Many local factories transform to meet needs of pandemic fight

FREE SANITIZER: Liam Maloney, tasting room manager at The Industrious Spirit Co. in Providence, stands at the company’s “drive-up” window, where it is offering people free bottles of hand sanitizer that it makes using the byproduct of its vodka manufacturing. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
FREE SANITIZER: Liam Maloney, tasting room manager at The Industrious Spirit Co. in Providence, stands at the company’s “drive-up” window, where it is offering people free bottles of hand sanitizer that it makes using the byproduct of its vodka manufacturing. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

Matouk Luxury Linens is known for exquisite bedding, an elegant product aimed at Americans who shop in department stores for towels, sheets and ­pillowcases.

That was before March, before Bloomingdale’s Inc. closed all of its stores, soon to be followed by Macy’s and other retailers. In the span of a few weeks, long-standing orders for linens were canceled at Fall River-based John Matouk & Co., forcing an immediate reckoning.

Through a single closure – Bloomingdale’s – Matouk lost 30% of its revenue, with no reopening in sight, said George Matouk Jr., CEO of John Matouk & Co. Twenty percent of the workforce was laid off.

“We [had] 150 people in Fall River, 100 of them [were] in our manufacturing operations. Our demand for production evaporated overnight,” he said. “So, we immediately had a crisis on our hands.”

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Within weeks, the goods left behind by retailers had found a new destination. Like many other businesses, Matouk has found a way to reposition itself quickly, creating new products for the health care industry and nonprofit organizations, which are in desperate need of supplies.

‘We had this critical business crisis, which coincided with … a social opportunity.’
GEORGE MATOUK JR., John Matouk & Co. CEO

In April, Matouk is still creating sheets and linens, but many of its products are now heading to the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent weeks, it started creating a line of cotton sanitary masks for health care workers. These aren’t the highly specialized N95 masks needed by clinicians tending to afflicted patients, but they’re needed nonetheless by front-desk receptionists and others in health care who can rely on more-simple facial masks.

In addition to selling the masks to health care customers, including Lifespan Corp. and Care New England Health System, Matouk is contributing its products to shelters and organizations that need linens fast. A recent recipient was Crossroads Rhode Island, the largest shelter for the homeless in Providence.

“We had this critical business crisis, which coincided with not really a business opportunity but a social opportunity,” Matouk said. “To try to use the resources we have to meet the needs of health care workers.”

MASK MAKERS: Employees 
at John Matouk & Co. stitch cloth personal protective equipment at the company’s Fall River facility. / COURTESY JOHN MATOUK & CO.
MASK MAKERS: Employees 
at John Matouk & Co. stitch cloth personal protective equipment at the company’s Fall River facility. / COURTESY JOHN MATOUK & CO.

PIVOTAL MOMENT

Similar efforts are taking place in Rhode Island, too, in particular among companies that can manufacture hand sanitizer and protective equipment that can be worn by health care workers, such as face shields and protective masks.

The list includes Honeywell International Inc., which is gearing up its Smithfield factory to provide face masks, and is already on a hiring spree to help bolster its manufacturing workforce.

Aidance Scientific Inc., a Woonsocket company, is producing hand sanitizer in large volumes.

The manufacturer already produces topical medical sprays and ointments, and it was able to shift gears to produce large amounts of sanitizer, said co-founder David Goldsmith.

“We were already familiar with formulating with alcohol,” he said. “We were able to get started very quickly. The challenge then was sourcing large quantities of alcohol and the other ingredients, as well as the containers. Fortunately, because we have good connections in the industry, we’ve been able to lock down a source of supply and establish collaborations with other contract manufacturers to support our efforts.”

Jewelry companies have started making the thin metal band that bends and holds a mask in place over the nose. Other companies are providing assembly workers for masks, stitching on ties made of elastic. A few companies with 3D printers have started creating protective face shields, said David Chenevert, executive director of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association.

‘From a textile standpoint, it’s been all hands on deck.’
MICHAEL WOODY, Trans-Tex LLC CEO

The effort to draw in manufacturers in Rhode Island was embraced by at least 30 companies, said Michael Woody, CEO of Trans-Tex LLC in Cranston. “From a textile standpoint, it’s been all hands on deck,” he said. “Almost every company I’ve talked to has either tried to or is pivoting toward manufacturing PPE.”

