Ontario Premier Doug Ford loads ASTM Level 3 masks made by The Woodbridge Group in Woodbridge, Ont. on Tuesday, April 7, 2020. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)
Ontario-made medical masks are rolling off the line at a GTA auto parts manufacturer thanks in part to engineers at McMaster University.
The ASTM Level 3 masks made by The Woodbridge Group and INOAC corp. were tested by teams at the university to tweak design and performance.
On Tuesday morning Premier Doug Ford was on hand in Woodbridge, Ont. to personally pick up the first load of 1,000.
"These masks will be made here in the millions," he said during a media update later in the day.
"This is what the workshop of Canada looks like. Once we get Ontario's manufacturing powerhouse going it's a machine that can't be stopped."
The masks still need to be certified before they can be used by all frontline healthcare workers whose supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) is dwindling. But the premier's office says Health Canada has approved Woodbridge's plans to start production.
•The parking lot hand-off that could mean 'millions of masks' for people fighting COVID-19
•Burlington business, Stitch It, to make 78,000 masks a week to fight COVID-19
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association (APMA) previously told CBC that Woodbridge, which typically makes headliners and load floors, along with foam seating and other materials for the automotive industry, worked to re-tool its production lines after he called for the industry to step up in the fight against COVID-19.
Volpe hand-delivered the first mask prototypes to John Preston, associate dean of research and external relations with McMaster's faculty of engineering, in a Ziploc bag just 11 days ago.
"We've been working on this around the clock," Volpe wrote on Twitter, adding the efforts of McMaster were critical in making production possible. "The reinforcements are arriving!"