Coronavirus impact: Here's how a maker of movie screens is using its facility to make PPEs

Harkness Screens, the British firm that  specializes in design and manufacturing of projection screens used in theatres, is now using its facility in India to make personal protective equipment (PPE) to support frontline workers battling COVID-19 outbreak.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Preetham Daniel, Senior Vice President, Asia, Harkness Screens, said, “We are using our Indian manufacturing facility to make PPEs. And currently, it is happening only in India. All other Harkness factories are closed, except India and China. We got permission to open the Bengaluru factory last Friday.”

But how can a company making screens for exhibitors such as PVR and Inox, make PPEs?

Daniel explained, “The screens used in cinemas are manufactured with a particular material called PVC and that is roughly about 0.3 mm thick. This material has three features that makes it a good fit for making PPEs. It is antimicrobial, flame retardant and easy to sanitise.”

PVC or Polyvinyl chloride is world's third-most widely produced synthetic plastic polymer.

So, the company is making three products— curtains, aprons and face shields. Out of the three, curtains and aprons will be made out of PVC.

“If you look at all quarantine centres, they are using fabric curtains. These are medically treated fabric curtains, which means they have an anti-microbial coating on it and it can be washed 50 times before it is discarded. In comparison to the fabric used for the curtains, PVC is antimicrobial in nature and it is flame retardant. Flame retardant is in the composition of PVC. This is important because when we put a screen in an auditorium that’s the biggest plastic and if something gets lit, it will add to the misery. The same caution has to be maintained for quarantine centres, especially the makeshift ones” said Daniel.

He added that unlike the fabric, PVC can be sanitized in a heartbeat. “For PVC, all you have to do is spray a disinfectant and sanitise it,” he said.

The company is also in talks with hotels who have provided rooms as quarantine centres or isolation facilities.

For face shields, the company is not using PVC and has sourced different materials.

It's making two types of face shields — disposable and non-disposable.

“Non-disposable face shields are being made from an injection mould. So, it is plastic moulded in a frame with adjustable elastic at the back. And the front shield is 0.5 mm thick,” he said.

He added, “One of the requests we got from the Health Ministry was if we can manufacture face shields because spectacle-type protective gears may not be of the right size as they have to be designed according to a person’s face size. Instead, face shields work across the board. It is a wrap around.”

Harkness Screens in India is planning to start the delivery of the face shields that can be sanitised from first week of June. As for the disposable face shields, the production will start next week onwards.

Daniel, who requested the state government to open up the Bengaluru facility to help the workers keep their jobs, is trying more innovations at the factory.

“Our core specialty is cinema so we are thinking what we can do for cinema. We have to make products for our customers once the whole coronavirus situation settles. So, we are trying to make seat covers out of PVC which can be easily sanitized,” he said.

He added, “We have 40-odd people working in the Bengaluru factory and I needed something to keep the factory open. The US and China factory have also begun making PPEs. By making PPEs, we are trying to see how we can re-purpose the factory,” he said.