With New York City hospitals battling one of the most severe coronavirus outbreaks in the world, the Brooklyn Navy Yard is reliving its roots in what NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio described as a wartime factory, producing face shields to protect health care workers fighting on the front lines to save lives. 
Staff from Duggal Visual Solutions and Bednark Studio both headquartered in the Brooklyn Navy Yard are working around the clock at Duggal s Brooklyn venue, the Duggal Greenhouse, to fabricate 360,000 shield masks being distributed to first responders. The idea stemmed from a direct conversation between Duggal CEO Michael Duggal and Bednark CEO Michael Bednark, who realized that the two companies together had the production capabilities to convert from printing and graphics to personal protective equipment (PPE). Duggal and Bednark delivered the first 50,000 face shields to first responders on March 28, less than a week after receiving the go-ahead from the city s Health Department to begin manufacturing in the Greenhouse. We plan to deliver 70,000 additional face shields by March 31 and continue producing hundreds of thousands more through the onslaught of COVID-19 cases in the city and state. The mission is to meet the dire need for PPE but the transformation is also bringing another uplifting storyline in reducing layoffs and making jobs immediately available to local workers impacted by the economic fallout of the citywide shutdown. “This is just an inspiring, beautiful effort, and we’re going to make sure New Yorkers see a lot about this and understand how powerful this is,” de Blasio said. “You’re going to see a surgical mask, gloves, surgical gowns, all sorts of things being made right here in New York City manufactured right here to protect our fellow New Yorkers.” Our motto as we forge ahead: “Making things better together.” 
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