Food packaging manufacturer Sharpak has started producing full face visors at its Aylesham factory.
Sharpak, part of the French owned Guillin Group, has been making plastic packaging for the food service trade in Aylesham for nearly 50 years. It employs 180 people on the Cooting Road Industrial Estate, 10 miles from Dover.
Despite a very busy March and April working to meet larger than usual orders for its goods, the factory has been able to set up one of its machines to produce full face visors, a key part of the personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline NHS and care workers. It can make up to 50,000 visors a day and through Sharpak’s established distribution network, get them quickly to any part of the country.
Sharpak’s Rick Calcott says the company has been working closely with the NHS and care providers, and after lengthy negotiations has arranged to supply full face visors after testing this week. The health service insists visors must comply with British Standard and CE criteria - accreditation processes that usually take many weeks to complete.
He said: “Our colleagues in France are already making visors to the same design and standard as ours and delivering them to their hospitals.
“All we want to do is help NHS and other front line staff do their job safely and save lives. We will also be offering visors to care homes and private healthcare.”
Mr Calcott added: “I want to pay tribute to all of our staff at Aylesham. They have been working extremely hard to meet the higher level of demand. Everyone has adapted well to the situation.”
Since early April, Sharpak has also been able to support local charity Bechange with hundreds of plastic containers for its meal delivery service and supplying plastic film to two Thanet schools enabling them to make more surgical visors.
Leader of Dover District Council, Cllr Trevor Bartlett, said: “I’m delighted to learn that one of the district’s larger employers is taking a stand on providing much needed equipment to front line healthcare. Adapting to the needs of a fast-moving situation is going to be vital in the weeks and months ahead for many businesses and Sharpak is a good example of that.”
Posted on 29 April 2020