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HLP Klearfold, a wholly-owned North American subsidiary of Hip Lik Packaging Products (Hong Kong), has repurposed a significant portion of its manufacturing capabilities to produce three simple, low-cost, and effective disposable face shields, two of them from its own designs.
HLP Klearfold is the largest plastic folding carton supplier to the North American market and Hip Lik is the world’s largest producer. The company’s single-use face shields, PPE (personal protective equipment) are for use by healthcare professionals, food service workers, and any other essential services workers. Since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, HLP Klearfold and Hip Lik Packaging Products have already supplied tens-of-millions of face shields to government and medical agencies in Asia, Europe, and now North America.
These face shields are made using the same raw materials, technology, and equipment used to manufacture the company’s plastic packaging. The most popular style is a pre-assembled, ready-to-wear, face shield with a foam forehead pad and an elastic headband. The other two styles ship flat and require minimal assembly. All three of these designs are economical, lightweight, one-size-fits-most, and go on easily over glasses and fabric face masks.
“We applaud the manufacturing community’s efforts to reallocate resources to produce PPE to help protect our front-line healthcare and other workers,” states HLP Klearfold President, Steve Frazier. “HLP Klearfold leadership in the clear plastic packaging market has made us uniquely qualified to produce face shields. Our production facility is the largest facility of its kind in the world. We have the capacity to make approximately 1 million printed plastic folding cartons per day but, in light of the need for more PPE, we’ve dedicated much of our focus and manufacturing resources to producing face shields, and we are able to manufacture nearly 600,000 per day.”
HLP Klearfold and Hip Lik Packaging Products are vertically integrated. Before they manufacture the face shields, they first manufacture the PET and PP films required to make these plastic face shields using several custom PET and PP extruders. As such, the company has no material supply limitations, which has become a deterrent to many manufacturers that have attempted to repurpose to produce face shields in response to the COVID-19 increase in demand.
All three of the face shields are Class 1 medical devices for use by healthcare professionals. To assure potential purchasers of the quality and the reliability of its face shields, the company has taken the extra steps of securing the relevant certifications for such products. Its face shields have been evaluated by third-parties and have been certified to meet both the United States’ ANSI/ISEA Z87.1-2015 and Europe’s EN 166:2001 eye protection standards for droplets and splash.
HLP Klearfold’s and Hip Lik Packaging Products’ manufacturing facility has been authorized by the FDA under the COVID-19 pandemic Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) as personal protective equipment (PPE) for use by healthcare professionals for medical purposes. The company will remain authorized for the duration of the emergency as described in U.S. Federal Drug & Cosmetic Act, 21 USC 360bbb-3(b)(1), or until otherwise terminated or revoked. Its manufacturing facility and its face shields are FDA registered. Although the face shields have not been FDA “cleared” or “approved”, this is not a requirement for FDA Class 1 face shields. They should not be used in the presence of high intensity heat source or flammable gas.
The face shields are made from one or more of these materials: PET (polyethylene terephthalate), Frosted PP (polypropylene), open-cell polyurethane foam, and/or knitted polyester elastic.
For more information, or to place an order for any of the three face shield styles, contact: HLP Klearfold, 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 509, New York, NY 10038, (888) 457-7225, www.hlpklearfold.com. There is a link on the home page for details on the three face shields.
