Mohawk, Burloak Technologies address medical supply shortages during COVID-19 crisis

Mohawk College has partnered with Burloak Technologies in a significant new project to provide frontline healthcare workers across Canada with protective medical supplies as they care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On April 15, Burloak Technologies, a division of Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, announced that it is now in large-scale production of face shields that will be used by frontline medical and healthcare workers. Production will ramp up to volumes of approximately 10,000 units per week.

“This project will protect healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic, with a very real potential to save lives,” said Ron McKerlie, President, Mohawk College. “Mohawk College has a long tradition of collaboration with industry partners and we are proud to work with Burloak Technologies on this important initiative.”

Early in the pandemic, the federal government asked all colleges and universities to identify opportunities to address shortages in the medical equipment and supplies needed to support local healthcare providers. Building on its tradition of collaboration with industry partners, Mohawk was in contact with Burloak. As co-applicants, they received funding from Next Generation Manufacturing Canada (NGen) to move forward. Members of the Mohawk IDEAWORKS team were engaged in the design and engineering of the prototype, working in collaboration with Hamilton Health Sciences.

“Additive manufacturing is an ideal process to scale any design to commercial production in the shortest time possible, and applying our capabilities in this battle is the right thing to do,” stated Colin Osborne, President and CEO, Samuel, Son & Co., Limited. “NGen played a valuable role in the rapid response to get this project underway. Without this funding, it would not have been possible to achieve the same scale in this accelerated timeframe.”

“We are proud that we could help in the fight against this pandemic. Projects like this are strategically important to fulfill critical requirements for healthcare products, and we are thankful for the partnership of Burloak, Mohawk College and Hamilton Health Sciences,” says Jayson Myers, CEO, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada.

Mohawk College will use the resources at its School of Health and other organizations, to distribute these face shields locally and across Canada. This initiative was made possible with the support of NGen, the Government of Canada’s Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, of which Burloak Technologies is a member.

“Working together in new and innovative ways will help to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in our region, our province and across Canada,” said John Laughlin, CTO, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada. “This project is an example of how we can succeed when we put the interests of the community first.”