Extrusion International 3-2020

36 Extrusion International 3/2020 TOOLING, PRODUCING MASKS Such capacity expansion was at first estimated to take six months – much too slow compared to the speed at which COVID-19 spreads. But it end- ed up taking only 40 days to build up all the 92 sets of automated mask production lines with support from the machine tool industry. Mask production from 2.24 million per day to 13 million In late January, COVID-19 had begun to spread globally, and Taiwan was at the front line of the strike. Know- ing little about the virus, the govern- ment decided to expand mask pro- duction capacity so that it would be capable of supplying enough masks for domestic demand, and it needed 92 sets of automated lines which re- quired six months for assembly. These were the replies when the many Taiwan machine tools manu- Taiwan Machine Tool Industry Helps Make Taiwan the World’s Second Largest Manufacturer of Masks in Just 40 Days volunteering on site during the busi- est time, and an average of 60 work- ers were there every day. Taiwanmask productionwas at 2mil- lion and 240 thousand masks per day in January, and it has been increased fivefold within 40 days to 13 million in March. Now, 17 million masks are produced per day. The new manufacturing trend: Safeguarding factory work with new tech for remote control management By sending staff to support mask pro- duction, the corresponding travelling facturers heard about the difficulties faced with mask production. Over 80 manufacturers immediately or- ganized to volunteer and send out staff to join in the mask machine as- sembly. Given that masks were not a common household necessity as they are now, the lack of manpower made assembly of the 92 sets a hard task. The volunteers came in to fill in for the needed workforce, and they also self-produced parts that were lack- ing for mask assembly. They even as- sisted in troubleshooting during the test runs. Up to 100 workers were With COVID-19 devastating world manufacturing now, most factories have either paused work or are slowly recovering. Contrary to most of the world, Taiwan is still able to maintain full staff levels in offices. A part of this result can be attributed to the massive increase in mask production capacity, which now has made Taiwan rank the world’s second largest mask supplier “As long as we are provided with the built-up layout, we can assemble it.” “If there’s demand for robotics in combating COVID-19, we will make it our priority to support.” “We can help handle the electrical circuits.”