How to Make Your Business Even Better

Today, face masks have proved to be essential, if not indispensable, personal protective equipment (PPE). During times of a serious pandemic involving dangerous airborne viruses, face masks are the first line of defense for the public and frontline responders. Unfortunately, the supply of face masks during such times is often outweighed by the demand. Consequently, it compromises any efforts to control or stop a pandemic. An effective strategy to ensure everyone can access quality face masks lies in the design. This article highlights PPE design aspects for addressing face mask shortages as a part of the stop the drop initiative.

Mass Production -- The first thing you should look for in the design prototype of a face mask is the ease of production. Can a face mask be mass-produced using available resources and equipment? It is crucial because a face mask that cannot be easily mass-produced defeats the purpose of stopping a PPE shortage. For instance, if the materials required to produce a face mask are not readily available, then the PPE is a poor candidate for mass production. Similarly, if the manufacturing equipment requires special tooling, it will not be easy to mass-produce face masks. One significant advantage of mass-producible face masks is that they are affordable, which is precisely what you need in PPEs to protect a population.

Non-Proprietary Design – Another PPE requirement that is crucial for stopping the shortage of face masks and effectively slowing down the spread of airborne infections is a non-proprietary design. Traditionally, product designers are protective of their designs, considering the time and effort they put in. However, such protection is not appropriate for products that required to save people's lives. This is where non-proprietary PPE designs prove essential because a manufacturer does not have to apply for proprietary permission to mass-produce the product. Additionally, non-proprietary PPEs are cheap since no price is attached to the original design.

Local Production -- Some airborne infectious diseases can spread over a wide area within a short time. It means that an infected person can travel to a remote location and infect other people along the way. Such potent viruses or germs can be devastating if a population cannot get the right protective equipment in time. It is the reason why face masks designed for the public should be locally produced, making it easy and cheap to distribute. For instance, any local textile manufacturing plant should manufacture a PPEs in the event of an airborne disease outbreak. The easier it is to convert a local manufacturing plant into a PPE product facility, the better.