Face Shields to the Front Lines: Coca-Cola North America, Makers Respond Address Critical Shortage of Personal Protective Equipment

Coca-Cola North America is teaming up with supply chain partners and a nationwide network of makers to produce and distribute hundreds of thousands of protective face shields to healthcare workers and first responders on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis.

The company is sourcing and donating 100,000 pounds of plastic sheeting to make face shields in partnership with MakersRespond, a nonprofit created to rally makers, manufacturers and markets to address the pandemic-related shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE).

Demand for face shields, which are worn over masks to protect healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients, is far outpacing supply. On average, 1 million face shields are produced each week, but the U.S. healthcare system currently needs up to 10 million per week. Coca-Cola North America and MakersRespond are stepping in to help bridge the current production gap.

“At Coca-Cola, we are guided by our purpose to refresh the world and make a difference in all that we do, and we know our impact is greatest when we partner to serve our communities,” said Jim Dinkins, president of Coca-Cola North America. “Together with MakersRespond, we are using our resources, expertise and the scale of our supply chain to provide essential protective equipment to those who are tirelessly working on the front lines of this crisis.”

MakersRespond sends the donated sheeting to independent makerspaces – collectives of engineering students, architects, industrial designers and other volunteer professionals – as well as small-sale commercial manufacturers to produce shields using an open-source collection of FDA-authorized designs.

The organization fields requests from governments and hospitals and delivers shields where they are needed most. An initial run of 150,000 shields produced by K&W Finishing in Baltimore will be delivered to the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic to support hospitals and care facilities that need it most.

“We hope our investment to ramp up production of shields at scale through alternative supply chains will become a self-sustaining resource for the future that others can continue to tap into to help maintain continuity of PPE supply,” Dinkins said.

Several Coca-Cola bottlers – including ABARTA Coca-Cola Beverages, Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast, Liberty Coca-Cola Beverages, Coca-Cola Consolidated and Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling – are delivering face shields to hospitals and healthcare facilities across the country.

The collaboration began in late-March, when Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast reached out to New Hampshire-based MakeIt Labs to offer logistics and supply chain support in the Boston area. The bottler connected the makerspace with plastic recycler UltrePet and packaging manufacturer EasyPak to donate and transport clean PET plastic sheeting to make shields.

Coca-Cola also helped transport 6,000 pounds of plastic sheeting from one of its suppliers in North Carolina – Sonoco – to Georgia Tech in Atlanta. Tech students and other groups are using the plastic to make more than 50,000 shields for healthcare workers in the Atlanta area.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the generosity of The Coca-Cola Company to help us scale our production capability and to donate materials needed to make face shields for frontline healthcare workers in need,: said Bill Schongar, executive director, MakersRespond, and president, MakeIt Labs. ”Together, MakersRespond and The Coca-Cola Company are bringing considerable resources to bear at both a national and local level"

As the project gained visibility and requests for race shield rolled in from around the country, Coca-Cola North America connected MakeIt Labs with plastic suppliers, recyclers and commercial manufacturers to expand the program.

The collaboration is one of many ways Coca-Cola teams around the world are finding creative ways to use their manufacturing facilities, supply chains and delivery networks to produce and transport needed medical supplies. For example, concentrate and bottling plants in Brazil, Turkey, Swaziland and Japan are producing hand sanitizer for local hospitals, clinics and nursing homes.

The Coca-Cola system, including The Coca-Cola Foundation, is pledging more than $100 million to support COVID-19 relief efforts in communities around the world. This total giving amount – which encompasses publicly announced foundation grants and donations, as well as projects under development around the world in more than 100 countries – includes product donations; in-kind contributions of services and equipment; allocated media and advertising space to public health authorities and NGO partners to broadcast time-sensitive safety messaging; and cash donations to support community relief efforts.