Dental equipment manufacturer Ace Surgical Supply furloughed 31 of its 106 employees and saw sales drop nearly 90 percent in a month's time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to The Enterprise.
Four things to know:
1. The coronavirus tanked demand for Ace Surgical Supply's dental bone grafting material and anesthesia tubing sets, according to CEO Craig Carchidi.
2. The business responded by adapting production. Ace Surgical Supply and two companies from its dental surgery supply chain began producing nasal swabs used in COVID-19 test kits.
3. Ace Surgical Supply's Brockton, Mass., facility is now processing nearly 40,000 swabs a day, on average. The company is fielding orders from public health agencies and hospitals, among other buyers.
4. Fifteen furloughed manufacturing workers have returned to payroll, and several employees have been retrained to work in the clean room.