Helmet Brand Steelbird ventures out healthcare business

New Delhi: Asia's largest helmet manufacturer Steelbird Hi-tech India (SBHT) apart from producing its popular range of motorcycle helmets - and riding gears has ventured into the health care segment. To begin with, the company has launched a wide range of healthcare products to offer protection amidst the COVID-19 pandemic including Face shields, PPE kits, Gloves, Oximeter and masks besides OTC Immunity Boosters Medicines for the domestic market.

The products are being manufactured and its existing plants in Baddi & Noida.   SBHT has cutting edge manufacturing facilities in all 6 of its plants and the largest one is in Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), near Chandigarh with over one hundred and fifty thousand Sq. ft. of covered area.

Commenting on the current need of the medical devices, Mr. Rajeev Kapur, Managing Director, Steelbird Group indicated, “Face shield, PPE kits, gloves, oximeter and masks have become central to the Covid-19 conversation as the disease tightens its grip on the world. They are regarded as essential items in hospitals, where the equipment could prove the difference between life and death for doctors, nurses and patients.

And it’s not just in healthcare where medical products like face masks, face shields and gloves are gaining traction. While schools have closed, many businesses are avoiding public meetings to reduce the spread of the virus; large sections of the general public must still venture outside their homes for groceries and essential work.

An increasing number of these citizens are attempting to mitigate the risk by wearing face shields and gloves. This is particularly important for key workers who rely on public transport or operate in an environment where it’s hard to maintain adequate social distancing.”

Looking at the growing demand and need for offering quality and innovative medical devices Steelbird helmets made an entry into the healthcare business early this year.

Further giving an insight into Steelbird venturing the medical segment Mr. Rajeev Kapur said, "With the widespread Coronavirus this is the need of the hour, we thought of coming with products that give protection to people; and since our brand is built around safety, expanding into this area was a direction we saw fit.  So, we have entered this medical device segment with our Face shields, PPE kits, gloves, oximeter and Herbal Immunity Booster SHOTs and N95 Masks. These products are made after a lot of R& D to improve the efficiency and the fit aspect.
Further throwing light on adding new products and scaling up of production Mr. Kapur added “We have launched different varieties of face shields and from producing produce 15,000 units daily currently we have started producing 40,000 units per day.

Face shields are essential in added defence against COVID-19 as they protect the eyes. It has been proven that the virus can enter the body from the eye which is why face shields are more important than face shields. Our range currently includes shields for the general public, kids, women and special shields for Doctors that come with an anti-fog coating as ICU temperatures are cold and require this.”

Steelbird recently launched an innovative GN-1 HF Static Face Shield, which is a first of its kind revolutionary hand free face shield. The face shield not only helps to save from coronavirus infection but one can also pick or receive a phone call, it can be connected through an aux that enables you to take the calls and enjoy the music. Prior to this the company had launched 5 different types of face shields along with face shields exclusively designed and manufactured for kids.

Mr Kapur also indicated that demand has been high for these medical products and the distributors account for 50 per cent of the sales while the remaining 50 per cent gap is filled in by the e-commerce platforms like Amazon.in.

Furthermore, the company is also offering gloves, niqabs, balaclavas and PPE Kit that uses a premium fabric like used in European countries and also a set of Doctor’s goggles that come with an anti-fog layer.

Steelbird is using its existing manufacturing facility for making these medical devices.