CGR Products adapts to produce ‘essential' parts

GREENSBORO, N.C.—The definition of "essential" business has been extended to many rubber manufacturers these days, and they have responded in a variety of ways.

For example, Greensboro-based CGR Products Inc. turned a reduction of its core business in the short term from COVID-19 into an opportunity to support efforts around North Carolina and the country to fight the pandemic.

CGR Products offers custom cutting and fabricating services, along with critical and customized engineered parts that are necessary for everything from automobiles and lawn mowers to gas pumps and generators. The business has more than 125 employees at facilities in three states, including Alabama and Wisconsin, where they produce more than 10,000 unique parts each year.

CGR officials say they understand the need for versatility.

So by late March, CGR began production on ventilator gaskets that have been rushed to Ford Motor Co., which is producing ventilators in the short term. These gaskets are made of specialized neoprene rubber that have a 3M high temperature adhesive on both sides.

"We had previously cut these gaskets for a client several years ago before they moved the production to China," said CGR President Chuck Keeley. "With the current (supply chain) challenges they recently contacted us to see if we could produce them again. Within 10 days we were able to locate the tooling needed, ordered the specialized material, and started die-cutting the parts."

A different customer inquired about CGR's ability to make face masks using specialized die-cut materials. The customer provided Keeley's team with a prototype of the mask and the necessary material. The face mask design comprises a closed cell material that is both washable and reusable. From the sample, CGR created the tooling in-house and began die-cutting the masks in a way to maximize the customers' material.

"When converting the raw materials to finish engineered parts, the time needed to get the tooling up and running took only about a week to 10 days," Keeley said. "The fact we have experience making different custom parts has been extremely helpful with these new projects."

One of the biggest challenges for making any of these parts is securing the necessary raw materials, said Alan Johnson, director of sales and marketing. From plastic for face shields to N95 mask materials, the stressed supply chain has required a pre-existing connection to a large supplier, such as 3M, to acquire in-demand materials, he added.

"We've worked with a wide variety of materials for a long time and we know where to get them for numerous applications," Johnson said. "A lot of new 'inventors' are out there trying to help create these products, and most of them have the best of intentions, but having those connections (already established) really has helped."

The final COVID-19-related product that CGR makes is foam strips for face shields. It has been supplying these strips in materials that range from open cell polyurethane foam, to closed cell sponge. With closed cell sponge, CGR can split these materials to any specific thickness from a half-inch to 1.25 inches. Its professionals apply adhesive to one side of the materials and either die-cut to the finished desired strip, or supply the materials in roll form.

A student from an area high school reached out to CGR looking for a material to use on face shields. The school uses 3D printing as part of its curriculum, and students began making the clear plastic portion of the face shield. So the company offered the school some of its closed cell sponge material to use as the foam strip, and supplied strips that were die-cut 1 inch thick by 1.50 inches wide. The completed face shields then were supplied to medical providers at local hospitals.

"We're a job shop, so we run custom parts every day of the year," Johnson said. "It may be for a different market, but these are similar products to what we make."

In the short term, CGR expects to make hundreds of thousands of ventilator gaskets, face masks and face shield foam strips, Keeley said. Despite an initial 30 percent drop in its core business when the pandemic first hit, the company has been able to keep all of its employees working and paid, given the added COVID-related jobs and an approved Paycheck Protection Program loan from the federal government.

All three shop floors are following social distancing and other safety protocols that include "blue tape being added to floors all over our plants," Keeley said.

"We want to keep our employees safe and they, of course, want to keep working so everyone is following the protocols," he said.

Keeley stressed that CGR is not unlike thousands of other businesses around the U.S. that are using their expertise to support the COVID-19 fight. Without this new work, layoffs would have been likely, he added. Other core work continues, although automotive business has fallen 18-20 percent this year. Keeley expects it will be a difficult but manageable year revenue-wise.

"We hope that we won't have to make any (staffing adjustments)," he said. "The federal loan has provided for us what it was intended for—to keep people employed. We're in a better position than many businesses, so we feel fortunate."