Coming together to make a difference is not foreign to Bazz Houston International (BHI) in Orange County, CA. When CEO Javier Castro learned of the serious shortage of protective face masks in local hospitals, he didn’t hesitate. Quickly teaming up with two other local companies, he launched an immediate effort to design and manufacture face shields for doctors and nursing staff at local emergency rooms.
The fact that BHI, a metalforming manufacturer, had never made such a product did not slow Castro down. However, two major obstacles had to be overcome – creating a design that would allow BHI’s equipment to manufacture plastic parts and making the shields easy to sanitize for multiple use.
“As a manufacturing facility, we have many engineering and tooling capabilities at our disposal to figure out how to make the face shields. Our engineering team began experimenting with various designs, and eight prototypes later they came up with the right one.”
Javier Castro, CEO at Bazz Houston International
Setting a goal of 15,000 face shields, BHI began sourcing the necessary materials, and Castro put out a call for volunteers to help assemble them. After clocking out of their regular shifts, many employees worked late into the evening on their own time, assembling 330 face shields on the first day. Once the process got under way, Castro hoped to make at least 1,000 face shield components per day. BHI’s dedicated employees ended up assembling 15,000 units in only five days.
BHI began donating the face shields to local hospitals and emergency responders at no cost, and word of mouth quickly spread. When Sony™ learned of the donations, they began covering the cost of shipping the face shields to other states around the country.
“This was a group effort,” says Castro. “We partnered with our friends and fellow business owners from Automotive Entertainment and Defined Concepts. A few local companies volunteered to purchase some of the raw materials that enabled us to make an additional 3,000 shields beyond our goal.”
“For me, the best part was seeing the passion and commitment our employees showed to each other and the frontline health professionals as they lived our company motto: We Are Strong Together. It feels good knowing that our small business can give back to people who risk their own lives for us and those we love.”
This is just one of our great customers who have risen to meet the challenge. Discover more stories in this multi-part series.