Switching Gears

At the start of 2020, PPE (personal protective equipment) was not on Teknion’s product development plan. In response to emerging healthcare needs, David Feldberg – CEO & President, reached out to local and federal government agencies and medical associations to see how Teknion could support efforts to combat Covid-19.

We weren’t sure how Teknion could contribute, but our resources included 15 manufacturing facilities across North America with diverse capabilities, focused on office furniture. How could Teknion help front line professionals? We determined that our fabric processing, sewing and upholstery skills can be mobilized to support medical workers.

In the wake of the pandemic, critical medical supplies such as safety shields, scrubs and protective gowns are in short supply as producers struggle to meet unprecedented demand. To fast-track production of isolation gowns at Teknion, Neil Jones, VP & General Manager of Teknion Seating Group, made a trip to London, Ontario, home to North America’s leading manufacturer of re-useable surgical products. Neil was able to collect samples, identify required materials, review production data and work with the seating engineering and manufacturing teams to reverse engineer the samples to align with Teknion’s manufacturing processes and still meet the critical medical standards.

Teknion is now in the process of converting manufacturing space to assemble isolation gowns, as well as to prepare fabric to be sent to other companies that will also assemble isolation gowns. We take pride in working to help those who are helping us.