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". The meltblown material from the nonwoven technology center is already sold out for the next five weeks. As no German or European producer for further processing could be found so far, the nonwoven fabric is going to a Vietnamese manufacturer of face masks. However, Reifenhäuser continues to look for opportunities to strengthen the local supply during this crisis.