Mould in record time to produce TPE masks

The corona crisis has a firm grip on Europe and much of the world. Increasing numbers of infected people and reports of new deaths have become almost a part of the daily routine. Critically, it is repeatedly reported that in hospitals and similar facilities, the protective equipment required is becoming increasingly scarce, and nothing more so than protective masks. Many companies that are able to do so convert their production and produce a wide variety of protective equipment.

Indeed this includes a German Haidlmair customer who wants to rapidly produce a new type of protective mask and ordered a mould from the Nussbach mouldmaker. This product is a two-part mask made of the plastic material TPE between the two halves of which you can simply insert a filter material. Depending on the mask requirements, this can be a normal handkerchief or a high-quality specialised filter material.

At Haidlmair, efforts are now being made to complete the mould in record time so that the customer can start production as quickly as possible. Managing Director Mario Haidlmair: "We are trying our best so that we too can make a small contribution to overcoming this Corona crisis and to protecting people more than ever."

As with almost all companies, Haidlmair has undergone some serious re-organisation and changes since the coronavirus hit. The majority of employees who are not directly involved in production have switched to home office working. The new short-time working scheme has also been used for some employees. The aim is to be able to continue employing all the employees who worked at Haidlmair at the beginning of the crisis after the situation has been overcome. In production, however, work continues to be largely “normal”, although of course with the strictest observance of all protective measures.

"We produce a lot of moulds for the storage and logistics area, especially for the vital segments of the food trade, like boxes for vegetables or fruits, as well as drinks crates. And since these products are particularly in demand at the moment, more boxes are needed. And in order to be able to produce them, our tools are needed”, explains Mario Haidlmair. This is one of the key reasons why Haidlmair did not follow the example of other manufacturing companies and stop production altogether.