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Candle Company Makes Face Shields

Published Friday Apr 10, 2020

With medical personnel and first responders urgently asking for additional personal protective equipment to combat the coronavirus, Alene Candles has transformed its Milford production facility to assemble 10,000 face shields. Once completed, the face shields will be donated to first responders and health care facilities in NH and Maine.  

“Our team could not sit by while doctors, nurses and first responders do everything they can to combat the coronavirus pandemic, all without enough personal protective equipment to keep them safe,” said Rod Harl, president and CEO of Alene Candles. “Many of our team members have stepped up to make this effort possible – from our supply chain team working nonstop to secure the scarce materials needed to produce face shields, to our operations and engineering team creating a production plan and our candlemakers who are mastering the new assembly procedures to create the shields. This is truly a team effort to give back to our community.”

Company leadership brainstormed ways it could put its manufacturing resources to use during the pandemic. After having discussions with several industry peers, Alene located a face shield design from John Hopkins University. Alene’s supply chain team then got to work identifying suppliers, eventually partnering with Thermoformed Plastics of New England in Biddeford, Maine.

Thermoformed Plastics offered to donate the plastic to Alene if they would also pay it forward, giving face shields to Biddeford’s Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Harl said that was an easy ask for Alene. In addition to Biddeford EMS, Alene plans to donate face shields to first responders in Milford and neighboring communities and hospital groups in Concord and Nashua. The company is also listed as a face shield provider by the state and anticipates receiving additional requests.

Alene has enlisted the help of nearly 20 of its team members, allowing the company to assemble the shields quickly while practicing social distancing and adhering to guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The company may bring more team members back to the facility if it continues to ramp up production. Regardless, all of Alene’s nearly 400 team members in NH and Ohio will continue to receive paychecks.

Alene is attempting to procure more of the scarce material needed to create additional face shields beyond the initial donation of 10,000. Any additional shields will be sold at cost to first responders and health care facilities. Anyone with access to clear PETG plastic and 1-inch- or 1.5-inch-wide elastic band material is encouraged to email Alene at faceshields@alene.com. In the event these materials are not available, Alene will look for other ways to contribute to the efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have highly technical manufacturing capabilities and a talented team that’s ready to help however we can,” Harl said. “I am incredibly proud of our team for jumping to action; we are thankful that we can play a role in fighting this pandemic, no matter how small.”

To request face shields produced by Alene Candles, please contact faceshields@alene.com. For more information about Alene Candles, visit www.alene.com.


Alene Candles employee Tuan Chau assembles a face shield.


Alene Candles employee Josh Rowsey packs up face shields. 


A completed face shield assembled by Alene Candles.

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