The Mask Is Urgent! How To Protect The "First Line Of Defense"?

The "first line of defense" mask for epidemic protection is still in short supply, and in some areas there is even a dilemma of "hard cover". Zhongqing Bao Zhongqing net reporter recently contacted production enterprises in Hubei, Anhui, Guangdong and other places, and found that many enterprises are working overtime to organize production. However, problems such as hard labor in the Spring Festival, difficult supply of raw materials, rising costs, and the resumption of work on the upstream and downstream enterprises have greatly restricted production capacity. According to data from the Ministry of industry and commerce, many enterprises are now on holiday and production has reached more than 8 million per day. The highest daily yield was about 20000000 when the epidemic did not occur.

5 times wage workers return factory

The Hubei Wei medical technology Co., Ltd., located in Wuhan, started recalling workers with a 3 times overtime fee from the beginning of the new year, but few of them were willing to rework. The daily output of more than 10 thousand days was only a few thousand.

200 workers 24 hours and two shifts, LIFAair, located in Dongguan, Guangdong, can guarantee 20 thousand Nissan masks. Zhang Wendong, chief executive, told an interview with Zhongqing Bao Zhongqing net reporter that the workers were less than half of the factory. At present, some of them were workers who did not stay at home. Temporary training was applied to the factory. "The front end of our workshop is automated mechanical production line, but loading steps such as loading frames, breathing valves and other details require manual completion. Therefore, manpower is the biggest problem. They only have a day off from thirty to thirty, and pay 3 times the wages according to the state regulations".

Sichuan Heng Ming Technology Development Co., Ltd. in January 21st organized workers to return to work, "a production machine needs 3 workers, three shifts, a total of 18 people. Inspection, sterilization, warehousing and other links also need workers. " Liao Jiaming, general manager of the company, said that the production limit of a factory is 120 thousand masks a day, and the machine runs at high loads every day. "Because the mask shop is sterile, workers must wear protective clothing when they enter. In order to reduce the waste of protective clothing, the workers basically go to the toilet for 8 hours, and the water can not drink a few mouthpieces".

"Production personnel are not enough, only temporary family members." Cheng Yushan, director of Wellkang labor protection products Co., Ltd., Tongcheng, Anhui, said that at the end of 2019, the workshop had just been built and there were more than ten normal production workers. Some employees return home from the new year or worry about the epidemic. They are not willing to return to work. "Our factory is relatively small, and has no ability to pay high wages, so the staff can go back to work. So on the premise of doing a good job of health and safety measures, we can only let our families get on the job, basically working 10 hours a day." During the Spring Festival, she and her family spent most of their time in factories.

More than 20 home cover manufacturers have resumed production in Qing Cao Town, Tongcheng, but there are shortages of manpower. Gan Jian, the director of robust health materials Co., Ltd., told reporters that in order to speed up production, the company began to hire workers back to work at a wage of 5 times, and mechanized production for more than 18 hours a day.

"At present, the number of volunteers on our production line is 5 times the number of workers returning to posts, and the proportion of employees returning to posts is less than 10%." Dai Yelan, a staff member of Anhui monick medical materials Co., Ltd., said that since January 25th, the company has openly sought help from the society. More than 20 volunteers have come to apply for the production of protective clothing and masks. Many of them are retirees. Volunteers are mainly engaged in simple handwork such as cutting, folding, gluing and so on. The staff of the company are responsible for the technical work of sewing machines and adhesive tape machines.

Prices of some raw materials have risen 10 times.

"Disposable medical masks cost 20 Fen, but raw materials suppliers for masks are distributed in Sichuan, Guangdong, Henan and Jiangsu." Liao Jiaming told reporters that "a big problem facing the factory after the resumption of production is the price of raw materials and the increase is 40%~50%."

This is not the status quo of an enterprise. The supply cost of the entire mask industry chain is rising due to the outbreak of the epidemic. Liao Jiaming pointed out that raw materials suppliers are also facing difficulties in resuming work during the Spring Festival, "they also have to bear labor costs".

"A mask requires raw materials including non-woven fabrics, ear wear, nose clips, melted cloth and so on. It is difficult to ensure that every raw material can be supplied. Coupled with logistical outage and traffic control, transportation is also a problem. " Gan Jian said, "the price of masks on the market has increased, many of which are caused by rising raw materials and labor costs, and some raw material costs have increased by 5~10 times."