The Rhode Island Textile Innovation Network, a coalition of textile manufacturers, had a teleconference a few weeks ago with 25 company leaders, all comparing notes on what they could do, said Max Brickle, president of The Brickle Group in Woonsocket.

His family-owned company is already manufacturing a lightweight felt that can be cut and formed into face masks. Three other companies in Pawtucket are providing the elastic that holds the masks in place. Another company, in Fall River, is die-cutting the cloth into masks. Another small company is providing the assembly workers.

Brickle, an 80-year-old manufacturer, has a long history of supplying materials and goods for federal contracts, including the iconic pea coat for the U.S. Navy.

The shift to create a simple mask wasn’t hard, according to Brickle. “We were able to put together a supply chain in three days,” he said.

By April 1, he said, 10,000 protective masks had already been produced. The company is capable of manufacturing 250,000 masks a week, but it will take about two to three weeks to ramp up to that level, he said. These are not surgical masks, he said, which require a particular woven fabric. He looked into ordering it and was stymied. “If you order it now, you will get it in six months,” he said.

So instead, Brickle used its long-standing contacts to procure another material, 100% virgin polyester, which can be used to create a light-use mask that can be laundered, and so reused by health care workers who don’t need to use the surgical or N95 masks. Brickle is willing to buy the material up front, then create the masks, which can be made in bulk and stored. It has already offered to supply the state, nursing homes and hospitals, he said.

“Whatever the Rhode Island community is needing, we’ll supply that,” Brickle said.

LINKED TOGETHER

Mary Johnson, manager of growth and strategy at Polaris MEP, a manufacturing industry organization associated with the University of Rhode Island, said local manufacturers tend to be producers of components, putting parts into larger products. This has complicated efforts to create, within Rhode Island, complete products needed for COVID-19. So, for example, even masks will require most companies to collaborate with other partners.

“We don’t necessarily have the ability to pivot an entire company to make … and we don’t have the equipment to turn out masks at a rapid rate. They’re going to be hand-stitched,” she said.

At least half a dozen products being put together by Rhode Island companies are being evaluated by the R.I. Department of Health now, she said. They include nasal swabs or protective gowns.Nevertheless, everyone has wanted to help. And many companies are creating products by linking those supply chains.

“There are companies that already make the material that goes into the gowns. But the gowns are cut or sewn, or built locally,” she explained.

USEFUL BYPRODUCT

Many other efforts are coming from smaller companies, which have pivoted quickly.

Manya Rubinstein, CEO of The Industrious Spirit Co., thought she would be spending April ushering in new customers to tasting events. After four years of development and research, she and three partners launched their craft spirits distillery in Providence this year.

Just as they were ready to start hiring, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the tasting room was put on hold. As a manufacturer of gin, bourbon and vodka, the company was still in business. And it didn’t take long for Rubinstein and her partners to see that their key ingredients could also make hand sanitizer, which is in short supply across the country.

“We realized that we had the capability to be able to produce this high-proof ethanol,” Rubinstein said.

Following a World Health Organization-approved recipe, the company is making the sanitizer, which it’s distributing for free to people who use a small “takeout” window at the distillery site.

“We’re even giving it away for free because to date we’ve been using a byproduct of our process to do that,” Rubinstein said. “However, we are looking at scaling up the amount we are able to produce moving forward, so we can really help meet this demand.”

‘We realized that we had the capability to be able to produce this high-proof ethanol.’
MANYA RUBINSTEIN, The Industrious Spirit Co. CEO

One way Industrious Spirit will be able to scale up is through the generosity of East Providence-based Reade Advanced Materials. The small, family-owned distributor of powdered metals has a supply chain that provides it with glycerol and hydrogen peroxide, explained Elisabeth Law, Reade’s marketing director. Law said she realized the company could help Industrious Spirit’s efforts.

Reade will soon give two 500-pound drums of the needed ingredients, a contribution that will help Industrious Spirits make the product without losing money.

