{"id":322,"date":"2021-02-24T16:04:31","date_gmt":"2021-02-24T16:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/?p=322"},"modified":"2021-02-24T16:04:31","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T16:04:31","slug":"gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A New England based manufacturer of the best virus testing swabs available recently contacted us because of our large machining and fabricating capabilities. In extremely short order, GMFCo began fabricating frames and housings for medical test swab manufacturing equipment to rapidly increase capacity. Practically overnight, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.puritanmedproducts.com\/\">Puritan Medical Products<\/a> needed to multiply it\u2019s swab manufacturing capacity, meeting worldwide demand for COVID-19 testing.<\/p>\n<p>Headquartered in Gilford, Maine, Puritan was already a leading US-based manufacturer of medical swabs, diagnostics and specimen collection products before COVID-19. Then the pandemic swept across the world and multiplied global demand for their products overnight. As soon as we got the call, GMFCo understood the urgency of supporting Puritan Medical Products\u2019 manufacturing operations so we tooled up to produce the frames and larger components needed to further build out their swab production lines. This resulted in the fastest and most efficient increase in manufacturing capability in company history. It also helped make the USA the top nation in the world for COVID-19 testing, by far.<\/p>\n<h2>Manufacturing Collaboration at Its Best<\/h2>\n<p>When it became clear there was an urgent worldwide and national health threat, manufacturers\u2019 priorities shifted immediately over to supporting the critical infrastructure and healthcare systems. That we did. Working closely with the engineers and mechanics at Puritan, we helped assure that their urgent need for new equipment parts was fulfilled.<\/p>\n<p>Fruitful efforts like these supported President Trump\u2019s \u201cOperation Warp Speed\u201d initiatives that rapidly increased critical manufacturing around the country. Puritan Medical Products\u2019 expansion to produce the most accurate specimen collection swabs in testing for COVID-19 was crucial to its success. Because Puritan is the only US maker of the preferred foam testing swab, they were awarded a federal contract to expand swab production capacity at a record speed.<\/p>\n<h2>\u201cWarp Speed\u201d Plant Expansion<\/h2>\n<p>Puritan\u2019s blog tells part of their story as excerpted here. \u201cWe began work on a new manufacturing plant immediately, with two teams working virtually around the clock. We leased 100,000 square feet of space in an old smoke detector factory in Pittsfield, ME, rebuilding much of it\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile a project of this type normally takes 18-20 months, with the help of our partners, we were able to begin swab production in just 8 weeks. And 5 months later, the plant was completed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPrior to opening Pittsfield, we were making 20 million foam swabs per month.\u00a0 The goal set forth by the Defense Production Act government contact was to increase capacity by another 20 to 40 million swabs per month. We\u2019re excited to report that Pittsfield is already turning out 40 million and is on track to increase production to 90 million swabs per month!\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>More Positive Impacts<\/h2>\n<p>The 2020 Puritan Medical Products plant expansions led to the creation of over 300 new jobs in central Maine where the manufacturing sector has struggled in recent decades. \u201cIt\u2019s great to help bring back manufacturing jobs that were once so prevalent in central Maine,\u201d the company\u2019s blog stated.<\/p>\n<p>GMFCo\u2019s CEO Jack Gilchrist, a US Air Force Veteran and former medic, put his company\u2019s role in perspective when he said, \u201c2020 was the year that reminded us what words like \u2018crisis\u2019 and \u2018urgent\u2019 really mean. You drop everything in front of you when millions of lives are potentially at stake. You wake up, suit up and show up wherever you\u2019re most needed. Working with Puritan and other companies who answer urgent needs brings into focus why we\u2019re always ready to pivot on a dime, gear up and retool our large machining centers to help address national priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A New England based manufacturer of the best virus testing swabs available recently contacted us because of our large machining and fabricating capabilities. In extremely short order, GMFCo began fabricating frames and housings for medical test swab manufacturing equipment to rapidly increase capacity. Practically overnight, Puritan Medical Products needed to multiply it\u2019s swab manufacturing capacity, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing &#187; GMFCO Metal Fabrication News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing &#187; GMFCO Metal Fabrication News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A New England based manufacturer of the best virus testing swabs available recently contacted us because of our large machining and fabricating capabilities. In extremely short order, GMFCo began fabricating frames and housings for medical test swab manufacturing equipment to rapidly increase capacity. Practically overnight, Puritan Medical Products needed to multiply it\u2019s swab manufacturing capacity, &hellip; Continue reading &quot;GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing&quot;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GMFCO Metal Fabrication News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-02-24T16:04:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"305\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sean\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sean\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sean\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e7cbe37f177f3cc47ea3bec9417a6612\"},\"headline\":\"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T16:04:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\"},\"wordCount\":594,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\",\"name\":\"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing &#187; GMFCO Metal Fabrication News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-02-24T16:04:31+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg\",\"width\":900,\"height\":305},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"GMFCO Metal Fabrication News\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Gilchrist Metal Fabricating Co., Inc\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/gmfco-news-default.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/gmfco-news-default.jpg\",\"width\":768,\"height\":340,\"caption\":\"Gilchrist Metal Fabricating Co., Inc\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e7cbe37f177f3cc47ea3bec9417a6612\",\"name\":\"Sean\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad735b9ee6eb349b33c50636c7d1b51e17a74c0f4cd79e4f9fde6bb34711bdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad735b9ee6eb349b33c50636c7d1b51e17a74c0f4cd79e4f9fde6bb34711bdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sean\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing &#187; GMFCO Metal Fabrication News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing &#187; GMFCO Metal Fabrication News","og_description":"A New England based manufacturer of the best virus testing swabs available recently contacted us because of our large machining and fabricating capabilities. In extremely short order, GMFCo began fabricating frames and housings for medical test swab manufacturing equipment to rapidly increase capacity. Practically overnight, Puritan Medical Products needed to multiply it\u2019s swab manufacturing capacity, &hellip; Continue reading \"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing\"","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/","og_site_name":"GMFCO Metal Fabrication News","article_published_time":"2021-02-24T16:04:31+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":305,"url":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sean","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sean","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/"},"author":{"name":"Sean","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e7cbe37f177f3cc47ea3bec9417a6612"},"headline":"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing","datePublished":"2021-02-24T16:04:31+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/"},"wordCount":594,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/","name":"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing &#187; GMFCO Metal Fabrication News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg","datePublished":"2021-02-24T16:04:31+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Gilchrist-Feb-Blog-900px.jpg","width":900,"height":305},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/gmfco-supports-critical-manufacturing-for-covid-19-testing\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"GMFCo Supports Critical Manufacturing for COVID-19 Testing"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/","name":"GMFCO Metal Fabrication News","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#organization","name":"Gilchrist Metal Fabricating Co., Inc","url":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/gmfco-news-default.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/gmfco-news-default.jpg","width":768,"height":340,"caption":"Gilchrist Metal Fabricating Co., Inc"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/e7cbe37f177f3cc47ea3bec9417a6612","name":"Sean","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad735b9ee6eb349b33c50636c7d1b51e17a74c0f4cd79e4f9fde6bb34711bdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9ad735b9ee6eb349b33c50636c7d1b51e17a74c0f4cd79e4f9fde6bb34711bdf?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sean"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322\/revisions\/324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gmfco.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}