Grafton company joins the war on Covid-19

Grafton manufacturer Microbrush International has converted its production of dental hygiene supplies to nasal test swabs to help fight the coronavirus pandemic. 

In April, the company invested more than $10 million to recalibrate its equipment and set up a new supply chain network to produce Covid-19 testing swabs.

“We wanted to do this for the right reasons, to help mankind through a pandemic,” Dave Sproat, CEO of Illinois-based Young Innovations, the parent company of Microbrush, said. “We are just trying to play our role in it, and it’s good for our organization to bring people back to work. Not only those in Grafton but the supply chain people who are indirectly our employees as a result of this.”

When the pandemic first hit, the dental industry was not classified as essential and about 90 of the 110 employees at the Grafton plant at 1376 Cheyenne Ave. were furloughed. Now, nearly all of the employees have returned to their jobs and are making 1.5 million units of nasopharyngeal test swabs per week. The swabs are six inches long and are inserted into the cavity between the nose and mouth.

Sproat said the Department of Defense and Cleveland Clinic are the biggest customers purchasing the swabs. The ready-to-use nylon flocked nasopharyngeal swabs are typically used at hospitals.

“We have been told that this is a gold-standard product,” he said. “That’s our goal, and that’s why we didn’t take any shortcuts. When you’re working with the Cleveland Clinic and the Department of Defense, that’s their expectation.”

Sproat credits the company’s successful shift in production to its flocking process, which deposits small fiber particles onto a surface. It takes about 20 minutes to convert granulated resin into a testing swab.

“We discovered we are one of the only companies in the United States that has this flocking volume,” he said.

Before the pandemic, Microbrush molded dental products for restorative, preventative and specialty uses. Sproat said the company decided to shift gears when it realized the nasopharyngeal test swabs looked similar to the dental hygiene products it makes.

It took about 90 days for Microbrush to shift its technology from making dental micro-applicators to produce testing swabs. It brought the product to market in June. Microbrush found it could use its existing molds to make the swabs, Sproat said.

“We were able to convert this mold and utilize our core competency of flocking,” he said. “This takes special packaging and it has to be sterilized, so we had to set up the entire supply chain, which was all U.S.-based so nothing comes from overseas.”

Although the nasal swabs are being used by leaders in the health care industry, Sproat said, the longtime dental company is having difficulty tapping into other companies and agencies involved in medicine. 

“Because people don’t know us from the medical perspective, although we are a known enterprise in dental, we’ve had to get our name out there working with other contacts. We’ve hired a public relations firm and consultant in Washington to help us connect with the right people,” Sproat said. 

“We’ve been working with local congressmen and senators and others to get our name out there to various agencies because we want people to know who we are. I was surprised at the amount of work that it has taken. 

“I thought the hardest work would be producing the product and meeting the specifications.”

By September, Microbrush had produced 20 million nasopharyngeal test swabs and it plans on producing other variations. 

Sproat said the company will remain in the medicine field after the pandemic subsides. 

“That’s why we made the investment,” he said. “We want to remain competitive in this industry.”

Microbursh has been in Grafton for 30 years and has other facilities in Missouri, Montana, California, Ireland and Canada. 

“We’re a global organization. We have facilities primarily in the U.S. market,” Sproat said, noting there are about 750 employees between all the facilities.

Prior to the pandemic, Sproat said Microbrush would produce approximately 600 to 700 million micro-dental applicators per year.

Sproat said the Grafton plant has been dedicated to making the testing swabs since April, but it is now also returning to manufacturing dental supplies. 

“Dental is starting to come back. It’s not at 100% pre-Covid levels in the U.S. yet,” he said. “We’re glad we were able to find an innovative way to bring our employees back to work.”