Burloak Technologies Partners with Mohawk College & NGen to Produce Face Shields for Healthcare Workers

OAKVILLE, ON, April 15, 2020 /CNW/ - Additive Manufacturing company, Burloak Technologies, a division of Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, today announced it will support the fight against COVID-19 by producing face shields that will be used by frontline medical and healthcare workers. This personal protective equipment was designed and tested in collaboration with Hamilton Health Sciences and Mohawk College. Production has begun and will ramp up to volumes of approximately 10,000 units per week.

"Additive manufacturing is an ideal process to scale any design to commercial production in the shortest time possible, and applying our capabilities in this battle is the right thing to do," stated Colin Osborne, President & CEO, Samuel, Son & Co., Limited. "NGen played a valuable role in the rapid response to get this project underway. Without this funding, it would not have been possible to achieve the same scale in this accelerated timeframe."

"We are proud that we could help in the fight against this pandemic. Projects like this are strategically important to fulfill critical requirements for healthcare products, and we are thankful for the partnership of Burloak, Mohawk College and Hamilton Health Sciences," says Jayson Myers, CEO, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada.   

"This project will protect healthcare workers on the front lines of the pandemic, with a very real potential to save lives," said Ron McKerlie, President, Mohawk College. "Mohawk College has a long tradition of collaboration with industry partners and we are proud to work with Burloak Technologies on this important initiative."

"Working together in new and innovative ways will help to minimize the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in our region, our province and across Canada. This project is an example of how we can succeed when we put the interests of the community first," said John Laughlin, CTO, Next Generation Manufacturing Canada.   

Mohawk College will use the resources at its School of Health and other organizations, to distribute these face shields locally and across Canada. This initiative was made possible with the support of NGen, the Government of Canada's Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, of which Burloak Technologies is a member.   

About Burloak Technologies
A leader in the additive manufacturing industry, Burloak Technologies provides engineering and design services for additive manufacturing, materials development, high precision CNC machining, post-processing and metrology. Burloak works with the most innovative companies in the space, aerospace, automotive and industrial markets to rapidly transition their most challenging part designs to be additively manufactured at scale. The Company is registered to AS9100D, ISO9001 and is Canada Controlled Goods Approved. For more information visit burloaktech.com.

About Samuel
Founded in 1855, Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, is a family-owned and operated integrated network of metal manufacturing, processing and distribution divisions. With over 6,500 employees and close to 100 facilities, Samuel provides seamless access to metals, industrial products and related value-added services. We leverage our industry expertise, breadth of experience and the passion of our people to help drive success for North American business – one customer at a time. For more information visit samuel.com.

About Mohawk
Mohawk College educates and serves more than 32,500 full-time, part-time, apprenticeship and international students at three main campuses in Hamilton, Ontario and at learning hubs across Hamilton through City School by Mohawk, and at the college's Aerospace Training Hub at Hamilton International Airport. Mohawk is among the leading colleges in Canada for applied research. It has been named one of Canada's greenest employers six years in a row, holds a GOLD STARS rating from AASHE for sustainability achievements and is home to the country's largest net zero energy institutional building, The Joyce Centre for Partnership & Innovation. More than 125,000 people have graduated from Mohawk since it was founded. For more information visit mohawkcollege.ca.

About Next Generation Manufacturing Canada
NGen leads Canada's Advanced Manufacturing Supercluster, managing $230 million in funding from the Government of Canada to leverage Canada's manufacturing and technology strengths to build world-leading advanced manufacturing capabilities. There is no more important priority for manufacturers across Canada today than to respond to COVID-19. NGen is targeting enhanced funding for companies that can scale-up production of critical supplies in response to the COVID-19 crisis and secure their supply chains given the likelihood of future global disruptions.

For more information about NGen's COVID-19 funding initiative, please visit www.ngen.ca/covid-19-response.

SOURCE Samuel Son & Co., Limited

Media Contact : Steve Snyder, Director of Marketing and Communications, Samuel, Son & Co., Limited, 289-442-3604, [e-mail]; Bill Steinburg, Press Secretary & Senior Communications Advisor, Public Affairs, Mohawk College, 905-575-2408, [e-mail]