Fighting COVID-19: Manufacturer supports increased number of tests

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses have had to adapt and change more rapidly than ever before. Adjusting to staff working remotely, dealing with social distancing protocols, and keeping employees safe and healthy against an invisible threat has kept many businesses spinning to adjust to this new normal. In the face of adversity, though, one manufacturer was able to find a way to create new processes and support their customer in ways never before thought possible that will impact our world’s ability to test for COVID-19.

Enter Crafts Technologies, a 127-yard-old company known for producing components from super hard materials for industrial equipment. One of Crafts’ customers, a Tier 1 injection molding company, was tasked by a producer of medical diagnostic testing to create a method to reliably and significantly increase the number of vials the injection mold machine could make. These vials would be used in COVID-19 test kits, so timing and precision were key.

The issue was that tungsten carbide, the best material to create the core pins needed for the injection molding process to make the vials, typically took an average of 9 to 12 weeks to produce. In the face of the pandemic, this was too long to wait.

Crafts’ team of employee-owners took on the challenge and coordinated a plan to produce the tungsten carbide core pins in 4 weeks. Changing up their processes, they were able to complete the core pins even more quickly in only 3 weeks! You can read the full story in Crafts’ official press release here.

Despite the challenges we’re facing during this pandemic, businesses like Crafts have demonstrated that by people helping people, we will be able to overcome any challenge we face together.