3M Doubled Production of N95 Face Masks to Fight Coronavirus

A 3M N95 surgical mask.

The company is using "surge capacity" to increase the production of N95 masks to fight the pandemic. Localized supply chains are a secret weapon, too.

Bryan Gruley and

Rick Clough

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Andrew Rehder, manager of 3M Co.'s respirator mask factory in Aberdeen, S.D., got the call from headquarters on Tuesday, Jan. 21. He gathered about 20 managers and supervisors 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 in the 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 overtime. "We knew it wouldn't be a two-week blip, it would be longer," Rehder says. "But I had no idea."