A special effects company has diversified its organisation to provide PPE products to the clinical team at Devon Air Ambulance.

Box office films, stage production and world tours usually keep Luminous Show Technology in business but the global pandemic impacted the day to day business overnight.

Luminous Show Technology realised that some of the ingredients they used on a day to day basis would enable them to join the challenge in supplying the nation with much needed supplies.

Co-Founder of Luminous Show Technology, Ed Samkin, said:

I quickly established the WHO formula and preparation processes for Hand Sanitiser was something we could do. Conveniently the main liquid solvent we used for fuel in our flame projectors was also the main ingredient in this type of alcohol sanitiser!

We diverted our resources to quickly source plastic bottles with closures, design labels and get the additional chemicals and manufacturing tooling required. We logged our intention to supply with the HSE so we could get a permit to supply the product.

Whilst this was being set up we established another type of PPE item in demand – the disposable face shield. There were many other initiatives to make 3D printed versions but we quickly determined these were time-consuming to make, we devised an alternative solution that had 4 components which could be produced with laser cutters and mechanical punches.

A crowd funder campaign allowed Luminous to make sanitiser and face shields.  To date they have supplied over 1,200 items free of charge to the end user through the generous donations of the public.

Image credit: Devon Air Ambulance

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