ISU-assisted companies join to trim Iowa’s face shield shortage

When Gov. Kim Reynolds said weeks ago the state needed 500,000 more face shields for health care workers, Iowa State University’s Chris Hill started making calls. 

Hill, technology program director for the Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS), ended up teaming up two companies from different parts of the state to churn out tens of thousands of face shields.

The Dimensional Group of Mason City makes the front part of the face shields. Angstrom Precision Molding of Ottumwa makes the halos — the part workers wear around their head.

The result? The companies, which had never worked together, are cranking out thousands of face shields a week. They are selling them to the state for $1.25 each. The market price for similar equipment usually is $8 to $10 each in the United States, $2 in China. 

The state buys the equipment for distribution to hospitals and other medical facilities.  

The success of the project has extended to the labor market. The Dimensional Group was able to keep employees on the payroll even as demand for the companies other products temporarily dipped. 

 “Much like a lot of other people, our core business is down 80%,”  said Adam Gold, company president. “It wasn’t hard to find the time to do the face shields.”

Angstrom, which was still busy making everything from diesel fuel filters to wheelchair components, added four temporary workers to help with the face shields.

Gold’s company, which makes packaging primarily, designed and created the shields in six days. They thought they could produce 5,000 to 6,000 a day, but found a way to make 150,000 a week. 

The Dimensional Group already has made 250,000 shields and has 500,000 more in orders. In addition to doctors’ and dentists’ offices and hospitals, Alliant Energy has expressed interest. 

The companies welcomed the chance to help in an unprecedented crisis. 

“I am not a guy that gets real emotional,” Gold said. “We make things. But this is something that my employees are very proud of and I am proud of this team. 

“It makes you feel like you are doing something. We are all losing a little control of our lives,” he said.

Jim Johnson, chief operating officer at Angstrom, said his team took a prototype to Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames for feedback before launching production of the halos. 

Workers developed the mold for the halos in four days. They made 17,000 a day at first, but now can make 40,000 a day, Johnson said. 

Angstrom is running production 24 hours now.

Johnson said his company wanted to help, but Hill was a key to what happened. Hill knew Gold and Johnson from their work with CIRAS on other projects. CIRAS helps businesses with efficiency, marketing strategy and other initiatives.

“We wouldn’t have started this without Chris Hill,” Johnson said. “We wouldn’t have known which direction to go.”

Hill knew Gold and Johnson from their work with CIRAS on other projects. CIRAS helps businesses with efficiency, marketing strategy and other initiatives.

Hill said CIRAS helped make the project cost-efficient and quick, deploying a 3D printer and digital simulations in the process. “We provided the support needed to get any obstacle out of the way, which enabled production to start within 10 days,” Hill said.

“I am very, very happy,” Johnson said. “Just to be able to participate in a project like this has made me a happy person. We wanted to help out. We didn’t know where to go. When CIRAS approached us, it worked out perfectly.”

The companies have been focusing on Iowa, but have drawn interest from several other states. They are debating whether to continue production after the COVID-19 pandemic fades.