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BLOOMINGTON — One items healthcare workers desperately need is face shields. A Bloomington company is changing their whole production in an effort to help meet that need.
MSP Aviation, founded in Marion and currently located in Bloomington, typically manufactures parts for airplanes.
"We make products that are used in the flight control center for planes so if if flies odds are it has an MSP part on it," John Goode, president and CEO of MSP Aviation, said.
Goode said things have been slow lately.
"We have been significantly impacted by the activity with Boeing, they are one of our largest customers," Goode said. "And then with air travel going down over 90 percent that's had a very adverse effect on the aviation industry."
So now, they're rolling out a new product, something they've seen an immediate demand for.
Goode said a company on the west coast designed the face shields. They will be made at MSP in Bloomington and then shipped to healthcare facilities in the Midwest, helping not only the doctors and nurses that will be using them but his own staff as well.
"We've had to reduce our workforce considerably. We have some good people that have been furloughed," Goode said. "We are working with this program and then also I am very encouraged by the small business programs, the Payroll Protection Program. We believe with this and that program we are going to be keeping our people busy."
The first shipment of 25,000 shields will go out later this week.