Pindel Global Precision CEO Bill Berrien says his company isn’t making much of a profit on critical ventilator parts after shifting production to provide these high-demand materials.
But he expects the connections being made with the companies that assemble these machines will pay off in other ways.
“There’s not much margin on these parts; you’ve got a lot of expediting, overtime — so it really is close to at-cost,” Berrien said yesterday during a webinar hosted by the Milwaukee Rotary Club. “But the hope is it leads to some great relationships going into the future.”
Pindel is one of many companies in Wisconsin that leveraged existing resources to start making products needed for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The business was already considered essential, as it produced parts for the medical field, but Berrien said he wanted to help fill the massive demand for the ventilators needed to keep certain COVID-19 patients breathing.
While making the ventilator parts has caused some other customers’ orders to be delayed, he said the “rest of the business is staying around 80 percent strong.” Over the past week or so, he said Pindel has seen the number of orders drop slightly. But he said that’s more likely due to factors in the oil and gas market than anything virus-related.
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