DuPont (Wilmington, Del.; www.dupont.com) launched a new program, #TyvekTogether to increase the overall availability of Tyvek personal protective equipment (PPE) garments in the company’s continued efforts to help combat the spread of COVID-19 and protect health care workers. At full capacity, this initiative could deliver 6 million additional non-surgical isolation gowns per month by enabling others to join us in protecting even more frontline responders. DuPont is also working with Cummins to produce N95 respirator masks.
Rolls of Tyvek material produced by DuPont (Source: DuPont)
“There’s a critical need for protective apparel, and we believe that working with other companies to convert their existing cut-and-sew manufacturing capacity to protective garment fabrication is the fastest way to protect more people,” said John Richard, Vice President & General Manager of DuPont Safety Solutions. “Our dedicated employees around the world are working 24/7 to make more Tyvek material and patterns available to more organizations, working together to protect those who are protecting us.”
DuPont has invested in equipment and technology to significantly increase its production of Tyvek and Tychem garments globally to meet the ever-increasing demand for personal protection equipment (PPE). Since January we have increased production of Tyvek garments by more than 9 million garments per month specifically for COVID-19 response, which is more than double the amount produced for any prior crisis. The #TyvekTogether Program will introduce a new specialized Tyvek fabric to enable an increase in the amount of garment production for the COVID-19 response to 15 million garments a month.
The #TyvekTogether Program includes the following components:
- A new fabric, Tyvek style 1222A, that has similar barrier properties to the core DuPontTM Tyvek 400 garment offerings with adjusted fabric drape and hand to optimize material usage.
- Tyvek style 1222A is available in roll-good form to existing and new customers with available cut-and-sew capabilities to increase the total amount of Tyvek garments available as quickly as possible.
- DuPont will provide garment designs—including patterns and virtual manufacturing support—for a non-surgical isolation gown and a coverall that are optimized for simple and productive manufacturing. With these patterns and technical assistance, we aim to accelerate the speed that new converters are able to begin producing PPE.
- Partners can also use their own designs for coveralls and garments to meet local needs.
- Additionally, DuPont will donate more than 57,000 Tyvek coveralls directly to the states in the US most impacted by COVID-19.