SCHWARZENBACH/SAALE - A successful collaboration between three companies in Bavaria, which formed a 'Mask-Alliance' to help combat the spread of coronavirus, has welcomed several new members.
In May, nonwovens manufacturer Sandler AG, PIA Automation and Zettl Group, a key supplier of products for automotive interiors, established the Mask-Alliance-Bavaria. Together, they set up an entire value chain for the manufacture of facemasks in the region, which culminated in September with the inauguration of a new production line to produce filter media for facemasks. The new line now has the capacity to produce around 600 million mouth-nose-protection masks a year.
With a view to increasing the effectiveness, safety, usability, as well as the sustainability of facemask materials, the procedures are continuously being tried and tested. In order to further advance this development new partners have signed up to join the Mask-Alliance Bavaria.
Professor Clarissa Prazeres da Costa, infectiologist, senior physician for medical microbiology and infection epidemiology, and co-director of the Center of Global Health of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), and her colleague Magnus Fröhling, professor for Circular Economy at TUM, as well as professor Franz-Xaver Reichl, microbiologist, pharmacologist and toxicologist, of Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU), and product safety experts from the team of Jörg-Timm Kilisch of the German organization DEKRA, want to contribute their comprehensive know-how to the development of new medical masks.
In addition, Bayern Innovativ (Bavaria innovative), an organisation that facilitates innovation and knowledge transfer in the state, is supporting the alliance in identifying suitable funding programmes and in developing further competences within the scope of its cluster and networking activities.
"The intended close cooperation of member companies, research institutions and testing authorities aims to bring together the specific key competences and enable a swift transfer of knowledge and technology to small and medium-sized enterprises, the medical sector, and standardization," the Alliance said in a joint statement. "Insights obtained from this cooperation could also be applied to protective masks for kids or to a second generation of simpler mouth-nose-protection masks. With these endeavours, the Mask-Alliance Bavaria is taking the next steps towards quickly and focally advancing mask development and production in Bavaria."
