From protecting people against the virus to testing for it, Tessy Plastics made the COVID-19 pandemic a significant part of its business in 2020.
After producing about 84,000 face shields for Onondaga County and its hospitals shortly after the pandemic began in the U.S. in March, the Skaneateles-based company聽announced that it would use its Auburn facility to manufacture 10 million COVID-19 test kits a month. Later in the year, Tessy received tax relief for the project and聽bought聽property at Grant Avenue Plaza in Sennett to test the kits.
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In an interview with 人兽性交 in February, Tessy staff said the face shields project began when the company was approached by Onondaga County. After gathering samples from local medical centers, Tessy designed, prototyped and began producing its own shields within a couple weeks. One concern was making sure its shields could easily be sanitized, Marketing Specialist Grace Oswald said.
Tessy produced an initial order of 30,000 shields for the county, followed by another 54,000 for local health care facilities, Director of Sales Eric Yando said. However, as companies that normally make personal protective equipment began to ramp up production as the pandemic continued, Tessy retired its molds. It hasn't made any face shields since.
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"It was truly about helping out the local businesses and the community with an immediate need," Yando said. "We knew we were a stopgap."
Theron Blair, an account manager for Tessy, added, "We were excited to help the local heroes and first responders with anything we could."
Tessy staff declined comment about the company's COVID-19 test kit production, citing customer confidentiality. Tessy previously said it is partnering with a "major medical company" to make the kits.
For that reason, the current status of Tessy's test kit production is unknown. When it announced the project in April, the company said it would take 15 weeks to prepare the Auburn facility, the former Daikin McQuay on Technology Park Boulevard. Tessy聽purchased it for $8 million in 2016, and was using it for warehousing at the time. The company also said the project would create about 200 jobs.聽
In a letter to employees at the time, Tessy President Roland Beck called聽test kit production "by far our biggest project ever."
The tests can detect positive COVID-19 cases as quickly as five minutes, and negatives in about 15 minutes. They can also detect Strep, flu and other viruses.
In May, Tessy was approved to receive an extension of its payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement for its Auburn facility, as well as about $720,000 in sales tax exemptions on material purchases, from the Auburn Industrial Development Authority. Tracy Verrier, executive director of Cayuga Strategic Solutions, said Tessy has not yet filed its year-end documentation with the authority.聽
As its 15-week timetable came to a close, Tessy purchased a piece of Grant Avenue Plaza in Sennett for $1 million. The property included Vineyard Church, which moved into the former First Love Ministries in Auburn, as well as Custom Business Solutions and State Farm, which remain in their spaces. The piece of the plaza that contains the Auburn Movieplex and more is under separate ownership.
A Freedom of Information Law request by 人兽性交 would reveal that Tessy made the purchase because it needed a commercially zoned property for the testing of its COVID-19 test kits. According to an email from a Tessy official to the town of Sennett, the facility will see kits arrive in batches and plugged into analyzers for testing. Discarded kits were said to not contain any harmful materials.
The facility, referred to as a "lab" by the Tessy official, will operate 24/7 and have about 12 to 20 people working there.
Like the production of the COVID-19 test kits, Tessy declined comment on the lab and its current status.
AUBURN 鈥 Peter "Mack" Maciulewicz has always believed his company should be versatile.
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Lake Life Editor David Wilcox can be reached at (315) 282-2245 or david.wilcox@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter .