Manufacturers are racing to crank out the hand sanitizer, masks and clear plastic dividers that are emerging as integral elements for reopening the U.S. economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Stepped-up production has sent prices for materials soaring: The alcohol used in sanitizer has tripled in price since January. Wait times for plexiglass-style sheeting are now measured in months rather than weeks. Scores of companies are hunting for fabrics that block virus-laden particles to supply their employees with masks. All told, the $5 billion U.S. market for personal-protection equipment is expected to grow nearly 15% this year from 2019, according to IBISWorld, a market research firm.
Part of that market has served front-line medical workers, for example with highly protective N95 masks. Now, demand for gear is coming from myriad sectors of the economy to protect people as activity broadly restarts.
Companies’ ability to obtain scarce protective equipment and temperature-sensing cameras will help determine how swiftly and smoothly they can emerge after closing for weeks to curtail the spread of the virus. Spending on masks, sanitizer and dividers is crimping corporate margins as businesses also anticipate a stretch of lower sales from customers worried about venturing out in public, or scrimping after pay cuts and lost jobs.
Demand for protective equipment from governments and deep-pocketed buyers such asWalt Disney Co. and McDonald’s Corp. looking to protect their workers and customers could also put small businesses at a disadvantage in locating sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and other goods through suppliers or at retail stores.
“It’s easier to get 10,000 masks than it is to get 10,” said Luke Bosso, chief of staff at the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, which has helped distribute 25,000 bundles of masks and hand sanitizer to small businesses.
W.W. Grainger Inc., a distributor of industrial supplies, has added hundreds of products to its catalog, including items companies are buying to encourage physical separation and reduce exposure—such as social-distancing signs and floor markings—and to help keep facilities clean. Furniture maker Steelcase Inc. is selling cardboard screens that can be used as temporary office barriers.
Metal cabinetmaker Great Lakes Stainless Inc. is making kits for placing copper plates over door handles, given the material’s long-known antimicrobial properties, said Michael DeBruyn, the company’s president. Some initial research suggests the coronavirus loses potency more quickly on copper than it does on stainless-steel surfaces.
The clear acrylic material known as plexiglass is especially coveted right now. Clear dividers are being installed at checkout counters, restaurant tables, jury boxes, assembly lines and many other spaces where people interact in public.
A Dallas-area school district recently ordered 30,000 sheets from Plaskolite LLC, one of the country’s biggest plexiglass makers. Executive Chairman Mitch Grindley said that half of Plaskolite’s business is now related to the pandemic response and that orders placed now won’t be delivered for about five months.
“There has never been anything like this,” he said.