Samsung Boost Mask Manufacture to Combat Coronavirus

As the new coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread throughout the world, Samsung Electronics established regional response teams providing its employees with needed resources and the latest guidelines from health authorities.

The South Korean government launched a “Win-Win Cooperation” project, in which Samsung Electronics participated. The initiative shares large companies’ infrastructure, know-how, and win-win programs with small and medium-sized enterprises.

Through the government’s project, Samsung lent its expertise to manufacture masks to keep up with the local demand. The tech giant also dispatched its experts to assist three local mask makers in accelerating the manufacturing process.

Win-Win Cooperation

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that the “Win-Win Cooperation” project has paid off since its introduction amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to the ministry, daily production of the four mask manufacturers increased by 51 percent from 920,000 in the previous year to 1.39 million.

Over the past few days, Samsung’s experts assisted Evergreen, Lastek, and E&W by setting up new equipment to advance their on-site manufacturing processes. The South Korean company also created a mold to increase the manufacturers’ speed further. The mold enabled the production output to increase from 40,000 masks to 100,000 masks per day.

Through improved processes and technological aid, the manufacturers succeeded in increasing maximum output in the short term without further capital injection.

Additionally, Samsung donated almost 280,000 masks in China, Hing Kong, Colombia, and Canada. Samsung Vietnam also gave 267,000 masks to its employees. Recipients include workers at its manufacturing plant.

So far, 11 companies, including Naver, KB Kookmin Bank, and Hyundai Motor, have participated in the project.

On Tuesday, Samsung announced that it scheduled its Brazil-based smartphone and home appliance factories to reopen on April 13. Meanwhile, factories in India are set to restart operations two days later.

Samsung Electronics reported its revenue for the first quarter to drop from 60 trillion won ($49 billion) from last quarter to 55 trillion won ($45 billion).