Can't 'snap your fingers': Manufacturers could face time, money challenges making masks, ventilators

For Toronto-based Spirit of York DistilleryCo., transforming from a gin and vodka manufacturingplant into a hand-sanitizing producer wasn't a particularly difficult transition.

It took some time to secure sufficient quantities ofhydrogen peroxide and glycerine, two of the ingredients needed to make the much sought after product.

But the company certainly has enoughethanol and distilled water in stock to complete the recipe recommended by the World Health Organization.

"It wasn't challenging from a process perspective," said company founderGerry Guitor.

Spirit of York is just one of a number of distilleries in Canada that have decided to switch gears of production and help manufacture hand sanitizer, now inshort supply because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Hiram Walker & Sonsannounced Thursday that ittoo would add hand sanitizer to its product line. Just days ago, Paris-based luxury goods makerLVMHsaid it would also make the item.

Toronto distillery adjusts production line to make hand sanitizer

5 years ago

Duration 4:33

Spirit of York in Toronto is among several distilleries in Canada that have started making hand sanitizer to help meet increased demand due to the novel coronavirus.

But the outbreak has created shortages in other vital medical items, including masks andventilators. With the current manufacturers of such products unable to meet demand, companies in other industries are being called upon to fill the void.

On Friday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his government will implement a new strategy to provide support to companies already making such products in order to ramp up production. As part of this new plan, Ottawa will also supportmanufacturers who want to retool their facilities to make these items, he said.

However, switching gears and producing such products in a timely manner could be challenging for many plants.

The challenge is the speed in which we need these things.- Dennis Darby, president of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters

"The challenge is the speed in which we need these things," said Dennis Darby, president of Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters (CME).

"Everyone is looking at the logisticsof doing it. How long willit take?Can we get theparts?Can we get thematerials?"

'The only hurdle is time and money'

Flavio Volpe, president of AutomotiveParts Manufacturer'sAssociation, said he believeshis members are up to the task, and thatat least 15 companies have committed to produce medical equipment.

Medical products aren't any more sophisticated than automotive parts, he said, and all his membersneed arethe specifications of the products.

"The only hurdle is time and money, and I think we've got more than enough of the latter, and I guess we've got to do what we can with the former."

"If we had the specifications and you could source the tooling from the same places the original equipment manufacturersget them, you could turn this around in a matter of a few short weeks, " he said.

Yet, thattimeframe projection could be somewhat optimistic.

"If you think about the next month, the next two to four weeks, for example,it would be hard for me to see somebody switching over to a new product line, getting the inputs and then getting it to their distributors over that time period," said KennethWong, a marketing professor at Queen's University.

"It'snot just a case of changing inputs. There's new order protocols. You may need new equipment. Differingresponsibilities."

Fraser Johnson, a professor of operations management at Western University's Ivey Business School, said with the engineering and manufacturing talent in Canada and the United States, there's no question that some plants could shift production to make medical products like ventilators.

"But I don't think you can snap your fingers and get there next month," he said.

Companies already making distilled products like alcohol, have an easier time to transition to things like hand sanitizer, he said.

For the other medical items, however, "youneed a source of raw materials," said Johnson. "You need designs. You need specifications. You need to retrain your workers. You need even simplethings like packaging."

Ifa factory was to start producing medical face masks, for example, it would require the resources to convert polypropylene into the material needed for the mask. It would need the metals for themetal rim around the maskand theband to hold the mask in place, he said.

"Now, it's probably going to take me at least a couple of months to be able to set it up, the very minimum. Maybe a Herculean effort,I can do it faster. But I can't snap my fingers and do that if Ihaven't made face masks."

"I've got to think about all the nuance that companies like 3M have been working on literallyfor decades."

Shareintellectual property with other companies?

And manufacturing ventilators, of course, would be amuch more complicated and time-consumingprocess, Johnson said.

A car manufacturer doesn't have the capability of being able to make the electronics and some of the other sophisticated equipment that goes into the creation of such a product, he said. Workers would have to be retrained, new assembly lines built up, and then there's the time it would take to test the new product for safety.

(Meanwhile, adding to the issues, some car manufacturers have suspended plant operationsbecause of the virus.)

As well, there could be issues ofhow much manufacturers of ventilators are willing to share their intellectual property with other companies.

Johnson said he predicted it could take at least six months before the first new ventilator rolled off the assembly line.

CME's Darby said some point to the example of the Second World Warand how General Motors made weapons to support the U.S. war effort.

"Well, that was a bit different. First of all, for a manufacturer to switchover to producetanks and guns, they had months to do it,' he said.

"And there was no problem bringing people into plants because therewas no worry about COVID-19, so they were ableto bring the crews in and put in a whole pile of money at the timebillions of dollars to capitalizeall the productionof munitions."

Another hindrance is that because of the pandemic's impact on the economy, manufacturers are trying deal with their own manufacturing struggles, he said.

"Gettingthem to put their heads around:'OK,I know you're having your challenges, rightnow. How long wouldit take? What would it look like to get themachinery in to make these other items?'