The bike industry brands altering production to help during Coronavirus crisis
Muc-Off among those helping during the crisis
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In light of the Coronavirus outbreak, many bike industry brands are switching production from their normal products to the manufacture of components for ventilators, making of face masks or the production of hand sanitiser gel. Here are the companies doing their bit to help in the crisis....
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Muc-Off
The cleaning product company are gearing up for some big changing in manufacturing. Hollie at the brand says that they are gearing up to switch off our core product filling and produce antibacterial alcohol and QUAT sanitisers instead. She says that they are just awaiting raw materials to arrive at one of our plants. Hollie also told us that they will be offering our lube bottles for other sanitiser manufacturers to use as there is a significant shortage in bottles and caps which is holding up production and distribution. This is something we hadn't thought of before but it makes sense that with a rapid increase in production of a liquid, you also need something to put it in.
Hollie says that Muc-Off will be donating a 'to be confirmed' amount of our sanitising products to local Dorset businesses and charities that support frontline workers and high risk groups. They are also planning donate 10% of profits on the upcoming anti-bac range to global research efforts into developing a vaccine for COVID-19. Bravo Muc-Off, we like your style.
Superstar Components
Superstar components, who behind the scenes of manufacturing their bike parts in Lincoln also manufacture high tech medical parts used in analysing and tracking viruses and other diseases. Neil at the brand says they have been contacted to help in volume manufacturing ventilator parts and they have offered to turn over their high tech manufacturing capacity to help the fight against the virus and to save lives as their main priority.
Neil says that's all he can say for now, best wishes to the team from us, keep up the good work!
Monkey Sauce
French brand Monkey sauce have altered their production of sealant and other cleaning products and begun using their ingredients such as glycerin and alcohol to make hydroalcoholic gel to be used in hospitals around France. Their Instagram post alludes to the fact they have lots of stock of these ingredients and wanted to put them to good use.
Industry Nine
Hub manufacturer Industry 9 have offered their machining operation to help manufacture equipment too. They say they are in a position to help with CNC machines, a piece of equipment that can make parts for ventilators. As well as that they say they have the ability to manufacture masks and gloves. Although it appears they are not actively manufacturing these things at this time, the brand used Instagram yesterday to reach out and try to connect the dots to people they could help. If you know how they can be put to use or the people they need to contact, email them at tips@industrynine.net.
Kitsbow
Clothing manufacture, Kitsbow, based in North Carolina, America are making face masks tp help in the pandemic on the other side of the pond. Their press release says the masks and face shields were going in the first instance, to medical clinics and emergency management organisations in Oregon. They say they are selling the masks at cost to local first responders and medical staff and will distribute internationally soon.
Santini
The UCI reported news from clothing brand Santini on the 23rd March, they will be preparing a prototype emergency face mask with the intention of putting this being examined, certified and put into production as soon as possible. They say they started this operation on the 16th March. The mask will be waterproof, sterilisable, washable and guaranteed for uses up to ten times, making a mask re-usable appears to be a more efficient use of time and hopefully reduce waste or gaps in supply ongoing as medical staff reuse them. Santini says they will be able to produce 10,000 masks a day and have had requests for up to 100,000 already. Initial priority will be getting masks to Bergamo, then the rest of Italy. For more info, click here to go to the UCI news.
Ineos
The company behind the road race team Ineos yesterday released news that they will build two hand sanitiser factories in the UK and Germany in ten days. Ineos is a private chemical company controlled by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, it aims to produce a million bottles of hand sanitiser in just 10 days once the plants are in production. The plant in the UK will be in Newton Aycliffe near Middlesborough, for more news, see our source, The Guardian.
Hollie from Muc-Off told us: "The only thing that may halt the planned switch is if there is an issue with the shipping of the raw materials due to current fast-moving changing in restrictions around the world". With the might of Ineos behind this new production, we hope that they have the distribution channels needed.
It's worth mentioning here that here are a few other brands that have plans and COVID-19 related production going on behind the scenes but are not happy to talk about. They say they would rather get on with the process than shout about it to the media, which we totally respect. The message here is, just because it looks like nothing is going on, it may not be the truth or reality.
Is there anyone else that you know of that are doing similar things? Let us know in the comments below.
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