Northwest Aerospace News June | July Issue No. 15 | Page 38

One might assume that with this mindset, Kaas may already be positioned for wanting to be of service to the community and to helping save lives. In this case, Kaas contacted his partner design company Design on Stock in Holland and asked them to engineer designs that could work for this purpose. That happened on March 18, 2020. By March 20, they had designs and had ordered raw materials. They worked through that weekend and now have been sewing six days a week to produce PPEs for the health care industry. This is impressive, but beyond their expeditious response, they went further, taking the designs, making them open source and posting them on the homepage of their website. The patterns are online and there are instructions for making the products. Kaas took on this project knowing that he would need to partner with a variety of other companies who can cut, sew, assemble and ship the products. He then turned around and hired his customers — Nordstrom included — to ensure that they could take on sewing and production as well. The challenge within their sewing network is to make 100 million masks. One of the other stunning facts about Kaas Tailored, that makes this picture complete, is that they are experts on waste reduction and sustainability. They have been giving Kaizen factory tours for 10 years and have toured 40,000 people through the factory, showing how to do things right. Kaas and team have learned how to work well together, grow people to their highest potential, partner with others, reduce waste, and now save lives, one face mask at a time. Kaas Tailored 13000 Beverly Park Rd, Mukilteo, WA 98275 [phone] [email protected] https://kaastailored.com 38 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS