Long Standing Relationships Help EDO Respond to COVID-19 Quickly 

When the local leaders learned of potential shortages in personal protective equipment (PPE) in West Michigan (and nationally) in the fight against COVID-19 in early March, the question was not how they could help in this situation, but how quickly they could mobilize resources locally. Having close knit connections in place between manufacturers, healthcare industry leaders and economic development organizations mobilized a network in response to a critical need while helping local manufacturers stay operational during the pandemic. 

That network includes The Right Place, Inc. (RPI) which serves as the regional economic development organization (EDO) in West Michigan, Michigan State University (and specifically their health sciences program) and several medical equipment manufacturers and health care companies along with representatives from other local industry sectors besides healthcare. 

As the coronavirus pandemic continued to spread across the United States in early March and local manufacturers learned of potential shortages in PPE, several approached RPI offering to help but not knowing how. RPI, which also houses the regional office of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) called The Center-West, maintains close relationships with manufacturers in the region, so it was natural choice for local businesses to reach out to RPI.  

On the other hand, Norm Beauchamp, EVP of Health Sciences at MSU understood that the local hospitals and healthcare system needed additional supplies and equipment in order to respond to an expected surge in COVID-19 cases in West Michigan. RPI and MSU together setup a new taskforce to coordinate local manufacturers to provide PPE and other medical equipment to hospitals in the region. The vision was to ensure that the local healthcare system was fully equipped as COVID-19 cases rise. The business development team at RPI is taking the lead and works closely with their Center-West partners.

One of the first challenges facing this team was managing the onslaught of inquiries from manufacturers eager to help, while trying to quantify the need for PPE by local hospitals. Therese Thill, SVP for Business Development at RPI, one of many staff heavily involved with the taskforce, explained that at the start of the crisis in the U.S., only FDA-approved PPE could be used in hospitals, which were in very high demand and short supply by early March. 3M is one of the few manufacturers that produce some of this equipment, and the wait time could be as long as 2 years for new orders. As the virus spread across all 50 states, the FDA allowed the use of unapproved medical products and unapproved uses of approved medical products in dealing with COVID-19 cases, which allowed new players into the market place. 

For example, one West Michigan manufacturer – Steelcase, a manufacturer of office furniture – worked with the hospital system (Spectrum Health) to modify a design for N95 masks used in construction to meet the hospital needs and is now manufacturing them. They used a design that was published by the University of Florida as the base, and have made the new design available to other manufacturers in Michigan as well. Manufacturers all across the U.S. are similarly adapting production lines and existing products to meet increased demand for medical equipment. 

Another challenge before production could begin was determining which manufacturers were able to meet the specifications provided by the various hospitals. They were inundated with inquiries from local manufacturers who wanted to stay operational during the crisis and also help the local community, but not all are able to meet specifications required for use in a hospital. Additionally, the team also learned that different hospitals have different requirements and specifications for the various medical equipment they purchase.  They mapped out the rather disjointed system of suppliers and specifications to clearly understand the nuances involved and how it all fits together. The team now serves as a conduit of information and connector for suppliers and purchasers of medical equipment in West Michigan answering a range of questions such as HR, import/export, special certifications, and FDA regulation for PPE or other medical devices, among others. 

Production started soon after, and equipment and other medical supplies such as hand sanitizer, gowns, ventilators and shields are already being delivered to local hospitals. Some manufacturers have donated these products, while others are seeking to only recover costs. The team has not received a single complaint of price gouging during this time. 

The RPI team continues to be in frequent communication with the purchasing departments of local hospitals to understand their needs and share information about the local manufacturers that are able to meet those demands and make connections. They are also coordinating with the state MEP center to ensure a coordinated response throughout the state, and minimize duplication of effort. 

“Cross-industry collaboration is a way of life, part of our DNA”, said Justine Burdette, Regional Director for the regional MEP center and VP of Technical Services at RPI. “Our manufacturers and industry leaders already know each other because of the collaboration over the years. So this came together organically and rather quickly”, she added. 

Several manufacturers are able to stay open in spite of the Governor Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders as they are now considered “essential”. Many are hiring new employees to meet heightened demand for their products, which is another challenge that RPI is helping to address by serving as a platform for manufacturers to advertise job openings. 

With a view to the long term, RPI hopes that as a result of this global pandemic some elements of the medical equipment supply chain – which has mostly been offshored during the past several decades – will move back to the United States.