toward the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program, which was created to provide a direct incentive for businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.
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