- Title: Who you gonna call? Germbusters! Pandemic drives boom in spray machines
- Date: 6th July 2020
- Summary: STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, UNITED STATES (JULY 2, 2020) (REUTERS VIA ZOOM) (SOUNDBITE) (English) GOODWAY TECHNOLOGIES, PRESIDENT & CEO, TIMOTHY J. KANE, SAYING: "But the biggest challenge was making sure that our our supply chain was intact. And at that time, in early March, it was fractured. Many of our smaller companies that help source and manufacture small parts and components for this system were impacted as well, just like all of us from COVID. And, so, there was an interruption in the supply, and it was coming right at the wrong time when we needed a surge in supply. And I'm happy to say that this entire product line for BioSpray is completely sourced here in the United States. It's assembled here in the United States. So, all of that work is done right here. And that was a challenge for about three or four weeks to get that together. Once we hit our stride, which was about the second week of April, we were then able to properly meet demand. And just to give you an idea from a numbers perspective, what that looked like, it was about 40 to 50 times this same month last year."
- Embargoed: 20th July 2020 16:47
- Keywords: BioSpray COVID-19 Goodway Technologies Timothy J. Kane coronavirus disinfectant spray foggers
- Location: NEW YORK, + HICKSVILLE, NEW YORK, + STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
- City: NEW YORK, + HICKSVILLE, NEW YORK, + STAMFORD, CONNECTICUT, UNITED STATES / UNKNOWN LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA006CLOAO1Z
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Timothy Kane, CEO of Goodway Technologies Corp., has never been so popular. Making machines that spray disinfectant, once a niche business, is now an essential service - and the phone is ringing off the hook.
Goodway, which has a factory in Stamford, Connecticut, builds machines that spray an alcohol-infused mist to sanitize surfaces. Until a few months ago, those devices were just a tiny part of its business, catering mostly to places like industrial bakeries that had to constantly clean surfaces.
Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic grips the United States, everyone wants one.
Kane, who employs 110 workers in the family-owned company, has fielded calls from hotels, gyms and casinos, as well as factories and warehouses. Many would previously never have thought they needed such machines, which often look much like souped-up vacuum cleaners.
The rise of this industry is one example of a sector that is booming during a pandemic that has laid waste to so many parts of the economy.
America's battle against the novel coronavirus is driving demand for everything from hand sanitizer and masks to thermometer guns and plexiglass.
But one enduring image of this crisis may be the foggers and spraying machines that are now being set loose in airports, sports arenas and subways.
The surge of business is, however, putting strain on producers that never envisaged such a situation and their supply chains.
Victory Innovations, another maker of hi-tech spray machines, is sold out through September. Its shipments have surged 10-fold since the start of the pandemic, to about 100,000 units a month, according to the company, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Servpro, based in Gallatin, Tennessee, is majority owned by the Blackstone Group and runs franchised cleaning businesses across the United States and Canada.
The company, which had sales of about $3 billion last year, figures biohazard cleaning - such as sanitizing a cruise ship after an outbreak of illness - constituted only about 5% of its business then, or $150 million.
Sooker said he expects COVID-19-related cleaning alone to bring in at least $250 million to $300 million this year.
The crisis is sparking innovation.
Albuquerque's airport has just introduced a fleet of four robots, each about the size of a small trash can on wheels, which trundle around the terminals every night spraying a disinfectant mist.
The airport emphasized that none of its janitors would get laid off as a result, since the fogging is an added layer of overnight cleaning.
Sophisticated spraying machines don't come cheap, though, even the less automated ones; a small human-operated sprayer mounted in a backpack can set you back about $5,000.
Biomist Inc., a manufacturer in Wheeling, Ill., has installed spraying systems custom-designed for a facility that cost over $50,000, said Robert Cook, a vice president.
Goodway, meanwhile, has doubled the number of models it is selling to six, creating designs tailored to specific uses such as restaurants and health clubs.
Workers at its factory can be seen hunched over a row of curved stainless-steel machines mounted on wheels being built on the production floor.
CEO Kane said there were many ways to spray disinfectants, and that the process could be surprisingly complex, and even potentially dangerous.
Some machines use water-based cleansers, which take time to dry or must be followed by people wiping the surfaces. Other devices, like those made by Goodway, mix alcohol - which dries almost instantly - with the same chemicals used in fire extinguishers, Kane said.
(Production: Aleksandra Michalska) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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