Dear Valued IPG Customer, The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is unprecedented in the global economy and IPG continues to monitor the impact on business. Our focus continues to be ensuring the health and safety of our workforce and doing our part, as good corporate citizens, to limit the spread of the virus. As we continue to manage our way through this very fluid situation, I would like to share several things IPG is doing to help those at the front line of this pandemic.
As you know, IPG is a large-scale producer of many materials used in the temporary and permanent construction industries under our NovaWrap Aspire housewrap brand of products. For the past number of weeks, the R&D team in Truro has been working to qualify our NovaWrap Aspire product, a nonwoven breathable house wrap, as surgical gown
material. This material must pass stringent water penetration testing for AAMI Level 2 and level 3 performance. Novawrap Aspire has passed both the AAMI level 2 and 3 requirements. We are now ready to supply level 3 materials in large quantities to converters who will cut and stitch the material into the much-needed surgical gowns used in the treatment
of COVID-19 patients. These gowns are critical to our healthcare workers’ safety. We continue to identify and engage companies who have sewing capabilities to make the surgical gowns in Canada and the United States.
Demand for temporary medical structures, drive through COVID-19 testing, and temporary emergency housing buildings is urgent. Our NovaShield membrane structure fabric is used to manufacture building solutions needed to supply medical aid to affected locations throughout North America and internationally. Critical structures are required to be in place
immediately. To meet that standard, IPG and several of our structure manufacturer customers, collaborate to combine their designs and IPG’s NovaShield membrane to form the COVID-19 drive through testing and temporary hospital structures. Examples of our product in use can be found via the following links:
- https://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/south-windsor-building-maker-manufactures-disaster-response-structures
- https://www.clearspan.com/news/clearspan-reacts-to-covid-19-with-disaster-response-structures/
- https://www.norsemanstructures.com/disaster-relief-shelters/
Shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines are driving demand for e-commerce. We are working hard to keep our e-commerce customers stocked with materials to ensure they can fulfill orders for essential goods, such as food and pharmaceuticals. All forms of carton sealing tape, void fill protective packaging and dispensing machinery are being directed to customers who are seeing increased demand of e-commerce.
Food & Beverage is another critical element that has long been one of our largest end customer categories. Food supply is critical in times like this in order to ensure food manufacturers’ products reach thousands of grocery stores. Packaging for those products are essential to the food supply chain. An entire range of IPG’s tapes, films and dispensers are available to the food industry through our extensive distribution partners.
The IPG family continues to support its local communities by helping wherever we can. Large quantities of tape have been donated to foodbanks to help them package their deliveries to those in need who have no way of getting to stores. In Ansonia, Connecticut, the IPG Better Packages team collaborated to break down and repackage eight pallets of fresh food which were sent to five food pantries gearing up to feed those in need. Our employees helped streamline the distribution which needed to be done as quickly as possible since the food being delivered were temperature and time sensitive and needed to be delivered quickly. These efforts are ongoing and represent IPG’s “Roll Up your Sleeves” disposition to getting things done.
We will continue to provide you updates as they come in. We hope for a swift end to this pandemic. Please follow the guidance of social distancing and regular hand washing. If you feel sick, please stay home. Stay healthy and safe. Thank you for all you are doing to help us get through this together.
Thank you.
Gregory Yull
CEO
Intertape Polymer Group®
