Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a constant requirement to increase the number of masks available around the world.
Michelin Producing Medical Equipment
In response to this emergency, Michelin has mobilised its teams’ capacity for innovation as well as the Group’s expertise in research, materials, manufacturing and scientific intelligence to develop, produce and deliver several types of mask in large quantities and within short timeframes.
Through this initiative, Michelin is playing an active part in the global battle against the Covid-19 pandemic, both by increasing the number of masks it donates to health-care workers in the countries where it operates, and by protecting the health and safety of its own employees by providing them with masks.
Following the initialisation phase now underway, Michelin will produce some 400,000 category 1 surgical masks weekly, either in its own workshops or in collaboration with partners or subcontractors. Ten sites in Europe have already been selected, including La Combaude in Clermont-Ferrand (France), Olsztyn (Poland) and Zalău (Romania). European capacity will be extended in the coming weeks thanks to the deployment of similar initiatives in North America.
The OCOV FMP1 or FMP2 mask, entirely developed and manufactured in France’s Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in record time, is affordable and sustainable. It can be produced in large quantities and reused up to 100 times thanks to five washable, interchangeable filters.
Production of a prototype batch of 5,000 units is underway. The goal is to produce one million masks per week by May, leading to total production of more than five million masks by end-June – the equivalent of 500 million single-use masks.
