With demand of its healthcare-related products skyrocketing, Bullard – a fifth-generation safety equipment manufacturer with headquarters in Cynthiana and facilities in Lexington — has teamed up with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky to increase production of face shields, respirators and hoods. The demand for Bullard’s products, all critical to caring for patients with COVID-19, had led to increases in demand of 30-times its normal orders.
Toyota reached out and offered help to Bullard in whatever way it could free of charge, representatives said. Beginning this past spring, a team from Toyota has worked with Bullard team members to apply its Toyota Production System (TPS) in the areas of greatest need.
Bullard
Tom Jones, from Toyota, details Toyota's approach to practical problem solving to Bullard employees.
Since initiating the system, Bullard has eliminated its backlog of face shield orders, and experienced a 700-percent increase in output from March to April. The company has also doubled its production capacity for respirators, with 85-percent faster deliveries on orders, and created a new sewing line for its hoods. The company has also cross-trained employees for a more flexible work force.
“Considering the urgent need to supply medical gear to caregivers on the frontlines of the fight against COVID, we were very eager to share our know-how to help increase output as fast as possible,” said Jamie Bonini, vice president of the Toyota Production System Support Center. “TSSC has been sharing TPS outside Toyota since 1992. This is a natural extension and speaks right to our mission of making a positive impact on society.”
“We are very grateful for the partnership with Toyota and proud of what we have accomplished together,” said Wells Bullard, CEO of Bullard, who is the great-great granddaughter of the founder, Edward Dickinson Bullard. “We are driven every single day to advance human safety and it was incredible to see that Toyota shares that same mission. It’s in Bullard’s DNA to protect people and save lives – we’ve been doing it for more than 120 years, starting with our invention of the hard hat.”
For all three products (face shields, respirators and hoods), work was broken down from one person making units in batches, to multiple people each having a small part of creating the product. Units are now made one-by-one, in a continuous flow. Completed products come off the line every few minutes, versus one person working to complete the products.
Bullard
Bullard employee Abby Cooper works on the company's new sewing line to produce hoods.
“With every single unit we make, I imagine my doctors, nurses and others on the frontline needing them to do their job,” said team leader Danny Barnett, a cancer survivor. “We know we are doing our part to save lives and protect families, communities and people around the world in this battle against COVID.”
Wells Bullard echoes this sentiment.
“It’s our responsibility to respond to and support all the brave men and women on the frontlines of this pandemic,” Bullard said. “I’m proud of our team, not just for changing the way we do things to protect more workers, but for doing it while also putting in strict COVID-19 prevention protocols, including social distancing and mandatory face masks, to ensure their own health and safety.”
The partnership has also been a win for Toyota, Barnett said. “We know there’s a PPE shortage and we want healthcare workers to know we hear you and we’re working as fast as we can to get you more supplies."