Placon Ramps Up Production of Face Shields

Innovative packaging manufacturer Placon is scaling up production to help get plastic face shields to workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The company, which designs and manufactures plastic packaging for medical, food, and consumer goods products, got a call from University of Wisconsin Professor Tim Osswald. He was collaborating and problem-solving with local manufacturers to get a personal protective equipment (PPE) face shield to local workers in need. Placon quickly agreed to donate plastic die-cut sheet to the project and worked over the weekend to hand-make product. 

“Our designers, tooling, packaging, and quality engineers acted rapidly to scale up production,” said Dan Mohs, chairman and CEO. “We are currently producing the subcomponent plastic face shield for several companies to assemble into the finished PPE product. We hope that our small part in producing PPE helps our community and country overcome the challenges we face together.”

Once word spread about the project, more requests for the die-cut, plastic sheets started rolling in.

“We knew we had to automate the process if we really wanted to deliver a significant number of visors quickly to make a positive impact and protect our health care workers and first responders battling the coronavirus,” said John Rhoades, director of engineering.

Placon has manufacturing operations in Madison, Wis.; West Springfield, Mass.; Elkhart, Ind.; and Plymouth, Minn., and is currently ranked in the Top 20 in Plastics News 2019 Thermoformer Rankings.