HLP Klearfold Supplying Up to 600,000 Face Shields/Day in Coronavirus Fight
Firm has reconfirmed film production lines for PPE.
HLP Klearfold, a wholly-owned North American subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Hip Lik Packaging Product, has become a major supplier of single-use face shields and PPE (personal protective equipment), producing them at a clip of more than a half-million a day. Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, the company says it has supplied tens-of-millions of face shields to government and medical agencies in Asia, Europe, and now North America.
HLP Klearfold and Hip Lik Packaging Products repurposed a significant portion of its production capabilities to manufacture three simple, low-cost and effective single-use face shields, two of which it also designed. These face shields are made using the same raw materials, technology, and equipment as used to manufacture the company’s plastic packaging. All three of these
designs are economical, lightweight, one-size-fits-most, and easily go over glasses and masks. One is a ready-to-wear face shield with a foam forehead pad and an elastic headband. The other two designs ship flat and require a minimal amount of assembly.
Hip Lik Packaging Products is said to be the world’s largest manufacturer of plastic folding cartons.
States Steve Frazier HLP Klearfold President, “HLP Klearfold leadership in the clear plastic packaging market has made us uniquely qualified to produce face shields. Our production facility (in Shenzhen, southern China) is the largest facility of its kind in the world. We have the capacity to make approximately 1 million printed plastic folding cartons per day but, in light of the need for more PPE, we’ve dedicated much of our focus and manufacturing resources to producing face shields, and we are able to manufacture nearly 600,000 per day.”
The company is vertically integrated, with several custom PET and PP extruders, manufacturing the films required to make face shields, and it has no material supply limitations. The availability of suitable film has become a deterrent to many manufacturers that have attempted to repurpose to produce face shields in response to the COVID-19 increase in demand.
The face shields are made from one or more of these materials: PET frosted PP, open-cell polyurethane foam, and/or knitted polyester elastic.
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