“I thought, we can help there. They were just about to open their doors to the public,” Law said. “It’s a feel-good donation. It’s a gift.”

ANSWERING THE CALL

Beyond personal protective equipment, the effort to produce or find ventilators is more difficult, according to manufacturing representatives, as well as Gov. Gina M. Raimondo.

Raimondo responded to a question posed by Providence Business News at a recent public briefing on the state’s response to the coronavirus, and – like many governors across the U.S. – identified ventilators as a crucial need for the state.

The devices are used to help the most critically ill COVID-19 patients breathe.

“We are in particular need of assistance with ventilators,” Raimondo said recently. “As we’re building out our capacity and our supply chain, right now the hardest piece of it is finding all the ventilators that we predict we may need. If there are any manufacturers out there who think they may be able to help us build those or source those – please, reach out to us as soon as you can.”

SenTec Inc., a medical-sensor company that is in the process of moving its headquarters to Rhode Island, has stepped forward and is helping the state to source ventilators, according to Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor.

But the state still has a deficiency of several hundred of the devices to meet the potential peak demand, according to Chenevert, who sits on a manufacturing task force formed to help procure medical supplies for the state.

Dr. James McDonald, Department of Health medical director, said during an April 6 news briefing that the state had 338 ventilators, and a little more than 20% were already in use. “We’re trying to acquire more,” he said. “I can’t tell you exactly how many more we will need.”

But, on March 27, Chenevert said Rhode Island needs about 2,000 to 2,500 ventilators. “That’s what they’re looking at for the peak, worst-case scenario,” he said.

Raimondo said getting local manufacturers involved in providing supplies has been invaluable. “Not only does it help us fulfill our needs, it helps us compete with every other state trying to access this,” she said.

A short distance away in Massachusetts, Matouk has a Fall River warehouse with several thousand yards of sheeting fabrics that is set to be transformed into protective masks for health care workers.

It took only a few days for the company to design a prototype of a sanitary mask, using a two-ply cotton sheeting material. Several hospitals have ordered them because they can distribute them to employees who don’t work directly with patients, freeing the critically needed surgical masks and other protective gear for the clinical employees.

Rhode Island Hospital placed an order for 7,000 masks.

PROTECTIVE PRODUCT: Employees at linen manufacturer John Matouk & Co. in Fall River assemble cotton masks for health care workers that the company started making after it lost more than 30% of its revenue and had to lay off 20% of its workforce due to the COVID-19 pandemic. / COURTESY JOHN MATOUK & CO.
PROTECTIVE PRODUCT: Employees at linen manufacturer John Matouk & Co. in Fall River assemble cotton masks for health care workers that the company started making after it lost more than 30% of its revenue and had to lay off 20% of its workforce due to the COVID-19 pandemic. / COURTESY JOHN MATOUK & CO.

Matouk estimated that half the capacity at the Fall River location is devoted to the mask production, the remainder to the bedding products that are still sold to consumers through its website.

After the collapse of the company’s retail sales, Matouk said he had to lay off 30 of 150 people. He has since called back six to help work on the masks.

The decision to lay off employees was painful, he said. But he had to keep the business financially stable for the remaining workforce.

“It was horrible,” he said. “It’s very emotionally challenging in a lot of different ways. The most challenging part of it is understanding that people are going to be damaged by the decision you’re making.”

The company made about 5,000 masks in its first week of production. It’s capable of making about 2,000 to 3,000 a day, he said. In a large, open room, seamstresses put the finishing touches on each one, including stitching elastic loops to hold them in place on someone’s head.

“We’re not making N95 masks,” Matouk said. “But we’re in the ecosystem. There clearly is a need.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime, national crisis that calls upon all of us to do whatever we possibly can to help our health care workers,” he said.

Mary MacDonald is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Macdonald@PBN.com.

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1 COMMENT

  1. I want everyone in the state, everyone in the country and everyone in the world to know what s generous and kind man George Matouk is along with his wife, Mindy. He and his lovely wife Mindy have showed unbelievable compassion and generosity to a local refugee mom and her kid; I can only imagine how much they are doing for others during this difficult time. George is the embodiment of the quintessential American story of going above and beyond when the country needs you. They are what it means to be American.