Mitsui Chemicals, Inc. (Tokyo) has started to supply nonwovens as raw materials for isolation gowns in an effort to support health care providers on the front lines in medical facilities treating COVID-19 patients. This effort comes as the increasing spread of the virus has made isolation gowns – for which Japan has been largely reliant on foreign imports – difficult to obtain amid the global pandemic.
Demand is rising for medical PPE, such as isolation gowns (Source: Mitsui)
To establish this supply, Mitsui Chemicals is making use of wholly owned subsidiary Sunrex Industry Co. Ltd., which serves as a major plant for nonwovens production. Mitsui Chemicals is taking production facilities here that normally produce nonwoven sanitary materials and repurposing these to begin production of nonwovens for isolation gowns.
This has then ensured a production system able to create enough nonwovens for over 10 million gowns per month. To supply medical sites as quickly and promptly as possible, Mitsui Chemicals is also coordinating with the likes of sewing companies, and through this has contributed from the raw material stage toward efforts to quickly establish a fully domestic supply system for isolation gowns.
In other efforts aimed at stopping the novel coronavirus, Mitsui Chemicals is already contributing significantly to domestic mask production by supplying melt-blown nonwovens and nose clamps. But to help resolve the current mask shortage, Mitsui Chemicals is also pursuing plans for further production increase.