BY KEVIN DUGGAN
A trio of Brooklyn Navy
Yard companies are producing
tens of thousands of medical
face shields to protect the
city’s health workers against
the novel coronavirus, Mayor
Bill de Blasio announced on
March 26.
The fi rms began making
the protective headwear out
of an impromptu factory in a
hangar on the grounds of the
Fort Greene industrial park,
bringing more than a hundred
of the companies’ employees
back to work after their businesses
shut down due to the
pandemic outbreak, according
to one manufacturing bigwig.
“Last week I was laying off
staff and shutting down my
factory and on Saturday afternoon,
COURIER L 14 IFE, APRIL 3-9, 2020
we started developing
face shields that were approved
by DOH,” said Michael
Bednark, the chief executive
offi cer of Bednark Studios, a
fabrication company that normally
creates pop up shops
and installations for brands
like Nike and Google.
Bednark partnered with
Duggal, another Navy Yard
fi rm that prints photographs
and produces other visual installations,
as well as co-working
space company Newlab.
None of the three companies
previously produced
the protective gear, but they
worked with city Health Department
offi cials to make
sure their design was up to
Workers making face shields in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Photo by Kevin Duggan
code, according to Bednark.
The three organizations
aim to make between 15,000 to
18,000 of the plastic masks per
day and planned to complete
more than 100,000 by March
31. The city will then buy the
masks from the companies
and distribute them to hospitals
across the Five Boroughs,
according to offi cials.
De Blasio praised the companies
and the workers for
stepping up to the plate within
less than a week.
“Six days ago, none of this
existed, no one even had the
idea and bang, there’s a production
line right now,” de
Blasio said during a visit to
the makeshift manufacturing
facility Thursday afternoon.
“This is like a wartime factory,
a factory from scratch.”
Hizzoner plans to unveil
similar city-based production
of much-needed ventilators
and other medical equipment
soon, he said.
“We’ll be showing you this
week how ventilator production
is starting as well,” he
said. “Whether it’s face masks,
the surgical masks, ventilators,
you’re going to see a lot
more produced right here.”
SEWING
TOGETHER
Navy Yard companies produce
medical masks for hospitals
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