Sales of hand sanitizer have skyrocketed since the pandemic began in March. | Image Source: pexels.com - Credit: Anna Shvets
Sales of hand sanitizer have skyrocketed since the pandemic began in March. | Image Source: pexels.com - Credit: Anna Shvets
Industrial equipment supplier and dispenser company GP Reeves Inc., based in Holland, and six West Michigan companies are developing a new type of hand sanitizer dispenser to be used at schools and businesses across the state, helping them to reopen during the COVID-19 crisis.
The dispenser product, called Defense Dispense, has been created to correct the design flaws of previous dispenser devices, according to GP Reeves General Manager Wade Halma.
GP Reeves is partnering on the project with firms including New Holland Brewing Co. for bulk supplies of sanitizer, Cusack Manufacturing Co., Primera Plastics, and Kimbow Inc., a metal fabricating company,
During an interview podcast with Michigan Business Network hosted by Jeffrey Mosher, Halma said the company began looking at ways to help deal with the coronavirus after its outbreak last March and its continued escalation.
“We really asked ourselves, how can we help?” Halma said on the podcast. “With nearly 50 years of dispensing expertise, we looked at how we can dispense and provide a really high-quality dispensing system.”
Halma said prior hand sanitizer dispensing systems had a number of flaws. They used specific (gel) cartridges that only fit their own brand of dispenser.
“That causes constraints in supply chains,” Halma explained to Mosher.
Instead, the company created a universal supply platform, a dispenser that can be refilled with sanitizer from a variety of sources.
“We also designed a system that has larger capacity, so there’s that less maintenance cost and you can buy in bulk,” Halma said on the podcast.
Units are portable and larger, able to handle greater numbers of people, Halma added, and can hold anywhere from 32 ounces of sanitizer to 55 gallons. A 5-gallon dispenser is usually enough, he added.
There is a tabletop model for businesses when customers enter, and a vehicle wire-powered model that can be plugged into school buses.
“We can customize and create a product line in what you're looking for to meet your needs,” Halma said on the podcast.
Cost savings generated over other brands of sanitizer can reach 60%. Halma said a 30% discount is also available for nonprofits dealing with the pandemic.
“We want to help those that help us in our community,” he told Mosher.
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