The Canadian Shield named Ultimate COVID hero for work making PPE

The Canadian Shield seen in this social media post. (@inksmith3d / Instagram)

KITCHENER — Waterloo Region-based manufacturer The Canadian Shield has received national recognition for its work creating personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company has received the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - Large Manufacturer Award, along with the Ultimate COVID Hero Award, from industry publications Canadian Manufacturing Daily, PLANT and EP&T Magazine. The awards were handed out as part of the Responding to COVID: Industry Leadership Honours program, which recognizes Canadian manufacturers helping to fight the pandemic.

"As the recipient of these two awards, The Canadian Shield is being recognized for making a significant, novel impact on Canada’s PPE supply and the pandemic overall through the scope of its efforts, the ingenuity displayed during the process, the challenges that it had to overcome and the lasting difference it made in spite of the challenges," a news release from the company said in part.

The Canadian Shield was founded in March 2020 by education technology company InkSmith. That company changed its operation to address the shortage of PPE for frontline staff in hospitals and other medical facilities.

“This is an important milestone on our path to building a world leading Canadian medical device design and manufacturing organization,” Jeremy Hedges, president of The Canadian Shield, said in the news release. “We’re honoured to be recognized alongside other industry leaders that took on COVID as we celebrate excellence in Canadian manufacturing, and I’m proud of our team who all share in this national recognition.”

The Canadian Shield received its Medical Device Establishment licence in March and has since manufactured more than 16 million face shields for front line and essential workers. It's also started making procedural masks.

The company said it's also donated hundreds of thousands of shields to workers across the country, along with fulfilling contracts for governments and health authorities.