Is switching from making cars to making face masks to help the fight against the spread of COVID-19 easy?
No says Toyota’s president, Akio Toyoda, whose company is using some of its idle industrial capacity to make COVID-fighting equipment.
Addressing a gathering of Japan’s automotive industry groups, Toyoda says Toyota decided to produce face masks for automobile industry workers.
It became a process of trial and error. “The first prototype face mask we made using auto parts was too stiff.
“Of course, we are continuing to make improvements, but for the first products, we plan to use them amongst ourselves.”
He says Toyota is working to achieve the quality or quantity of face masks for more widespread distribution.
Though producing masks for the automotive is “small in overall impact, we believe even this action can help ease the pressure on the supply chain…as it reduces the amount some companies need to procure from outside manufacturers.”
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