![Manchester Tank gets innovative to prevent the spread of COVID-19](/upl/images/content-blocks/5e8f78efeed1632ba366c-a2f16dd1.jpg)
Being classified as an “essential” business comes with an assortment of challenges – one of which is keeping our team members virus-free. The innovators at Manchester Tank’s Elkhart facility have come up with a very clever way to open doors without spreading germs!
From tooling devices for the medical community to coming up with a way to open a door hands free, our team members prove time and again just how determined and innovative they are. With the Covid-19 virus spreading, the CDC is stressing the importance of touching pretty much everything with care or not at all. That's all they needed to say to get Manchester Tank Elkhart Maintenance Manager Doug Barbour thinking of a creative way to limit team member exposure when opening doors.
Not only did they come up with an innovative device that would enable team members to open doors with their foot, they used scrap material to do it. 4"x6"x18" scrap aluminum parts to be exact. They took a piece of aluminum, bent a small curve at the tip, folded the unit in half, welded it at the center to add stability and added stair tread adhesive (anti-slip) tape and mounted it to the bottom of the door. It works like a charm. When appropriate, they also pulled the door handles off to force the use of the foot pull.
We have always been extremely proud of our team members, but at time like this our team members really show just how smart, dedicated and creative they are. Great job team Elkhart!