The Market For Plexiglass Is Booming

Plexiglass is a hot item all of a sudden, as the need for social distancing and protection has increased. That’s meant a huge uptick in business for Columbus, Ohio-based Plaskolite.

The rush of calls started in mid-March. As the coronavirus pandemic logged its first thousand cases in the United States, hospitals were in desperate need of face shields for protection. So manufacturers turned to Plaskolite, the nation's largest manufacturer of thermoplastic sheet, the glass-like material needed for the production of face shields.

"There were practically no face shields in the country; the supply was just not there, so there was a major, major rush to manufacture the product," says Mitch Grindley, Plaskolite's executive chairman. "Clearly, the need outweighed anything else that we were running at the time, so we took two of our plants, adjusted our lines and started cranking them out as fast as we could."