Year-end Summary Automotive makers: shifting gears to medical devices The PPE market is forecast to grow to US$7.8 billion in 2020 from almost US$6 billion in 2019 at a CAGR of 30.8%, according to a report from The Business Research Company. The surge in demand for PPEs in and out of hospital settings presented a huge demand-supply gap, which according to the research is expected to stabilise and reach US$11.45 billion in 2023, at a CAGR of 13.5%. An unlikely support to augment the supply for PPEs came from automotive makers, which had during the pandemic suffered setbacks from reduced workforce and productivity, demand contraction, and financial uncertainties. They saw the opportunity to augment the PPE supply shortage as also providing opportunity for growth. A number of automotive makers converted their plants for PPE production, and at the height of a PPE supply crisis, were reportedly working double time, churning out face shields and masks from their factories. India, the fourth largest automotive producer in the world, dealt with PPE shortages whereby medical front liners resorted to using raincoats, helmets with sun-visors and other plastic materials as substitutes for N95 masks or protective gowns. Skoda in India produced 12,000 reusable face shields, in its Covid-19 fight
Škoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited (ŠAVWIPL), a merger of the three Indian subsidiaries of the Volkswagen Group India – Volkswagen India, Volkswagen Group Sales India and Škoda Auto India, started producing reusable face shields at its Chakan factory. The transparent, sterilisable, and lightweight face shields would protect the user from body fluids and can be worn with masks. Moreover, the company chipped in US$140,000 to set up a Covid-19 dedicated 1,100-bed facility in Sassoon General Hospital in Pune; as well as provide 35,000 units of sanitisers to hospitals in this Marahastra city. In Europe, which at press time is experiencing a second wave of infections, supply of PPEs became so scarce that Spanish car maker and Volkswagen Group company, Seat, started producing automated ventilators. OxyGEN, a free hardware designed by Protofy.xyz, was manufactured at Seat’s Spanish plant, with a definitive model produced at a record speed of one week. For the project, Seat had to transform its assembly line to make the ventilators. Italy’s Automobili Lamborghini, a manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant’Agata Bolognese, converted portions of its production plant to produce surgical masks and protective medical shields for the Sant’Orsola-Malpighi Hospital in Bologna.
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Meanwhile, US car major Ford Motor Company and General Electric (GE) Healthcare partnered to produce in Michigan a third-party ventilator with design from Airon Corp. Ford also collaborated with adhesives producer 3M for the production of a portable tool battery pack-powered PAPR with repurposed fans from the Ford F-150 trucks’ cooled seats for airflow and the 3M HEPA air filters to filter airborne contaminants. Another US major GM, meanwhile, also worked with Washington-based medical device company Ventec Life Systems to produce VOCSN critical care ventilators, which combines an oxygen concentrator, cough assist, suction and nebuliser into a single portable device. Packaging: challenge to remain sustainable The lockdowns created a wide window of opportunity for the home delivery sector. The huge volumes and demand for fast delivery products also required more for packaging to ensure the integrity of the goods during handling and upon reaching the consumer. Petrochemicals firm Sabic has developed a packaging solution with stronger puncture and impact resistance, and higher sealing integrity by introducing the Sabic Cohere polyolefin plastomers (POP), with a blend of LLDPE, LDPE and Sabic metallocene LLDPE resins for the core and outer layers, in the multi-layer packaging film structures. Two Vietnamese companies, Linh Khang and Tan Phong Packaging, collaborated with Sabic for the application of the POP solution in their packaging products. A multilayer vacuum packaging film was developed to meet Linh Khang’s requirement of protecting bananas against the rigours of transportation and handling while Tan Phong Packaging collaborated with Sabic to develop a multilayer film for producing giant freshwater storage bags. Along the same note, the safety and convenience of single-use and flexible plastic packaging have been commended. Yet, awareness to its environmental impact has always hovered around their increased use. ExxonMobil’s collaboration with India’s Shrinath and Syntegon is on this point. The US materials firm developed a recyclable full PE laminated solution to replace non-recyclable or non-energy recoverable or multilayer plastics, which are due to be phased out as part of India’s sustainability policy of reducing plastics use by 2022. According to ExxonMobil, full PE laminate solutions are recyclable in communities where programmes and facilities to collect and recycle plastic films exist. Chemicals: weighing on issues and expectations A major shakedown also befell on the oil and energy sectors. In the early stages of the lockdowns, early in the year, oil producers bemoaned the slow demand, which resulted in excess output. In light of the supply shock, the Middle East-dominated producer group OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) dramatically lowered its forecast for global oil demand growth to 0.99 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2020, down by 0.23 million bpd from last year. This also spurred the call to cut oil production.