Auping stood up to help fight the coronavirus

Back in March 2020, at the start of the corona pandemic, when we heard the serious concerns in the news about the supply of protective equipment for healthcare professionals, we decided to help. During this unusual period we recorded some of our experiences in this mini documentary.

Joined by Auping colleagues, Panton, Duflex Mechatronics, DSM and other experts, we committed ourselves to the large-scale production of medical facemasks on behalf of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.

It was a new topic for us and we had a lot to learn. Raw materials were scarce, we had no production line yet, no machines and we needed to train, retrain and hire people to get the job done. A considerable challenge for us as a bed and mattress maker, which gave us quite a few headaches, but also a lot of energy. We started our production manually and we were able to hand over the first certified FFP2-masks to the minister Van Rijn by the end of April. Today we produce over 350.000 facemasks per week, fully automatic, using 4 machines, 24/7.

We are very grateful that we could help society by deploying our network, knowledge and expertise. We now give something back to healthcare and for us, that closes the loop. Because already in 1888, Deventer blacksmith Johannes Auping was commissioned by a hospital to design a bed. And as he wanted to help the sick to heal faster, he developed a well-ventilating bed base. Since then, for more than 130 years, we have been committed to developing the best ways to bring rest. Because we believe that a well-rested world is a better world.

For more information about our medical facemasks, read this page.