2020-03-30_Bloomberg_Businessweek

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Bloomberg Businessweek March 30, 2020

AndrewRehder,managerof3MCo.’srespirator

maskfactoryinAberdeen,S.D.,gotthecallfromheadquarters

on Tuesday, Jan. 21. He gathered about 20 managers and super-

visors into a conference room, where they sat, unworried,

less than 6 feet apart. Rehder told them that a new virus was

spreading rapidly in China and that 3M was expecting demand

for protective gear to jump.

The Aberdeen plant had already ramped up production of

respirator masks in response to demand from first responders

battling wildfires in Australia and contending with a volcano

inthe Philippines. Now, Rehder told his charges, Aberdeen

would shift to “surge capacity.” Idle machinery installed for

precisely this purpose would be activated, and many of the

plant’s 650 employees would immediately start working over-

time. “We knew it wouldn’t be a two-week blip, it would be

longer,”Rehdersays.“ButI hadnoidea.”

Thisis 3M’smoment,oneforwhichthestaid,118-year-old

Minnesotamanufacturinggiant—themakerofPost-its,Scotch

tape,touchscreendisplays,andscoresofotherproducts—has

been preparing for almost two decades. Coming out of the

SARS epidemic of 2002-03, 3M realized it wasn’t fully equipped

tohandle unexpected explosions of demand in the event of a

crisis, or what it calls an “X factor.” It decided to build surge

capacity into its respirator factories around the world.

Over the years, with X factors such as the Ebola panic

and the H1N1 flu virus generating flash floods of demand, the

companykeptrefiningitsemergencyresponse.Whenthe

worldstartedclamoringforrespiratormaskstohelpcon-

frontcoronavirus, 3M was ready.

People everywhere are scrambling for ventilators, Covid-19

test kits, bleach, and toilet paper. But almost no item is as

scarce—and as vital to addressing this medical emergency—as

the N95 respirator masks made by 3M, Honeywell, Medicom,

and a smattering of other companies. Without respirators, doc-

tors, nurses, and other medical personnel are at increased risk

ofcontracting the affliction they’re treating.

China, where this coronavirus originated, also happens to

produce half the world’s respirators. As the outbreak spread,

the Chinese government halted mask exports and demanded

that all in-country manufacturers, including 3M, crank up

production. Shortages swiftly developed as Covid-19 cases

appeared in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., forcing health-care

workers to reuse old respirators and cobble together ersatz

masks from materials bought at craft stores. In America, states

are bidding against one another for masks priced as much as

10 times the usual cost of 60¢ to 80¢ apiece.

3M can’t save the day on its own, but it’s promising a remark-

ably large contribution. The company has in two months dou-

bled global production of N95 masks to about 100 million a

month, and it’s planning to invest in new equipment to push

annual mask production to 2 billion within 12 months. On

March22,ChiefExecutiveOfficerMikeRomansaidina news

releasethat3Mhadsent500,000respiratorstohard-hitSeattle

andNewYorkCity,andthatit wasrampingupproductionof

hand sanitizers anddisinfectants as well. Two days later,

Yesterday?

3M meets

the crisis

it’s been

preparing

for

By Bryan Gruley and

Rick Clough

Photograph by

Jamie Chung