GDC Partners with Ford, GM to Make PPE

(photo courtesy of GDC Inc.)

Goshen-based GDC Inc. says its transition to PPE operations may be starting to help offset recent layoffs. GDC, an automotive components and materials manufacturer, recently announced that it had started making filtration media materials to support Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) with PPE production. Last month, the company detailed plans to lay off 300 employees as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As this pandemic unfolded, we were concerned, and we met with our local healthcare workers to find out how we could utilize our production and our engineering capabilities to help them,” GDC Director of Sales Andy Kitson said last week during Governor Eric Holcomb’s daily briefing.

Kitson says GDC has now repurposed its operations to manufacture PPE materials and says the surging demand for these items has started to positively affect its laid off employees. GDC had recently announced the layoffs as a result of three of its largest customers temporarily closing their manufacturing facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The manufacturer says it has called back approximately 30 employees to meet the demand.

“We started out hoping we could make 4,000 shields a day, and now we can make 30,000 per day. As operations continue, our plan is to continue to bring back people. A big concern is their health and well-being so all of our employees that are working here now are following strict guidelines,” said Kitson.

GDC is a certified Woman Business Enterprise that manufactures a variety of products and materials for the automotive, agricultural, industrial and recreational markets. The company says it supplies 20 million parts annually to companies like Ford, Toyota, GM and Trane.