A Birmingham manufacturer has secured new funding to help it develop a solution for easing global shortages of protective equipment.
Metal pressings and stamping specialist Brandauer is one of the first companies in the country to be awarded the capital through a competition run by government agency Innovate 海角视频.
It is now setting its sights on increasing its capacity to produce more than 100 million nose clips for use in face masks every year.
The company will use the £50,000 grant to develop its 'Quick Clip Tool' which enables clips to be manufactured in multiple materials, such as steel or aluminium, and produced in various widths, thicknesses and lengths.
The project will take about five months to complete and allow Brandauer to increase supply to existing customers and open up production capacity to other clients.
Want more business news straight to your inbox?
BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the country - and you can stay in touch with all the latest news through our email alerts.
You can sign up to receive morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from manufacturing to technology and enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss.
Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive.
Its clips can be used for nose bridge support and improved sealing on homemade face masks.
Chief executive Rowan Crozier said the Quick Clip Tool should allow the firm to increase the number of clips it can supply from 24 million to 100 million every year.
Most Read
"Covid-19 has increased the demand for face masks exponentially across the world and, following the Government's public transport announcement, it appears they will form an important part of the new normal for the foreseeable future," he said.
"It is anticipated we'll need more than ten million units every month for the 海角视频 alone, fuelled no doubt by the growing DIY face mask industry.
"With this in mind, there is a big opportunity for a company that can offer access to fast capacity and inexpensive tooling flexibility in how clips are developed and manufactured.
"Having supported our existing customers with this product for over 20 years, we knew what was required but needed the additional production capability to take on new projects, including the possibility of our own nose clip production.
"The solution lay in a modular tooling concept and the Innovate 海角视频 funding is going to play an important role in supporting the initial prototyping, testing and manufacture of it.
"The next 12 months are going to be extremely demanding, there's no getting away from that.
"However, the 'Quick Clip Tool' has the potential to make up for some of our sectors that are taking a little bit longer to emerge from the lockdown."