Chinese EV Producer Shifted to Making Face Masks, Claims to Be World’s Largest Mask Factory

Chinese former electric vehicle maker BYD has released a statement announcing it is operating the "world’s largest mass-produced face masks plant." The factory claims it is now making 5 million masks and 300,000 bottles of disinfectants per day.

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A special task force

BYD claims it has staff working day and night and machines functioning around the clock. The whole process, claims BYD, began in late January when a special task force consisting of more than 3,000 engineers was assigned the ambitious task of developing face masks and disinfectants.

BYD said that the task force achieved in less than two weeks what would normally take at least two months.

"It completed both the R&D and manufacturing process of mask production equipment within seven days, whereas on the market, it would normally take 15 to 30 days to fully manufacture a mask-producing machine. At the same time, BYD also completed the R&D of medical-grade hand sanitizers in six days, which were then shipped to medical staff on the front lines of the epidemic after just eight days," wrote BYD.

BYD explained how it made use of its dust-free rooms created for the assembly of smartphones to provide the clean and sterile environment required for face masks. BYD also shared how it made its own mask-making machines and can now produce more than a dozen of these in one day.

“A production line for high-quality face masks requires about 1,300 parts for various gears, chains, and rollers, 90% of which are BYD’s self-made parts,” said Sherry Li, Director General of BYD’s President Office.

Precision and quality

“For BYD’s electronics business, the high-end mobile phones that we produce have high requirements in terms of quality, waterproofing, and other aspects. This also comes with our high standards for molds, automated equipment, manufacturing processes, and more,” added Zhao Jianping, General Manager of BYD’s Quality Division.

“In other words, the equipment that we already have offers precision and quality that is much higher than what is commonly required to produce masks.”