3M Company has increased the production of its N95 respirators in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. They will now be doubling the output to the rate of 100 million per month to provide essential protection for healthcare workers around the world.
In the U.S., 3M produces 35 million per month and more than 90% are designated for the healthcare profession, the remaining will be deployed to other critical professions such as food, pharmaceutical, and energy companies.
3M Company Chairman and CEO Mike Roman released a statement on LinkedIn:
“Like everyone, I see the pleas from our heroic doctors, nurses and first responders for the respirators and other equipment they desperately need. I want people to know we are doing all we can to meet the demands of this extraordinary time and get supplies from our plants to where they’re most needed as quickly as possible. As I write this, more than 500,000 respirators are on the way from our South Dakota plant to two of the more critically impacted areas, New York and Seattle, with arrivals expected starting tomorrow. We are also ready to expedite additional shipments across the country.”
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo thinks the federal government should step in to help regulate the masks. Explaining that currently there is a bidding war going on due to the shortage, and that is causing a price increase, as high as $7 per mask: “I will contract with a company for 1,000 masks. They’ll call back 20 minutes later and say the price just went up because they had a better offer,” said Cuomo.
When contacted by the Washington Post, 3M said they have not changed the price of the masks; however, “the company cannot control the prices dealers or retailers charge for 3M respirators.”
Roman said 3M is accelerating investments to expand their global capacity and anticipates they will be able to double production again when they do they do this will increase numbers to 2 billion respirators. Roman goes on to report:
“We are working with the U.S. and other governments, investigating alternate manufacturing scenarios, and exploring coalitions with other companies to increase capacity further. We’ve also maximized production of a wide range of other solutions being used in the response, including hand sanitizers and disinfectants.”
The federal government’s expansion of the U.S. PREP Act earlier this week helps ensure that all N95 disposable respirators can be used in healthcare settings. Roman commended the government, and Cuomo asked for additional legislation to ensure the respirators are equally available.
Along with increasing their production of masks, 3M is exploring coalition with other companies on a global level to increase capacity even more. In closing, Roman said 3M has a unique and critical responsibility:
“We’re at our best as a society when we come together around a common mission. I’m encouraged at the mobilization we’ve seen around the world – with governments, businesses, NGO’s and individuals going above and beyond to do their part to beat this scourge. We are all in this together, and 3M will continue to do all we can to help protect lives and get the world through this crisis.”
