NY design companies team up to make face masks

Two design companies have teamed up in a makeshift assembly line in Brooklyn to help meet New York's demand for face shields to protect medical professionals dealing with the coronavirus crisis.

Operating out of an event hall at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Duggal Visual Solutions, a commercial printer, and Bednark Studio, which designs retail spaces, has converted their operations in just a week after a call from state leaders for businesses to shift production to make vital supplies.

Duggal CEO Mike Duggal says the operation is production 18,000 masks per day, and will ship its first order of 50,000 masks on Friday.

The masks are being purchased by the New York City Department of Health, which will distribute them.

"I don't think there's anyone that's able to supply any other municipalities and their volumes that they need. So if there's people out there that can do this, can get the materials, they should start," said Bedmark Studio founder Michael Bednark.

Bednark says his company hired an additional 150 employees through a post on social media.

He says many of them were laid off from the hospitality industry when New York announced rules limiting public gatherings.

Bednark and Duggal say they hope their design and production model can be replicated by other businesses throughout the country looking to help their communities.

They have already fielded inquiries from officials in Detroit, Philadelphia, Boston, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Portland, Oregon and Chicago, and have shared their designs.