Industrial giant 3M played a critical role in supplying needed medical supplies and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now the manufacturer is urging the federal government to take steps to improve and diversify its national stockpile, so that next time the country is better prepared.
"We learned a ton through the COVID-19 pandemic, but we also had a lot of expertise dealing with pandemics before," John Banovetz, chief technology officer at 3M, told Cheddar. "H1N1, SARS, all helped us prepare. We've learned a lot. We learned a lot about the importance of collaboration. We learned a lot about the importance of just being prepared."
In preparing for future pandemics, Banovetz said the U.S. should focus on "management, manufacturing, and mobility." Specifically, a recent report from 3M recommended making sure a national stockpile is "mandated and funded," working with law enforcement to fight fraud and price gouging, and establishing emergency budgets and use authorizations.
He also stressed that the government should strive for supply chain flexibility.
"As a company, for instance, we've prepared our supply chains," he said. "We went to a regional kind of manufacturing model, in which we were able to respond anywhere in the word around PPE requirements or demand for N95s."
3M has also prioritized partnerships, such as those with the Department of Defense, which worked with the company to boost production of needed supplies for the pandemic.
Banovetz explained that 3M did have "some surge capacity" built into its global and U.S. supply chains during the early days of the outbreak, but "nothing prepared [us] for the COVID-19 pandemic that hit and the high demands that you saw in such a short time."
Over the span of the pandemic, the company has supplied over a billion respirators to the U.S. and is currently making 95 million more per month after a significant ramp-up.
"We've quadrupled our production in that short time frame, but demand continues to outstrip supply across the entire industry," he said. "But we're doing everything we can to close that gap and supply the PPE, particularly to the frontline workers and the healthcare workers around the country."
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
