Council encourages businesses to ‘buy local’ when sourcing PPE

Warwickshire County Council is encouraging local businesses to source their personal protective equipment (PPE) from local suppliers.

Since the start of the pandemic, a number of Warwickshire firms have started producing new PPE related products and services.

Firms producing PPE products include Shakespeare Distillery, a Stratford-upon-Avon based gin maker which is using its expertise in creating spirits to start the production of hand sanitiser alongside its regular distillation of gin, by re-purposing an area of the distillery.

Parker Masters, a Nuneaton-based design and print shop, now produces a range of products that aid workplace and public space social distancing such as signage for hand sanitiser stations, floor graphics and branded face masks.

Set up in 2009, the business had been specialising in innovating outdoor, UV-stable printing on to large outdoor dining furniture such as awnings, canopies, parasols, planters and café barrier screens, alongside the standard printing range.

However, as Covid-19 hit, orders dried up overnight and the company decided to close temporarily.

Parker Masters owner and MD, Jonathan Masters, said: “After a couple of weeks observing what was happening in supermarkets, post offices and other essential businesses, we decided to try to help local and national businesses create a plan of how to re-open using social distancing signage, hand sanitiser stations, floor graphics, branded face masks anything that could help to communicate to customers how they would be expected to behave when they entered the premises. We provided signage to a wide variety of organisations including Warwickshire Business Centres; Moto Motorway Services; Savills; KMPG (N.I.) and MBDA Missile Systems.

“But one of the biggest successes has been our urinal covers! We were approached by a client to develop a cost-effective covering for urinals. We produced a super high-tack self-adhesive vinyl, branded with company logos and messages about social distancing. We have been sending these across the country, and even as far as Belfast.”

“Now our core business has bounced back as well. Many cafes, pubs, restaurants and shops are needing to utilise their outside areas, for seating, serving, queuing and of course to protect their customer from the great British weather! We are currently developing a number of new items required due to coronavirus, such as easy clean outdoor planters, printed with any images or design.”

Meanwhile, Autins, the Rugby-based supplier of acoustic and thermal solutions to the automotive industry, has diversified into manufacturing face coverings.

Using special filtration technology their masks offer protection against dust, pollen and aerosol from coughs and sneezes. Made from the firm’s patented nonwoven micro-fibre Neptune, each mask is water repellent and washable.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: “We have many fantastic local firms now supplying a wide range high quality PPE. As businesses continue to ensure customers and staff remain safe, we hope as many firms as possible will source their PPE from local suppliers to boost our local economy and support our local businesses.”

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