Zhongqing Bao Zhongqing network reporter learned that the upstream enterprises of mask manufacturers include raw material suppliers, production machine distributors, and so on. Downstream enterprises include packaging materials suppliers, printing factories, etc.

"Machine equipment is not in place, only one automatic machine is in production, the rest are semi-automatic, all need to be equipped with production personnel." Cheng Yushan said that the lack of production machinery, production personnel can not increase production capacity.

Zhang Wendong is worried that the market demand is too big now, and no planning will lead to low level construction. "Now many enterprises are waiting for mask machines to buy machinery."

The biggest problem for Shu Jia son, head of Hubei Wei Qin Medical Technology Co. Ltd., is the interruption of raw materials supply and downstream, especially the packaging of masks.

"We make the semi finished products directly packed, the packaging is relatively simple, and the professional skills are not very high. Now there are only two workers, and the staff in the office will also help." Shu Jia explained that as the packaging materials suppliers came to work only in the early tenth of the year, and with limited traffic, the freight companies could not keep up with them in time, resulting in the production of masks that could not be packaged and then unable to enter the market.

The LIFAair masks were originally printed on the packaging bags, and Zhang Wendong said that since the packaging inkjet company did not go to work until after fifteen of the month, it is now part of the workers who print their own paper manuals.

Can a large masks be commissioned?

"Mask production process is not complicated, but after production, it takes 16 hours to sterilize, so that it can be applied to the market after the use of standards." Liao Jiaming believes that the time consuming of mask production is also a reason for slow production and insufficient supply.

According to epidemic protection tips, masks need to be replaced once every 4 hours. In the medical field, the gap is even bigger. Many hospitals around the world have issued announcements in succession, announcing the urgent need for respirators and other protective appliances.

Zhang Wendong believes that the reason for the lack of medical masks is that the production enterprises are few, because the demand for medical masks is low under normal circumstances. "The production cost of medical masks is relatively high. After production, they need to be transported to qualified enterprises to sterilize ethylene oxide and put them back for sale after placing them."

In response to the huge demand, Zhang Wendong proposed that a quick response mechanism should be established. Enterprises with technology and sales channels could entrust some medical qualified gauze and bandage enterprises to produce on behalf of them so as to improve the production of medical masks.

The Management Committee of Dongguan Songshan Lake high tech Industrial Development Zone, where LIFAair is located, actively inquired about the needs of enterprises and coordinated the solution of raw material supply and printing of printing plants. This made Zhang Wendong feel very practical. "The government is helping us solve the problem of mask."

In response to the current problem of mask masks, a new coronavirus infection prevention and control emergency command has been set up everywhere. Zhongqing Bao Zhongqing network reporter learned from the Anhui Provincial Department of economic and information technology. At present, the provincial office has set up 4 working groups, namely, comprehensive information, material support, production supervision, coordination and liaison, and has sent 9 rehabilitation inspection teams and 12 enterprise coordination teams to various localities. 6 office leaders have helped the enterprises to solve the problems of difficult employment and difficult transportation of raw materials. Through the coordination of provincial offices, local governments, human resources and traffic management departments have opened a green channel for reopening enterprises. Up to now, 68 enterprises in the province have resumed 54 households. At the same time, according to the Anhui provincial trust agency, there is no enterprise in Anhui province that produces remote automatic thermometers, N95 masks, masks, goggles and other materials. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the procurement, coordination and allocation of materials outside the province, so as to ensure material reserves.

Since January 30th, in order to solve the contradiction between the supply and demand of mask, Anhui has begun to put the price mask on the market. Anqing has put 100 thousand KN95 masks into pharmacies and supermarkets, and each mask has been priced at 7 yuan. The Chuzhou municipal government has put in disposable medical masks through the 235 drugstores (including counties and cities) to the Chuzhou market, and the unified price is 0.75 yuan per person. The public can purchase medical insurance cards and limit 10 persons / persons.

The Yunnan Provincial Department of industry and information technology announced in January 30th that it had organized the masks manufacturing enterprises in the province to resume production, and coordinated the enterprises' difficulties in raw material supply, transportation and logistics, water and electricity and other production factors. (edited by Ministry of Economic Affairs)