3M says mask output at high

N95 respirator total tops 50M a month from U.S. factories

Manufacturer 3M says it’s hit midyear goals for increasing U.S. respirator output as a new production line recently opened at one of the company’s Wisconsin factories.

The N95 respirators are vital for protecting health care workers from covid-19, and with sharply rising demand, they’re boosting 3M’s sales in an otherwise dismal year for manufacturers.

The Minnesota-based company has respirator contracts with the federal government that this year alone could generate more than $1 billion in sales. And it’s sold nearly 100 million N95 masks directly into the health care system since the coronavirus pandemic began.

“We are making more respirators than ever before,” said spokeswoman Jennifer Ehrlich, adding that 3M “is delivering on its commitments to public health.”

The company drew President Donald Trump’s ire this spring for allegedly not working fast enough to meet U.S. mask needs. It rejected such assertions, and the tiff ended with a mask production agreement between 3M and the government.

The company is the leading U.S. producer of N95 masks, which are considered the gold standard for health care and industrial workplaces. They are designed to block out 95% of airborne particles.

As covid-19 started rolling in March, 3M significantly increased its U.S. production to 35 million N95 respirators per month, and it committed to raise U.S. output to 50 million by this month.

The company said this week it’s now producing N95 respirators at a pace of more than 50 million per month in the U.S. That number is expected to reach 95 million this fall.

It said it’s also on target to meet its goal of increasing global production of N95 respirators from 1 billion annually to 2 billion by year’s end.

The company has respirator production plants in China, Singapore, Europe and Latin America, as well as in Aberdeen, S.D., and Valley, Neb.

Masks are generally made in each market for that market. But with demand surging because of covid-19, 3M has also been shipping millions of respirators made in China to the U.S.

To bolster U.S. production, 3M in June completed a new N95 mask production line at a Wisconsin factory that primarily manufactures equipment to make respirators. Eventually, that line will be moved to 3M’s Aberdeen plant, which is being expanded.

The federal government has played a major role in financing 3M’s expanded N95 production.

To increase mask supplies,

Trump invoked the Defense Production Act. It allows the president to expand output of critical goods through loans, grants and other financial incentives to private companies.

The Defense Department has awarded $202 million in grants to 3M for increasing U.S. respirator manufacturing capacity. The company has also invested $80 million since January.

Under the Defense Production Act, the Federal Emergency Management Agency became 3M’s priority customer for N95 masks. To meet FEMA’s needs, 3M has imported 166.5 million respirators, mostly from its plants in China.

Those 3M respirators are covered by four FEMA contracts with a total value of $78.8 million. But they are part of a master supply agreement with a ceiling of $1 billion in sales.

FEMA distributes masks to states, tribes, territories and federal agencies that need them.

The company has another contract — worth $172.9 million — to supply N95 respirators to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which manages the nation’s stockpile for critical medical supplies.

Also, 3M has two respirator contracts with the Department of Veterans Affairs that total $60 million, according to a federal contract database.