Austria is seeing numerous local plastics businesses helping to deal with shortages arising from the coronavirus pandemic. The “Glove-liner” initiative launched by the Austrian government will be supported by elastomer specialist Semperit (Vienna / Austria; www.semperit.at). In view of the developments with the coronavirus pandemic and in collaboration with the government’s crisis management team, the company will supply more than 60m disposable gloves for medical staff in Austria. The examination and protective gloves, which are produced by Sempermed (www.sempermed.com) at its production site in Kamunting / Malaysia, are to be brought to Austria before the end of April on four flights operated by Austrian Airlines. The Red Cross will look after their distribution. The first “Glove-liner” landed in Vienna on 27 March 2020.

“We are pleased that we are able to contribute to a better management of the corona crisis in Austria with our medical protective gloves, and we are proud of our employees, who are making this possible even in this difficult situation with their tireless efforts close to their limits,” said Martin Füllenbach, CEO of Semperit AG Holding, about the campaign. At the end of January 2020, Semperit had announced it wanted to part with its medical activities connected with Sempermed, but the division is now making an important contribution to the fight against the spread of the virus.

A number of other companies in the Austrian plastics industry have also started to produce urgently needed protective equipment and medical devices. Local trade media reports that several companies in the region of Vorarlberg are cooperating to counter the shortage of respiratory masks. The project partners – plastics processor Tecnoplast (www.tecnoplast.com), the specialists for technical textiles and high-tech fashion fabrics Grabher Group (www.grabher-group.at) and Getzner (www.getzner.at) as well as tape manufacturer Bandex (www.bandex.com), Wolford and Stickerei Harald Hämmerle – will produce up to 8,000 masks per day, under the coordination of Wirtschafts-Standort (WISTO) and the Smart-Textiles Plattform. Ölz Meisterbäcker supplies the clip fastenings, and around 80 tailoring and alteration businesses are also involved. Tecnoplast’s managing director and deputy federal guild master, Frank Böhler, says production has already started, and the first masks have been delivered. Other companies in the region then pledged support, such as with packaging films or tool manufacturing.

The companies in the project are producing mouth-nose masks and respirator masks of categories FFP2 and FFP3. According to Böhler, the project was planned several weeks ago when the strong demand for protective equipment was foreseeable. The hospital operator has already ordered 200,000 protective masks worth EUR 1.6m.