A Kitchener, Ont., company that recently pivoted from making educational technology resources to protective face shields for health care workers in wake of the coronavirus pandemic announced plans for a massive expansion on Thursday.
Founder and CEO of Inksmith, Jeremy Hedges, has also launched The Canadian Shield which has recently hired 60 people but is attempting to hire hundreds more as they ramp up production.
“Our hope is that we can play a significant role in addressing the equipment shortage while providing good-paying local manufacturing jobs,” Hedges said in a statement.
The company says it is looking to hire machine operators, assembly line workers, support and administrative personnel at its plant in Waterloo.
On Wednesday, Hedges officially launched The Canadian Shield, saying that was already shipping the product to hospitals across Ontario including Joseph Brant Hospital, Grand River Hospital, Cambridge Memorial Hospital and Queensway Carleton Hospital.
It said it was capable of making up to 50,000 face shields per day.
It says it will now look to ramp up production to fill the needs of health care workers across Canada.
“We are scaling up production as fast as possible to protect our frontline healthcare workers who are putting themselves at risk every day to fight the spread of COVID-19,” Hedges said.
The company currently has a 10,000 square-foot facility in Kitchener. It says the new plant will be in Waterloo although it would not specify where the new location would be for security reasons.
A company spokesperson told Global News that it will continue production even once the current pandemic subsides.