By Jim Phillips, Yarn Market Editor
I这不是秘密的，那些具有生产个人防护设备（PPE）能力的美国纱线制造商和面料制造商比纺织行业的许多其他人都更好地风化了Covid-19的大流行。
许多公司聚集在一起，专注于生产口罩，隔离礼服和其他医疗纺织品，以帮助保持前线医疗人员，应急人员和其他必要人员安全。
然而,问题是,整体U.S. PPE production capacity trails behind some other countries and falls well short of meeting domestics needs. “It is not good when, in a time of national crisis, we have to rely on companies in China and other nations to provide us with critical life-saving apparel and accessories,” said a well-placed industry analyst. “We must learn a valuable lesson from the current pandemic and prepare not to be caught short again.”
To that end, the National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) recently launched a paid social media video campaign that highlights the extraordinary efforts the industry has taken to respond to the PPE shortages.
“NCTO is launching a social media and email campaign today to show members of Congress how this industry has significantly contributed to the nation’s PPE crisis, while demonstrating the importance of immediate policies and legislation, such as Buy American mandates, to establish a sustainable domestic supply chain for the future,” said NCTO President and CEO Kim Glas.
“Our campaign underscores the importance of ending our overreliance on China for PPE and calls on Congress to craft policies that support domestic procurement requirements and the onshoring of jobs,” Glas added. “It is high time we had a national strategic plan in place to spur investment in the industry and ensure our country has a permanent domestic PPE supply chain to confront the next pandemic our country faces.”
Accordingly, NCTO has recommended Congress enact several policies that support the production of PPE in the United States through a long-term domestic supply chain:
- Create strong domestic procurement rules for federal PPE purchases substantially similar to the Berry Amendment and the Kissell Amendment. The Berry and Kissell Amendments require the U.S. Department of Defense and Homeland Security to purchase American-made textile products for certain applications.
- Implement forward-looking policies to shore up the Strategic National Stockpile and to identify, incentivize, and maintain a robust domestic supply chain for PPE and medical supplies.
- Create federal incentives for private sector purchases of domestically produced PPE.
- Provide funding assistance for companies to reconstitute domestic PPE supply chains.
- 加强浆果修正案。
Several manufacturers and institutions have already begun exploring how to increase U.S. PPE production. For example, Gaston College’s Textile Technology Center (TTC)
正在与社区中的其他人合作，为企业家和现有制造商的原型制作和测试可重复使用的PPE产品创建发射台。该项目由北卡罗来纳州立法机关资助。
More than $5 million will be allocated to Gaston County to construct an Incubator and Extrusion Center for Advanced Fibers for Gaston College’s TTC. “I’m excited about this new initiative and the building of a new fiber innovation center,” said Dr. John Hauser, president of Gaston College. “Now we have an opportunity to expand our expertise to produce high-quality products to benefit our communities.”
Achieving Greater Productivity, Profitability
While COVID-19 issues still dominate the news, U.S. fiber/yarn/fabric makers continue to seek innovative ways to increase efficiency and productivity. A recent example is the introduction by Cotton Council International of a technical consultancy program that helps mills and manufacturers achieve greater productivity, process efficiency and, ultimately, profit for their businesses.
The program is called Cotton USA Solutions™ and is designed to help enable mills and manufacturers to optimize the use of U.S. cotton with cutting-edge offerings to profitably transform their businesses.
September/October 2020
