As an extension and virtual reimagination of our annual Excellence Awards, Inspiring Excellence shines spotlights on the small and mid-size businesses who have made a difference in our community during these unprecedented times. With input from the Excellence Awards Committee, the Chamber chose 10 organizations to recognize whose stories have inspired our members.
After the shutdown of the city and the unfortunate close of NextFab’s three makerspaces, Evan Malone, founder and president, knew there had to be a way to help support our region’s healthcare workers during this overwhelming time.
Together with representatives from hospitals, universities, manufacturers, government, and small businesses from across the city, they formed CoverAid PHL, a coalition dedicated to coordinating supply chains and innovations to support personal protective equipment needs of professional health care in the Philadelphia region. By late May, CoverAid PHL helped deliver 60,000 Factory-Sewn Fabric Masks, 7,000 Volunteer-Sewn Fabric Masks, 10,000 origami masks, and 826 face shields (produced by NextFab) to local hospital systems.
In order to operate during the shut down, Matt Bell, head of the NextFab Product Development team, worked tirelessly to receive a special exemption from Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf to be deemed an essential business and pivot normal operations to create the needed PPE, both as a part of CoverAid PHL efforts and in line with preexisting partnerships.
NextFab joined forces with nonprofit Open Medical to prototype and produce a new origami face mask design that required no sewing or equipment, and proved to be more effective than regular sewn fabric masks. The team created and provided 10,000 masks and face shields to local hospitals and health care organizations, utilizing the equipment and tools, such as the laser cutters, CNC machines, 3D printers, etc. of NextFab.
Beyond producing PPE, NextFab’s Product Development team also worked with startups such as AA Plasma to create a Rapid Disinfection system to sanitize PPE. Greg Fridman, PhD, CEO of AAPlasma, working in tandem with NextFab, created a compact cold plasma PPE disinfection device that can rapidly sanitize disposable masks, face shields, gloves, and N95 respirators—on-site, on-demand and in minutes.
Fridman and NextFab—with funding from the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) and support from Drexel University and other partners—moved from this initial ideation of the device to the manufacturing of 100 Beta prototypes for front line health care facilities in a whirlwind 45 days, despite pandemic-driven challenges. These Beta prototypes, with design refinements from initial prototype testing, are durable, reliable, and safe for use and testing in unsupervised settings.
Inspiring Excellence: Honoring the Resiliency of Small to Mid-Size Businesses
Check out the program book from the November 19 celebration to read not just the stories of our 10 honorees, but also those of the over 70 organizations who were nominated.
