Czech aircraft component suppliers pivots manufacturing to respirators

Workpress Aviation (WPA), a Czech Republic aircraft component supplier to Airbus and Boeing, has pivoted into manufacturing protective FFP3 respirators designed to meet the needs of key workers including doctors and nurses.

Using its experience from the aviation sector, WPA was able to take its face masks from conception to production at scale in two months, and has supplied thousands of respirators to hospitals across Europe.

Jiří Heckel, WPA’s CEO, said: “Hospitals and healthcare professionals highlighted to us the issues that usually come with wearing masks for long periods of time, whether that be painful marks on the face or condensation on transparent face shields which obscures their vision – this can make a doctor or nurse’s job even more difficult.”

Designed with a view to minimising condensation and maximising breathability, WPA’s respirators are fitted with filters which offer over 99.995% protection against particle penetration – exceeding the FFP3 classification, the highest level of protection a disposable mask can offer. The respirator is equipped with fully sterilisable filters, which give it a long useful life, whilst the food grade TPE material that the body of the mask is made from can last up to decades.

Heckel added: “We wanted to create a product that could make a real difference in protecting people on the frontline including doctors and nurses, helping keep them safe while they rise to this extraordinary occasion.”

The product has been welcomed by the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the business is in close contact with Motol Hospital, one of the largest hospitals in Central Europe, to establish how it can best support its needs.

The company expects to be in a position to produce 25,000 sets a day come August. Having already successfully registered with the tender for the European reserve of emergency medical equipment (RescEU), WPA aims to further helping meet the needs of key workers in the UK both on the basis of demand and strategic reserves for hospitals.