Canadian Manufacturing

McMaster University Hospital partners with Printex Transparent Packaging to design a plastic face shield

by CM Staff   

Manufacturing Operations Research & Development COVID-19 education healthcare In Focus Manufacturing medical devices medical manufacturing


The McMaster Manufacturing Institute (MMRI) set about designing an oversized face shield to protect the chin, neck, and sides of the head.

The Ultrasound team at Hamilton Health Sciences’ Hamilton General Hospital developed an extended face shield in partnership with the McMaster Manufacturing and Research Institute and Printex Transparent Packaging for better protection against COVID-19. Left to right: Dr. Michael Colapinto, Radiologist Lead for Ultrasound, and ultrasound technologists Lisa Billone, Kaylana Parente, and Sarah Allred.

BURLINGTON — The Diagnostic imaging team at McMaster University Hospital was concerned about the ultrasound technologists’ lack of protection whilst sitting to the side of patients. Regular Face Shields exposed the sides of their face and neck as the patients were lying down and looking up at them.

The McMaster Manufacturing Institute (MMRI) set about designing an oversized face shield to protect the chin, neck, and sides of the head. When the prototype was proposed to the Hamilton Health Science (HHS) PPE Task Force for approval, “it turned out that the Anesthesia and Medical Reprocessing team at HHS was interested in similar protection”. This PPE Innovation then became a wonderful example of how groups of experts in their fields can work together to rapidly innovate and manufacture a product.

Brian Herechuk, Director of Quality and Value Improvement at HHS helped get the extended face shield project moving along. “I reached out to one of our vendors, Printex Transparent Packaging, who were already providing standard face shields for us and asked if this was something they would consider producing,” Herechuck explains. “They jumped right on it. They developed a prototype within a day of me sending them the drawings.”

Dave Tassé, Sales Manager at Printex Transparent Packaging, was more than happy to get involved. “I’m a Hamilton guy. My wife works in a nursing home, so this project was really exciting to me,” says Tassé. “At the time we got the request, we were designing a new face shield for children. I noticed we could utilize some innovations from that project and put it into the extended face shield for HHS. I asked Bryan if he liked it, and he said yes. So, we used that innovation, with slight modifications to their design, and brought the second prototype to HHS and that was it. We had a new comfortable, lightweight, extended coverage, clear plastic face shield ready for production.”

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Steve Remilli (from MMRI) says this project is a great example of collaboration between various areas of expertise. “This really shone a light on how groups of experts in their fields can work together very quickly. Everything came together so naturally.”

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