Brisbane-based manufacturer EGR Group pivoted from car accessories to pandemic face shields when COVID-19 hit, saving hundreds of jobs in the process. Now they’re ready to adapt to whatever happens next.
Before COVID, the family-owned EGR Group was best known for making ute canopies and bull bars. But they were also experienced in manufacturing the rigid polymer sheeting used in personal protective equipment, and when the auto industry started feeling the effects of the pandemic, the company quickly prioritised producing face shields and protective barriers for front-line medical staff and retail workers.
“Car manufacturers were stopping production,” customer development manager Kellie Phillips says, “and importing was going to be difficult, which we knew would mean a slump in new car sales, which would flow down to car accessories. But plastics were our very first product, so it was a simple decision for us to pivot in that direction.”
Initially focusing on disposable face shields, the company quickly tooled up to produce injection-moulded pieces that are both recyclable and reusable.
“Every piece of the face shield can be easily cleaned with detergent,” Kellie says, “so they don’t have to be thrown away after each use.”
Not only was the face shield designed in Brisbane, but each part of the product – the crystal-clear shield itself, as well as the halo, strap, and even the box it comes in – is made in Brisbane. EGR’s extrusion plant in Wacol manufactures the polymer sheets, while the company’s factory in Salisbury produces the rest.
Since April, the company has sold more than 700,000 face shields, mostly to domestic medical suppliers who were previously forced to resort to importing similar products from overseas – an increasingly fraught practice as the pandemic disrupted supply. The company has also exported face shields to the US and European markets.
