“The South Australian Business Chamber acted very quickly to enable us to put our brand new product, ‘Ned’s Head’, in front of the key decision makers” said Lee Gray, Director of local sound system manufacturer, Kyrion Audio.
Mr Gray teamed up with industrial design firm, Andrew Rogers Industrial Design (ARID) to mass produce a new line of face shields for Australian health care workers.
Mr Gray said by tapping into the South Australian Business Chamber’s vast networks and contacts they were able to get in touch with the right people to get the new project off the ground quickly.
Mr Gray was scrolling through his LinkedIn feed where he saw numerous posts about the demand for protective health care equipment for essential workers. He quickly got in touch with Andrew and the team at ARID to produce a prototype and are now producing up to 4,000 shields [LA(S1] each day under the product name ‘Ned’s Head’ in honour of Australian Bushranger, Ned Kelly. To increase manufacturing efficiency, a die cutting manufacturing process is used to produce the shields which are also made from recycled plastic.
The new venture comes at a time when overseas supply chains have forced governments and businesses to look locally to solve supply issues, particularly around medical supplies. The pandemic has resulted in a global shortage of personal protective equipment which until last week was previously imported from China.
Mr Gray says the shields provide an extra layer of protection to essential service providers who are using N95 masks in conjunction. The pair have also been approached by a number of retailers who are eager to invest however, the pair are determined to reserve stock for those who require it most…the first responders.
