Story By: Ernest Bio Bogore, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
Cosmetics giant Yves Rocher is producing Coronavirus face masks and hand gel amid a shortage during the outbreak.
The Head of Responsible Development at Yves Rocher, Jacques Rocher said in an interview with French regional newspaper Ouest-France: “As early as Monday 16th March, we mobilised in favour of the region’s hospitals.
“We have provided them with the components that allow them to make their own gel in their laboratories.”
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He continued: “Then we asked and obtained the authorisation from customs to produce in our workshops.
“On Tuesday we will be able to start and by the end of the week, we will have manufactured and packaged 20,000 200-millilitre bottles. The labelling will be done by hand.
“We have already started. Our subsidiary Petit Bateau, in Troyes (north-eastern France), has joined forces with two partners, a fabric supplier and an elastic manufacturer, to manufacture breathing masks.”
According to Rocher, the French company is facing a lack of raw materials but he says: “From the beginning of this week, we will try to replenish our supplies.
“In the meantime, it is impossible to say how long and how much we will be able to produce. What is certain is that we have demand.”
Under the control of the regional health agency, some 30 seamstresses are already working on the masks.
Rocher says: “To go faster, we’re going to supply machines to some of our employees who, on a voluntary basis, will be able to work from home.”
Due to the decision of European governments to move to general containment to limit the spread of the coronavirus, most of the company’s factories are now closed, with Rocher complaining: “It is a huge machine capable of manufacturing and distributing 400 million products a year that has just stopped.”
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