CONCORD, Ontario, June 09, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Following announcements from Federal Procurement Minister Anita Anand on May 3rd, and Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade Victor Fideli on June 2nd, Sterling Industries is pleased to announce that it has been awarded contracts by the Federal Government of Canada for 15 million personal protection equipment (PPE) face shields, and from the Province of Ontario for an additional 11 million face shields, as part of the governments'COVID-19 response. These contracts are in addition to an agreement with the Province of Alberta for an additional 1 million units of PPE face shields.
Sterling Industries, a Canadian-based contract manufacturer of medical devices and equipment, rapidly developed the new PPE face shield in cooperation with MPC, a Canadian injection molding company, and was aided by funding from advanced manufacturing alliance, NGEN Canada, as well as the Ontario Together fund. In addition, Sterling received additional logistics and automation support from Honda Canada. Production of the Class 1 Medical Devices will be on an accelerated schedule, with all 27 million face shields expected to ship by mid-August, 2020.
"We knew we had the capabilities to fill the critical shortage in PPE that has resulted from the COVID-19 crisis. We have been working long hours to iterate our design and prepare our manufacturing workflow", said David Van Slingerland, CEO of Sterling Industries. "We want to give Canadian healthcare workers the tools and security they need to safely continue their frontline care."
Sterling Industries is applying their expertise in high volume and automated manufacturing of FDA and Health Canada Registered medical devices, and plan to produce as much as 2 million units per week, once they realize full production capacity. The new Shield-U PPE face shields meet the U.S. and Canada's requirements for emergency healthcare equipment, and are made from 100% bio-compatible (ISO 10993) materials, as well as 100% recyclable.
The company has already donated 3,000 of the face shields to CAMH (Canadian Center for Addiction and Mental Health) in Toronto, and committed another donation of 3,000 to Mackenzie Health Centre in Vaughan, Ontario.
"We're grateful to our partners for helping us get fully certified PPE face shields into the hands of Canadian healthcare workers so quickly", added Van Slingerland. "By working together, we've gone from sketches to a fully certified product — produced with cutting edge, automated manufacturing technology — in a matter of a few short weeks."
Sterling Industries will continue producing their Shield-U PPE face shields after the initial contracts are fulfilled, and is proud to be part of a secure and responsive Canadian supply chain for emergency medical supplies. The company will continue to supply markets across Canada, the United States and around the world.
Sterling Industries is an ISO 13485:2016 Registered contract manufacturer of medical devices, equipment and PPE. Established in 1984, its facilities are FDA and Health Canada Registered and are located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA.
Press Contact:
Julian Scarfe
jscarfe@sterlingindustries.com
416.219.9937