Cohesion and solidarity
During the first wave of the coronavirus, Madern’s orders declined as customers postponed projects. In the spirit of cohesion and solidarity, the company wanted to do something for the sector that was most affected by the virus at the time. When Madern heard the news of the efforts of Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis to make its own mouth masks, it saw an opportunity to lend a helping hand. The company voluntarily converted an old roller into a roller that automatically die-cuts (punches) mouth masks from the polypropylene fabric from which the mouth masks are made. “This is a lot quicker and easier than the way the mouth masks were die-cut in the first week,” says Van Olphen. “The machine provided us with mouth masks faster en more efficiently.” In cooperation with another party, post-processing, such as attaching the rubber bands, was also automated.