The Pete Maravich Assembly Center at LSU has hosted a PPE production facility for about the last month and now the operation is wrapping up. Director of Economic Development at LSU Greg Trahan says during that time, they made a big impact on the PPE needs of the state’s healthcare workers.
“We hit almost 21,000 gowns in about 30 days. In addition, we produced nearly 10,000 face shields,” said Trahan.
Over one million square feet of billboard vinyl was used to make gowns and roughly 100 employees assisted in the project. Trahan says the project showcased LSU’s ability to bring together different departments to tackle a project and do so in a highly productive manner.
“One company that visited the operation said, ‘LSU did in 30 days what it would have taken us six months to do,’ and we know that we can now find challenges like that,” said Trahan.
The project also produced over 2,000 gallons of hand sanitizer. Trahan anticipates the project will have a long-lasting legacy at LSU.
“It really underscored that when you turn the innovation engine on at a place like LSU, you can do some pretty remarkable things. It’s opened some eyes on campus and we’ve already started talking about where do we direct this energy,” said Trahan.