How Long To Make Masks

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- 3M Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp. are among the few manufacturers that make respiratory masks sophisticated enough to ward off swine flu, exacerbating a shortage at retailers

 

Even with normal demand, it can take as long as six weeks to obtain the raw materials needed to make N95 respirators, said Al Millar, chief executive officer of Alpha Pro Tech, in an April 27 interview.

 

Kimberly Clark  has increased production to “minimize potential disruptions,” Lance Latham, spokesman for the Dallas- based maker of Huggies diapers and Kleenex tissues, said in an e-mail April 29. He declined to provide further information.

 

Cantel Medical Corp.’s Crosstex unit received requests for about 1 million N95 masks this week, about twice what it had available, Andrew Whitehead, a company spokesman, said April 30. “There just isn’t enough capacity in the industry to supply everyone in the country with an N95,” he said.