The Caerphilly business usually makes sustainable packaging, including paper straws for restaurants and venues that are currently shuttered.
It has the capacity to make 20m straws a week for clients including McDonald’s and Showcase Cinemas.
With the well-publicised issues around the availability of PPE for frontline workers, the firm mobilised its team in an alternative direction to create a face shield.
Managing director Lorenzo Angelucci thanked the Close team for moving quickly to help the firm free up cashflow.
“We’ve been aware of the national challenge of sourcing PPE, so as a packaging manufacturer we challenged ourselves to see what we could do to help in this fight. We’re delighted to have designed, produced and received regulatory approval for a face shield that can be produced quickly and in large quantities, providing affordable protection from airborne liquid particles.”
He said the firm’s disposable face shields would help provide Covid-19 protection across Wales for “front line care providers, shopkeepers, care home workers, retail employees and restaurant staff.”
It plans to up production to 1m masks a week initially, increasing to 2m based on demand. The masks have achieved the CE mark for Covid-19 protection and are currently being trialled in hospitals across Wales.
Close Brothers Asset Finance helped the business restructure its finance arrangements to free up cashflow for the initiative.
“While these are unprecedented times, our support for our customers remains undimmed,” said Paul Philbrick, sales director at Close Brothers Asset Finance’s print division.
“When Transcend reached out to us to see if we could re-structure their agreements to free up headroom and allow them to manage cashflow during the current pandemic, we didn’t hesitate.”
Close Brothers relationship manager Jordan Pocock said the new finance deal would provide Transcend with “the peace of mind they needed, knowing they could manage overheads for the foreseeable future while also exploring alternative routes to market.”
He added: “We’re confident, with the continued support of Close Brothers Asset Finance, Transcend will successfully trade through what is an uncertain time and will operate at full capacity when everything returns to normal.”
Transcend was established in 2017.
