COVID 19 – OUR RESPONSE
TARGET: 2 500
TOTAL FACE SHIELDS MADE: 2700
TOTAL FACE SHIELDS DISTRIBUTED: 2700
30th of April 2020 – Retreat Clinic and Huis Groenland
29th of April 2020 – In the workshop
Biggest thanks to our star troopers:
Wasseefa Kahn, Neal Kynoch, Fatima Brey, Joshua Malan and Silver Mackenzie
28th of April 2020 – Khayelitsha Hospital
26th of April 2020
Production and distribution is going well and we are on track to hit our target of 2500 units by the end of this week!
Some not so great news is that we will not be allowed to get back to work on the 4th of May as our business does not fall within the initial group of businesses allowed to get back to work.
Therefore from the 4th of May we will be taking the following action:
1. We will be ending production of the standard shield (with the visor in thin PET).
This is due to a shortage of material as well as the quality of the visor material.
2. We will ramp up production of the Premium face shields.
These have been very well received as they are much more durable than the standard shields.
3. We will be taking orders for these and it will be an ongoing project even after lockdown has ended.
Note that as of the 4th of May we will not be donating any more shields to medical workers as we need to build our cash flow in order to keep our doors open!
4. Premium Face Shields will retail at R 900.00 incl. VAT for a set of 10 units and these can be ordered by mailing us at info@boydandogier.com.
22nd of April 2020
A special thanks to GJA Consulting Engineers (G. Johaardien and Associates) for the R20 000.00 donation.
This will be used to supply 300 Premium face shields to Khayeslitsha Hospital and to make many more!
Also to Nadeson Consulting Services for a R 3 000 donation, thank you.
Then a BIG thanks to Dr Soliegah Gabriels who is going out of her way to connect us with those in need.
Also to Nathan Miller who did initial gathering of info and design work for the face shields.
20th of April 2020 – Tygerberg Hospital
And in the workshop it is full production mode.
19th of April 2020 – Khayelitsha Hospital
17th of April 2020
As with most makers out there we have been unable to conduct our business during the course of the lock down here in South Africa which started on the 27th of March 2020.
However give the massive need for Personal Protective Equipment we have gone ahead and put our skill, materials and machines to good use during this time, see below.
This is our way of showing our appreciation to all medical staff in the front line heeding the call from the president so that all of us can get back to work as soon as possible.
Thank you.
FACE SHIELDS
We identified face shields as a product that we can adapt to our production methods and produce relatively quickly and inexpensively.
HERE WE GO…
WEEK ONE of the lock down was spent simplifying the shield designs that are currently available and gained permission to work on this project during lock down.
Several prototypes were made and refined along the way based on availability and cost of materials and available production processes at our disposal.
WEEK TWO we narrowed the design down to two options and started the first run of 90 units of each, which has now been completed.
WEEK THREE we started roll out and gearing up for a much larger production run as we have received many more requests for shields.
Thus far we have delivered shields to the following hospitals and clinics:
Tygerberg Hospital
The Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital
Khayeslitsha Hospital
Mitchell’s Plain Day Hospital
Retreat clinic
Tableview clinic
Paarl Hospital
GOING FORWARD
As we have the good fortune of having ongoing projects that will resume once lock down ends, the FACE SHIELD project deadline was always going to be when lock down ends.
The lock down has now been extended which has given us more time to produce more shields!
We also felt strongly about financing this project ourselves as far as possible however due to the extended lock down, unavailability of materials and limited working hours we have had to
reassess this approach.
We are now selling shields in batches of 10.
STANDARD SHIELD selling for R40.00 per unit. These can be flat packed and the visor will be cut using either clear acetate or PET.
PREMIUM SHIELD selling for R 90.00 per unit. The only difference here is that the visor is fabricated in 1mm clear Plexiglas that is heat bent into shape.
The revenue from sales will be used as follows:
The revenue from every two STANDARD SHIELD allows us to fabricate an additional one and revenue from every one PREMIUM SHIELD
allows us to fabricate an additional one shield.
Our time and machine hours are still being donated for free and this production run will be ongoing based on the demand even after lock down.
Any additional funds will be used to pay any additional staff required to help with production once lock down is over and we have to get back to work.
If you are interested please email us at info@boydandogier.com
We will update this post as we progress, stay safe.
Stuart Boyd and Suood Ogier.