March 26, 2020 – Businesses large and small are stepping up. They are solving shortages of vital medical equipment and supplies. The supplies are needed by millions of nurses and doctors at hospitals. They are caring for tens of thousands of COVID-19 patients. Coppercraft Distillery is making hand sanitizer. And Ford Motor Company is using parts from its F-150 truck to make ventilators. The American spirit today is an echo of the WWII Home Front and the Arsenal of Democracy.

Hand sanitizer: Coppercraft Distillery
Coppercraft Distillery was founded in 2012 in Holland, Michigan. The company makes premium spirits. Premium spirits are bottles of custom craft liquor. Their guiding philosophy is there are no substitutes for superior ingredients, proper aging, and barrel size.

As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened, the spirit of the spirits company drove them to help. They heard about severe hand sanitizer shortages. Their “can do” attitude took over. As experts in making ethanol (type of alcohol), it’s a perfect fit. Ethanol is a key ingredient in hand sanitizer.

Ali Anderson is Coppercraft’s national brand manager. During a March 25, 2020 interview (via phone), she said they had never made the product before. They had two procedures from which to choose. One procedure used ethanol so the choice was an easy one. Hand sanitizer must have a minimum of 60 percent alcohol to be effective, according to the CDC.

Other ingredients were needed. Those included glycerol, hydrogen peroxide, and distilled filtered water. Production began this week. They can make 800 gallons of sanitizer per batch. They have enough ingredients to make 10,000 gallons, Ali said. Their final formula has 80 percent alcohol. Sanitizer comes in 32-ounce, half gallon and one gallon containers. The distillery is supplying the healthcare communities in and around Holland.

Ali said the reaction from across the country has been overwhelming. They will keep making sanitizer as long as needed or as long as they can obtain the other ingredients.

Ventilators and face shields
On Tuesday, Ford Motor Company announced it’s joining forces with 3M and GE Healthcare. They are expanding production of urgently needed medical equipment and supplies. In addition, Ford will be assembling more than 100,000 face shields per week. Ford will use its in-house 3D printers.

“This is such a critical time for America and the world. It is a time for action and cooperation. By coming together across multiple industries, we can make a real difference for people in need and for those on the front lines of this crisis,” Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman, said. “At Ford, we feel a deep obligation to step up and contribute in times of need, just as we always have through the 117-year history of our company.”

Ford team members are working with 3M to increase the manufacturing capacity of their powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) designs. They are also working jointly to develop a new design with parts from both companies. The new design is needed to meet the surge in demand for first responders and health care workers.

To go as fast as possible, the Ford and 3M teams have been resourcefully locating off-the-shelf parts. Those parts include fans from the Ford F-150’s cooled seats for airflow and 3M HEPA air filters. The filters will keep people safe from airborne contaminants such as droplets. Droplets carry virus particles.

“Working with 3M and GE, we have empowered our teams of engineers and designers to be scrappy and creative to quickly help scale up production of this vital equipment,” said Jim Hackett, Ford’s president and CEO. “We’ve been in regular dialogue with federal, state and local officials to understand the areas of greatest needs. We are focusing our efforts to help increase the supply of respirators, face shields and ventilators that can help assist health care workers, first responders, critical workers as well as those who have been infected by the virus.”

It’s unbelievably reminiscent of the WWII Home Front and Arsenal of Democracy. Hundreds of millions of Americans are doing their part to defeat an enemy. In 2020, the enemy is a new coronavirus with person-to-person transmission that has rapidly spread around the world. Virologists have already mapped its genome to develop a vaccine, which is currently in clinical trials.

In World War II, the first vaccines against the influenza virus were developed. In addition, private pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer and Squibb, played a major role in saving thousands of soldiers’ lives on D-Day through mass production of penicillin. Pfizer devoted enormous resources to producing large quantities of penicillin through deep-tank fermentation at a converted ice factory in Brooklyn, New York.

And Ford brilliantly applied their assembly line method of making autos to making airplanes at the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Detroit. Few people thought it possible. But American spirit and ingenuity did it then and today, the nation is doing it again!

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What product in short supply did Coppercraft Distillery decide to make?

2. What products did Ford Motor Company make to help out during the COVID-19 pandemic?

3. How much alcohol (by percent) must be in hand sanitizer, according to the CDC?

INQUIRY QUESTIONS

1. Why was Coppercraft Distillery able to set up a line quickly to make hand sanitizer?

2. How are the actions of Coppercraft and Ford reminiscent of the World War II Home Front and the “Arsenal of Democracy?”