Page 15 - BusinessWest August 17, 2020

Kristin Carlson says the pandemic has actually helped business at Peerless Precision, especially when it comes to making parts for defense and law- enforcement-related products.
COVID-19/MANUFACTURING >>
Making Do
For Manufacturers, COVID-19 Changes ... Everything
MBy George O’Brien
ark Borsari says he hasn’t been on a plane since a vacation in early March.
By his reckoning, that’s by far the longest stretch he can remember when he hasn’t been flying some- where, especially in his role as president of Palmer-
based Sanderson MacLeod, a maker of fine wire brushes for every- thing from makeup kits to gun cleaning.
The six months on the ground has been a time of reflection — and even humor.
“I’m sure my wife’s probably thinking I should be on a plane more,” said Borsari with a laugh, adding that he’s not at all sure when he actually will.
But being effectively grounded from air travel is just one of the many ways COVID-19 has shaken things up for manufacturers, and, in the larger scheme of things, perhaps one of the least consequen-
BusinessWest COVID-19 AUGUST 17, 2020 15
tial given the way Zoom has become the preferred method for com- municating with clients and employees alike.
Indeed, the pandemic has prompted everything from weeks-long shutdowns to scrambling for needed parts; from strategies for keep- ing employees safe to the need to manufacture different products — often PPE — to keep workers busy because demand for the products that were being produced has slowed or stopped.
Much has hinged on the word ‘essential’ — a status bestowed on many manufacturers in the 413, an area with a large number of shops making parts for aerospace, defense, or the broad healthcare sector.
Sanderson MacLeod makes products for all those fields, said Bor- sari, noting that, after a short but still tension-filled time of uncer- tainty regarding the company’s status, it was declared essential.
The same with Westfield-based Peerless Precision, a company that makes, among other things, products used in the cryogenic cooling systems for thermal imaging, night vision, and infrared cameras — items that are actually in greater demand because of all the tension