The German machinery and plant manufacturer Reifenhäuser Reicofil has temporarily converted two of its test plants due to the corona pandemic: The lines installed in the nonwovens technology center, which are otherwise exclusively used for research and development as well as customer trials, have been producing meltblown material for the production of urgently needed face masks for one week. This is the company’s response to the current emergency in the supply of medical protective material.
Dr. Bernd Kunze, CEO of Reifenhäuser Reicofil, explains the decision as follows: “We have considered what contribution we can make in this crisis. This is of course mainly the fast delivery of meltblown lines to build up additional capacities. We have drastically reduced our delivery times here. But we also wanted to provide support at shorter notice. Until the currently lacking capacities are built up, we are therefore stepping in with the test plants in our pilot plant station. Not using this capacity now would be irresponsible in our view.”
Until further notice, the meltblown lines will be operated in 4-shift operation 24/7. The daily output is sufficient for up to one million face masks. Trial operations will be almost completely suspended during this period. For Michael Maas, who is responsible for the test plant, this is not a problem: “Due to the corona pandemic, the customer visits and tests that were actually planned have increasingly been cancelled, so that plant capacities and personnel capacities have been freed up anyway. Switching the plant from test to production operation therefore makes double sense”.