Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the Zlín-based company Spur has produced approximately 10 million respirators and 2.5 million drapes. The company, which has been producing plastic products since its inception in 1992, began producing masks and respirators from nanomaterials two years ago, which it developed with the University of Zlín. The aim was to contribute to ensuring the Czech Republic’s self-sufficiency in the field of protective work aids. “However, production has not been going on for a few months now, we are supplying from the warehouses we made last summer,” said David Pospíšil, the company’s sales manager.
The greatest demand for Spur drapes and respirators was in February and March last year, and the company’s production capacity last spring was several million FFP2 respirators per month. In the autumn, production was already subdued. Spur produced respirators and drapes primarily for the domestic market, and also exported to Germany and Poland. “We delivered the most to citizens through e-shops such as ours, Alza, Nanospace. Then corporations such as Officeo, Hyundai, ČSOB, Aero Vodochody,” said Pospíšil.
The company does not yet have plans with production lines. “Probably we will either try to sell them or put them aside somewhere, they have no use and they occupy the production area, which can be used for other projects,” said Pospíšil. Spur also leases a respirator production line, which was donated to the Czech government by the Taiwanese government. The line is owned by the state enterprise Technical and Testing Institute of Civil Engineering Prague. According to Pospíšil, the line will probably remain in Zlín until the end of the lease, the owner will decide on the next fate.
According to Pospíšil, Spur is embarking on new projects. “We will rather abandon or ignore the portfolio of respirators and drapes with this trend. We have to compete with Chinese imports and low-quality products at minimal prices, so production is not worth it at all. In general, I think we will be in the same situation as in the spring of 2020,” said Pospíšil.
The production of protective equipment had a financial effect. “But due to the lockdown, other divisions were suspended. We have large stocks and investment in us, when we thought the state would support manufacturers, they eventually compared costs with revenues. The initial impulse was to help the affected region, not build a business on it,” he said.
With an annual turnover of over a billion crowns, Spur grew on the foundations of the Zlín Research Institute, founded in 1934 by Baťa. In addition to plastic pipes, profiles, boards, packaging and reflective materials, it also manufactures cladding for the production of emergency houses.
