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Applied Design Technologies -
Christopher Estkowski
President
Applied Design Technologies
Https://applieddesigntechnologies.com/
Contact:
Christopher Estkowski
616-
cestkowski@applieddesigntechnologies.com
WORKS 3 The Leader in Comfort N95s -
Interview conducted by:
Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor
CEOCFO Magazine
Published – October 17, 2022
CEOCFO: Mr. Estkowski, what is Applied Design Technologies?
Mr. Estkowski: Applied Design Technologies was founded about twenty years ago to design and develop all types of products including the specialty area of respiratory protection. One of our primary core competencies is the design and development of respiratory protection products which include personal protection for the military, first responders, industry, and consumers. That filter design expertise extends to other areas in medical, aerospace and industry where filtration of harmful gases and particulates prevent contamination and damage to human health, instrumentation, or sensitive environments. Consulting, testing, and training supplement our design work and have expanded our customer base over the years.
CEOCFO: Would you explain respiratory protection?
Mr. Estkowski: Respiratory protection is a discipline within the Human Health and Safety Field. Essentially, devices that protect the respiratory tract create a barrier between the respiratory airways and the outside environment while they remove harmful particulates and gases from the air that can create acute or chronic health problems. The first certified respirator was inaugurated in 1920. Today, respiratory protection spans its application from simple face coverings that may block large particulates to the Self-
Mr. Estkowski: Toxic gases are generally well characterized, including those that may be encountered on the battlefield. Removing these gases is a process based in chemistry, emphasis on kinetics and fluid dynamics. The discipline is well understood and there are appropriate substrates (catalysts and adsorbents) that have the ability to remove a broad spectrum of gases and all particulates that could potentially be encountered. Protecting the military during operations is very much a focus on ergonomics rather than chemical removal and how the breathing/filtration systems interface with personnel without compromising their ability to perform all the aspects of their missions.
CEOCFO: Where are you involved in the designing and manufacturing process?
Mr. Estkowski: Applied Design is a small, sometimes specialized company but we have the capability and experience to take a design from the conceptual stage and bring it all the way into the production environment while debugging equipment and training staff to work the design into manufacturing. I think Applied Design is able to service our customers more effectively when we leverage our core competencies while helping customers own their manufacturing. We enjoy helping customers through the really tough parts of the product development transitions, prototyping, testing, tooling, fixturing, even the quality assurance aspects are covered in whatever detail is necessary to ensure our customers can get the best product launch possible.
CEOCFO: Are there many companies that do something similar to what you do, and how would someone who might need your services know to look for Applied Design?
Mr. Estkowski: I think there may be a number of companies that have the talent and scope to cover all these bases, but this ability has been acquired over 35 years of industry experience working every aspect of the manufacturing process evolving into a concise experience base that is easy to search and find solutions quickly. To duplicate this in a corporation with a larger staff is extremely costly and out of reach for many of our customers. Initially, customers may not realize they need the breadth of experience Applied Design offers only to discover, when they run into trouble, having that expertise is essential. Much of the work Applied Design has been given over the years were seemingly unsolvable problems, or problems that needed a fix immediately, even overnight at times. We have always managed to bring a solution, implement the fix, and help these customers in their time of need. These challenges are surprisingly enjoyable, and I have personally witnessed the relief of many customers that have saved huge time delays and thousands of dollars in the course of their work with us.
In the respirator specialty, most companies have in house talent they use for the work Applied Design performs but even these have used us to solve problems they learn we have experienced. This is a money and time saver for them, and we are happy to help them out of these tough spots. There have been many lost weekends and late nights working on our customer’s critical issues that need an immediate fix. When these situations arise, there is no one other than Applied Design Technologies that is ready to make it happen, without notice and with a complex problem thrown on our plate late Friday afternoon. We do not wait for Monday or tomorrow and very often have it done by Monday or tomorrow. Leveraging Applied Design’s knowledge base and having all the tools at hand have allowed us to differentiate our service from others.
If there is a downside to this, it is many of our customers compete with one another, so they generally hold information close and do not share resources making word of mouth recommendations to others limited.
CEOCFO: We came upon Applied Design Technologies from your participation in Defense Tech Connect. Do you typically reach out in that manner?
Mr. Estkowski: Generally, we have not, but a couple projects over the last few years where we were recommended have exposed us to opportunities that may fit our core competencies. We took on a project with a customer to provide a design for a respirator to potentially be used for the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA) emergency stockpile efforts. Applied Design completed the initial phase of the program securing the second phase for our customer. We also had a great opportunity to work with NASA JPL on the Mars Lander providing them a manufacturing solution for incorporating the atmospheric filter element into the Mars Oxygen In-
Our outreach to Tech Connect is related to a respirator we are developing that we think is new, unique and solves comfort and communication issues in a novel way. My colleague, Ken Kershner is responsible for identifying this opportunity and along with another colleague, Paul Newby, we have a passion for raising the performance bar on respirators available to the general public and essential workers. Our respirator, The Works 3, invokes the Three Musketeers Novel theme knowing we were embarking on an epic adventure. The respirator design/development has advanced through the testable prototype phase and met our performance objectives. Design refinements are being made and we are soliciting quotes for tooling to produce our Engineering Validation Test assemblies (EVT). Since these expenses are high, we are working to find partners/funding to expedite our efforts and allow us the time to design the next two size roles and an adolescent size role for the respirator. Our modular filter and easily tooled faceseal provide the ability to make many sizes and meet hard to fit challenges where other respirators are too costly to produce.
The adolescent size role development is particularly challenging and requires both empirical study and extensive fit testing. The logistics of achieving this is complicated but needed in order to establish respiratory protection for our youth population that is as good as it is for our adult population. We think Works 3 can fill a void for our youth population and improve comfort and communication enhanced options for adults along the way.
Mr. Estkowski: There are plenty of new materials, Nano technologies and substrates (catalysts, adsorbents). There is quite a bit of development in catalytic substrates for removing various chemicals improving efficacy of filters for these applications. There are also improvements in textile development of particulate filter materials including PTFE laminates, meltblown filtering media and spun-
Mr. Estkowski: Applied Design has proven itself as a problem solver with a sense of urgency, a thorough understanding of the process and a wide range of experience in design and manufacturing. We are pretty much a go-
Applied Design Technologies | Christopher Estkowski | Military Respirator | First Responder Respirator | Medical Respirators N95 | Applied Design Technologies -