This cooperation between the Erding district office and the Himolla upholstered furniture manufacturer is intended to protect medical personnel: masks and protective coats are sewn on behalf of the district in Taufkirchen.
Taufkirchen - In just a few days from the idea to the finished product: Himolla in Taufkirchen and the district office in Erding put such a turbo development process to the test. Since Wednesday, 5000 protective coats and just as many high-quality mouth-nose masks have been sewn in the upholstered furniture factory, which is dormant because of Corona. For the latter, the district has received special three-layer fleece from the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs, which meets the highest protection requirements.
One roll is enough for 5000 masks and is processed in Taufkirchen. With another, the same thing happens in the care center Wernhardsberg in St. Wolfgang, spokeswoman Claudia Fiebrandt-Kirmeyer announced on request. The masks and gowns are distributed to doctor's surgeries, hospitals and care facilities as required.
"On Friday a week ago, we offered our help to the disaster control management group," says Himolla production manager Klaus Fischer. It was planned and calculated over the weekend. Stencils were drawn, and from Wednesday the sewing machines buzzed.
Most of the approximately 900 Himolla employees have been on short-time work for two weeks, reports Marketing Manager Petra Kobus on request. The order from the district office could now employ 15 seamstresses and eight trainees for two weeks. "And we work in the packaging," says Fischer, laughing about himself, head of department Joannis Fotakides and his deputy Christian Klinner.
With a mask on the sewing machine: foreman Andrea Leicht during the mask production.
© Himolla
“We are also happy that we can give the seamstresses work,” Kobus adds. Everyone would have agreed immediately and spontaneously. According to the production manager, the framework agreement with the district office now goes over 5,000 mouth and nose masks and 5,000 protective coats. "To what extent we will continue, the situation will then come up," says Fischer. Fiebrandt-Krimeyer knows a little more here. "We assume that we will get 15 rolls of the fabric," she says of the three-layer composite material that is officially used for breathing masks according to the FFP2 or FFP3 standard. When this special fleece is available, however, is not clear. Himolla itself provides the material for the smocks - a spunbonded fabric with which spring inners are otherwise wrapped.
"The Erding fire brigade was with us yesterday and picked up the first load," says Kobus. The company produces protective equipment at cost price. "We don't earn a penny from it," she says of the masks Himolla is selling for three euros each. 99 percent of them are labor costs.
