Client Spotlight

Keystone Solutions Group, Kalamazoo, MI

“Get it done” is a key mantra at Keystone Solutions Group. Flexibility, problem solving, and commitment to working overtime to “get it done” stood the company in good stead when COVID-19 began spreading in the US in the first quarter of 2020. The Michigan-based product development and medical device contract manufacturing company knew as the shelter-in-place mandates came out that Keystone could be a part of the solution.

“Healthcare organizations were foreseeing a gap in testing,” said David Furchak, Launch Architect at Keystone. A trusted economic development organization connected Keystone with a healthcare partner. As the requests for testing products rolled in, Keystone began producing swabs. “It was four weeks from the first request to the first set of swabs going out,” he said.

While Keystone’s regular business remained strong, the swab production required many at the company to take on a new job on top of their daily work. “We wanted to have a positive impact on the COVID pandemic,” Furchak said, which required employees to work overtime and on the weekends.

“That’s where Andersen Scientific was willing to jump in and understood how to get there,” he said. Andersen expedited the validation and packaging of Keystone’s swabs starting in March 2020. “The employees at Andersen have been good about figuring out the best path forward. Their collaboration and willingness to have conference calls at all hours is the key to success.”

Keystone has built its own success on collaboration and innovation. Founder Jim Metzger started the company as a consulting firm in his basement in 1997 to bring ideas to fruition. Concepts from a wide range of industries: automotive, consumer goods, aerospace… all were met with enthusiasm. “Jim is a visionary, and he turns that vision over to the management team,” Furchak said.

About 12 years ago, the focus narrowed to medical device manufacturing, and that was when Furchak joined the team. He helped the medical device part of the business find its footing—they are ISO 13485:2016 certified and FDA registered-—and they have served clients in wound care, diagnostic devices, imaging products, orthopedic packaging, airway and respiratory, and other areas. Since then, they have built relationships through the years that allow Keystone to take action when the partner has needs that match a Keystone skill set.

In only a few short months since the start of the pandemic, Keystone has worked to produce both swabs and PPE. The product development team initiated a disposable face shield project and transferred the assembly, sales and distribution to Goodwill in Michigan. In June, to continue its work with swabs, Keystone’s medical device manufacturing team began making sterile sample collection devices, or kits, that contain a sterilized swab in Tyvek packaged with a vial and cap in a pouch. Furchak noted that there is likely to be a need for testing at healthcare institutions for a while.

At Keystone, the pace hasn’t slowed down, and that’s the way Furchak likes it. “Our employees live by our values: ownership, collaborative, serve with humility, get it done, and fun,” he said. “Our values give us direction and an anchor. We know we’re all headed in the same direction.”