3M ramps up N95 respirator production to fight COVID-19

“We continue to act with urgency to address this crisis from every angle, and do all we can to protect our heroic nurses, doctors and first responders. As previously communicated, beginning in January we ramped up to maximum production of N95 respirators, doubling our global output to a rate of 1.1 billion per year, or 100 million per month. This includes 35 million per month in the United States, and over just the last seven days we have delivered 10 million N95 respirators to healthcare facilities in states across the country, said chairman and CEO Mike Roman of 3M.

“We’ve already put into motion additional investments and actions that will enable us to double our capacity once again, to 2 billion globally within the next 12 months – and some of that additional capacity will begin to come online in the next 60-90 days. In the United States, we expect to be producing N95 respirators at a rate of 50 million per month in June, a 40 per cent increase from current levels.

It’s also important to understand how we are prioritising and shipping products to serve the most urgent needs in this pandemic. In the US, more than 90 per cent of our N95 respirators are going to healthcare and public health, with the remaining deployed to other critical industries such as energy, food and pharmaceuticals.

Of our US supply directed toward healthcare and public health, roughly 80 per cent is flowing rapidly through our healthcare distributors – primarily consisting of six large and well-known companies with incredible logistical capabilities – which is the quickest and most effective method of getting those supplies into the hands of workers. These N95 respirators are moving directly from 3M, to our healthcare distributors, to healthcare facilities and end-users. We are working closely with these partners to expedite delivery even more, which in some cases includes moving pallets directly from our plants into critical areas – as we have done over the last week to New York City and Seattle. The remaining 20 per cent is being directed to the federal government, with the largest portion going to FEMA who will allocate based on their determination of the most urgent needs. The prioritisation and distribution of all of our N95 respirators are being coordinated in close partnership with FEMA, and we are directly embedded with them at their headquarters to help streamline decision-making and action.

This is not just a 3M challenge; it’s an industry-wide challenge. Even with 3M’s accelerated production combined with capacity from other manufacturers, the reality is that demand for N95 respirators is much higher than the industries’ ability to deliver. That is why we continue to explore innovative partnerships and solutions to help protect our healthcare workers in this extraordinary time.

Given the high use rate of N95 respirators, 3M engineers are right now collaborating with several sterilisation companies to find a way for hospitals to safely clean, reuse and extend the life of these respirators.

Additionally, we are partnering with Ford to bolster production of 3M’s powered air purifying respirators (PAPRs), which are highly specialised pieces of equipment used in the most demanding healthcare environments. We’re moving forward quickly with the goal of increasing PAPR production by six-fold within the next 60 to 90 days.

Our people are working around the clock to accelerate all of these timelines, and I want to thank our 96,000 3Mers for your tireless efforts – including those in our plants and distribution centres who are helping make and deliver critical supplies to where they’re desperately needed. We continue to prioritise the safety of our people and do all we can to support them – from remote work when possible, to social distancing and robust protocols for cleaning in our plants.

We also continue to act on reports of counterfeiting and price gouging related to 3M’s respirators. This activity is unethical and illegal, and we’re doing all we can to end it. A week ago, I sent a letter to the US. Attorney General and the attorneys general of every state making clear that 3M has not and will not raise its prices for respirators in this crisis, and offering our assistance in the fight against unconscionable activities. We’re actively working with law enforcement, our retail partners and others to identify and punish perpetrators. To help our customers identify and avoid inflated prices, today we are publicly publishing the list prices for our N95 respirators, and activating a hotline to help customers and end-users verify the authenticity of 3M products and report suspected fraud. We’ve also made it clear to our channel partners that 3M will not tolerate any such activity, and that we will aggressively pursue third parties that seek to take advantage of this crisis.

As disappointing as this unethical activity is, it is equally heartening to see so many step up to help the world get through this crisis – including the many retailers and 3M customers that have voluntarily contributed or donated their excess stockpiles of respirators and other key supplies. We’ll get through this together, and 3M and our people will continue to do all we can to protect lives and defeat this disease.”

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (PC)