The BIC Redon factory makes protective visors

The BIC factory is moving from the BIC lighter and the ballpoint pen to protective visors against Covid-19. It intends to make this product over the long term, as it did with the diving-mask filters it distributed free of charge to health workers.

The lighter giant reinvents itself during the Covid-19 epidemic

It is at Redon, in Ille-et-Vilaine, that the BIC factory decided to take part in the collective effort during the Covid-19 epidemic. Although they make more than three million lighters a day, the factory’s 450 employees have turned to making protective visors. The site manager had the idea of producing prototypes for care staff. In all, close to 20,000 items have been distributed to hospitals, to the gendarmerie, to care homes and to schools in the town.

The visors were first created for the factory’s employees, in order to protect them and keep production going. As the trial proved conclusive, the BIC factory decided to widen its scope.

Useful and effective equipment

The products are laser cut and the head support was designed using 3D printers. The factory has even moved on to plastic injection, as the managing director of the BIC group’s lighter division explained.

The visors have also been distributed in schools and will be cleaned twice a day. Only adults will be required to wear them all day long. Families will decide for themselves whether their child wears one or not.

A likely diversification of products

BIC does not rule out offering this type of product continuously and for sale. Production is indeed ramping up: 20,000 supports and 40,000 visors could be made each day. Visors are consumables and need to be replaced because of possible scratches.

These are not the only items the BIC factory has produced since the epidemic began. It also offers so-called “home-made” adaptors, designed specifically for Decathlon diving masks. The antiviral filter is fitted in place of the snorkel. Distributed free of charge to care staff, 20,000 pieces have been made and shipments have been sent abroad. BIC does not, however, wish to make it a permanent product.