An employee of The Dimensional Group working on face shields at the company’s Mason City plant April 15. The manufacturer began making the needed safety item last week after encouragement from Iowa State’s Center for Industrial Research and Service. Contributed photo.

Source: Inside Iowa State

Many health care facilities are concerned about obtaining critical supplies, while orders for other goods are slowing down if not drying up. The pair of common coronavirus supply-and-demand issues suggests an easier-said-than-done answer: retool production lines to make what the health care industry and governments are desperate to buy.

ISU’s Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS) has been helping Iowa manufacturers go from said to done faster during the COVID-19 crisis, getting needed protection to health and safety workers while also protecting manufacturing jobs threatened by a severe slowdown. And reconfiguring factories to make front-line workers safer is just one of the ways CIRAS is supporting Iowa businesses in challenging conditions.

Learn more at inside.iastate.edu