Power Technology Provides Sanitizer for Employees and Families

EMMETT WARREN, NEWS EDITOR
emmett.warren@photonics.com

Power Technology Inc., a designer and manufacturer of laser products, made the recent decision to use supplies on hand to create hand sanitizer for employees and their families to combat the spread of COVID-19.

“As a 51-year-old company, Power Technology have weathered seven economic recessions and other types of events,” said Walter Burgess, Power Technology’s vice president of sales and engineering. “We have that experience to draw upon. I think this event is harder for young companies. I think the impact on them is huge.”

Per WHO and CDC guidance, Power Technology used its supply of high-quality alcohol normally used to clean solder flux from printed circuit boards and hydrogen peroxide from the company’s first-aid reserve stock (in order to not remove front-line first-aid supplies) and then added a glycol component purchased from a specialty chemical distributor to create its hand sanitizer.

“As always, hand sanitizer isn’t relied on as the primary defense against COVID-19,” Burgess said. “As business owners, we wanted to do everything we could to protect our team. When we realized that there was a retail shortage of hand sanitizer and that we had the majority of the chemicals needed, we decided to make our own sanitizer. Not only are we using the sanitizer here at work, but we encouraged our team members to take it home. We provided bottles and pouches to refill any containers they had at home.”

Burgess said his company bought all of the available bottles that the local Hobby Lobby had at the time. In addition to sanitizer, Power Technology employees also received free cloth face masks.

“We are really thankful to the medical leadership that the CDC, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and [Arkansas Director of Health at Arkansas Department of Health] Nate Smith has provided during this crisis,” Burgess said. “As a result, Arkansas’ statistics show a lot lower rates of infection than other states.”

Gov. Hutchinson recently appointed Burgess to the board of directors of the Division of Science and Technology at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission.