Ramping Up Mask Manufacturing at 3M

Ramping Up Mask Manufacturing at 3M

March 17, 2020
Lisa M. Spencer

One of 3M’s largest manufacturing facilities, located in Aberdeen, South Dakota, has ratcheted up production to try to catch up with the growing demand for its N95 respirator masks.

Since there is no vaccine for COVID-19, the masks provide an important first line of defense in keeping medical and other emergency care employees protected while they tend to the needs of infected patients.  At the same time that demand has surged in the medical community, individual consumers have snapped up any available masks for their own personal use, despite the CDC’s claims that healthy individuals need not wear them.

Video Spotlight: 3M ramping up respirator production due to coronavirus (Feb 21, 2020, KSTP)

This post is based on the CNBC article, 3M ramps up N95 respirator production as demand surges from global coronavirus outbreak, by Seema Mody, February 28, 2020; the BBC article, Coronavirus: Sharp to use TV factory to make surgical masks, March 2, 2020; and the YouTube video featured in the Video Spotlight. Image source: Travel mania/Shutterstock.

Discussion Questions:

1. How has 3M been able to rapidly increase its capacity?

Guidance: 3M was not fully utilizing its mask production facility, so it Continue reading →

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Coronavirus Pushes Construction of New Hospitals

Coronavirus Pushes Construction of New Hospitals

February 20, 2020
Lisa M. Spencer

How long did it take project manager, Fang Xiang, to build a 645,000 square foot hospital with beds for 1,000 corona virus patients in Wuhan, China?

Using a team of 7,000 workers laboring around the clock, the monumental task was completed in just ten days.  About 1,400 military doctors and medical staff, many of whom worked with SARS patients in the past, have been brought in to help treat the patients.

Additional posts on OM in the News discussing the coronavirus and supply chain management can be found here.

Video Spotlight: Time-Lapse Video shows Around-The-Clock Construction Of Chinese Virus Hospitals

This post is based on the NBC News article, China’s coronavirus hospital built in 10 days opens its doors, state media says, by Yuliya Talmizan, February 3, 2020, and the YouTube video, Time-Lapse Video shows Around-The-Clock Construction Of Chinese Virus Hospitals, by NBC News, January 31, 2020. Image source: sfam_photo/Shutterstock.

Discussion Questions:

1. What special challenges did Xiang face in the rush to build this project?

Guidance: Xiang reported that normally it would take at least a month to build a temporary facility of this size, and two years would be required to build a Continue reading →

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The Coronavirus Is Infecting Global Supply Chains

The Coronavirus Is Infecting Global Supply Chains

February 10, 2020
Corinne M. Karuppan, Ph.D.

As you read this post, the coronavirus will have upended more business activity than reported in this article.

British Airways, Air Canada, Apple, Starbucks, Ikea, and other international, corporate giants have already frozen some of their operations in China as the coronavirus claims more lives and increases business risk as well as uncertainty. The crisis highlights the role of China as an engine of global economic growth. Foreign companies’ investment concentration in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, challenges the notion of an easy pullout. In the same vein, the travel restrictions placed on Chinese citizens underscore Chinese tourists’ economic impact all over the world.

Video Spotlight: Business Impact of Coronavirus

This post is based on The New York Times article, Coronavirus Outbreak Tests World’s Dependence on China, by A. Stevenson, January 29, 2020, and the YouTube video, Coronavirus to Pose a Threat to Global Supply Chains: Economist, by BNN Bloomberg, January 29, 2020. Image source: Mick Ryan/Cultura RF/Getty Images.

Discussion Questions:

1. How does halting manufacturing in China affect economic growth in the United States?

Guidance: US manufacturing firms with production facilities in China may have a lower output and therefore productivity. Furthermore, their sales Continue reading →

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