2020-04-15
Öhringen, April 15th, 2020. Filtration Group Industrial, a global filtration company based in Öhringen, Baden-Württemberg, converts a part of its production to breathing masks within one week. The reason for the production switch – in addition to the personal requirements for the workforce – is to provide the population with urgently needed breathing masks. In this way, the expert in industrial filtration technology makes its contribution to society in times of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic – and lives up to its claim of making the world safer, healthier and more productive.
The production of the breathing mask starts immediately. Around 30,000 masks will be produced in the production plant in Öhringen every week. This is made possible by the combined expertise of the company as a filter media supplier and filter manufacturer, quick decision-making processes that characterize German medium-sized companies and a short supply chain within Europe. “In a first step, we will equip our employees with our own breathing masks. In this way we can ensure that production can continue for our core business and at the same time that we take appropriate account of health protection”, explains Gunnar Halden, President FG Industrial, and adds: « We have never had a change in production at this speed before. I am proud of what we have achieved together in a very short time. ”
After providing their own workforce with breathing masks, local companies and institutions of public interest, as well as private individuals, will be supplied. The Filtration Group would like to donate the first 10,000 masks to public institutions at their production sites. By producing breathing masks for private use, Filtration Group Industrial wants to help ensure that higher-quality, medically certified protective masks according to the FFP2 and FFP3 standard can continue to be used in hospitals and medical centers.
Thanks to the close cooperation within the Filtration Group, the filtration expert is able to manufacture the breathing mask almost entirely its own. Back in 2017, Filtration Group Industrial and its sister company Filtrair BV from Heerenveen in the Netherlands pooled their expertise for the first time and jointly developed a special filter system that can separate droplets and thus protects offshore wind turbines from aggressive saline particles and moisture. Exactly this filter medium should now be used in the breathing mask, since it has the right properties to reduce the spread of the virus by droplet infection.
« I am glad that we can use our technological expertise to reduce the risk of infection from a droplet infection with the Corona virus, » Halden continues. According to virologists, protection does not primarily serve the wearer of the mask itself, but separating the droplets through the breathing mask can significantly reduce the risk of infection.
The air filter media from the specialist for industrial filtration technology are put to the test every day in a wide variety of industrial applications and have to solve complex tasks everywhere. The company has the technology to reliably remove even the finest particles and aerosols from intake and exhaust air of highly complex industrial processes. In a second step, therefore, the plant in the Netherlands is currently examining to what extent the production lines can be adapted that certified FFP2 material can be produced and thus the European supply of protective equipment can be supported.
For further questions please contact:
Filtration Group GmbH
Hendrik Borgmeier
Head of Marketing & Communication
Schleifbachweg 45
74613 Öhringen
T +49 (0)7941 6466 366
E-Mail: [email protected]
