Beer to sanitiser: industry retools in virus war

As the pandemic hits supply chains, businesses have stepped into the breach in a war-like reconfiguration of the industrial capacity.

Richard Adamson, co-owner of Young Henrys in Newtown, Sydney. The brewer will produce hand sanitiser using ethanol. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

Brewers and juice makers are turning their hand to sanitiser, orthotics makers are printing eye shields, packagers have retooled to make hundreds of millions of medical masks, and V8 supercar teams are making ventilators all in a bid to smash the spread of coronavirus.

As businesses, cafes, and offices across Australia have shut some companies are getting back to work, in what is for many the busiest days ever.

Inner-Sydney brewer Young Henrys has joined the effort to supply hand sanitiser as the supply of the critical cleaner runs short after international and domestic supply lines were overwhelmed.

Young Henrys founder and director Oscar McMahon, said they had pivoted the brewery to distil the large amount of beer that now wasn’t going to the clubs and pubs they once serviced.

Mr McMahon said he put Young Henrys’ hand up to supply the critically-needed hand sanitiser after the NSW government put out a call earlier in the week for eight key items.

“We’re not going to be able to sell kegs for three months, so now we’re now distilling the beer to make the ethanol, instead of letting a bunch of beers sit around and become tired,” he told The Weekend Australian.

Mr McMahon said as Young Henrys scales up production the brewer will be able to produce 600 to 1000 litres of hand sanitiser a week, having picked up more than 2000 litres in orders in the two days they’d been on the list of approved suppliers.

“We never thought we’d be making any of this commercially,” he said.

As the pandemic pummels supply chains, businesses great and small have stepped into the breach in what can only be described as a warlike reconfiguration of the industrial capacity of Australia.

But shortages of products across the board are quickly being discovered as the health system mobilises to fight the virus.

NSW jobs minister Stuart Ayres said his government’s scheme was “a call to arms” after supply chains were so disrupted by COVID-19.

“We’ve asked manufacturers in NSW to consider whether they’ve got the capacity to adjust their production lines to deliver one of eight products that will stay in high demand,” he said.

“It’s good to see businesses are innovating.”

The NSW list runs the gambit of hand sanitiser, hand soaps, disinfection and cleaning products, gloves, gowns, protective eyewear, face masks, paper based products.

It all follows a call from the federal government for companies that could produce personal protective equipment or fill gaps in production to make themselves known.

The scheme, co-ordinated through the office of the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews, has had more than 1200 manufacturers reach out already.

Ms Andrews said she was blown away by how readily Australian manufacturers had “stepped up” in what was a “Team Australian moment”

“While not every manufacturer is going to be able to produce these specialised medical supplies, we’ve already seen a number pivoting to producing these essential items,” she said.

“We’ve also been mapping the capabilities of our manufacturers to fill holes in production lines and supply chains.”

Businesses have stepped in the breach and signs are all around, whether it’s hotels hosting thousands in quarantine, to ADF troops mobilising to man the tools at Med-Con, Australia’s only mask manufacturer, in Shepparton.

South Australian packaging company Detmold has said it will hire an extra 160 staff to produce millions of respirator and surgical masks after striking a deal with the South Australian and Federal governments.

While Australian footwear legend RM Williams put its hands up on Wednesday offering to repurpose their factory in Adelaide’s northern suburbs to produce surgical gowns and masks.

The ACCC recently relaxed rules around medical technology companies allowing them to work together to co-ordinate the supply and potential manufacture of ventilators, testing kits, personal protective equipment and other medical equipment.

The Medical Technology Association of Australia has also been given interim authorisation from the ACCC to allow members to share information, co-ordinate orders and jointly tender to supply medical equipment needed in the fight against the virus.

While the Therapeutic Goods Administration has also relaxed rules around the manufacture of hand sanitiser to make it easier for local businesses to produce.

Food Revolution Group, a Melbourne-based purveyor of pressed juices lent their hand to the wheel, bottling huge volumes of disinfectant and sanitiser.

CEO John Florey said the juice maker was now “not in core business” territory, selling the critical supplies to supermarkets often packed in surplus juice bottles.

Ego Pharmaceuticals managing director Alan Oppenheim said his factory in Braeside in Melbourne’s southeast, was now looking at running six or seven days a week in response to the unprecedented demand for its sanitisers.

The manufacturer of the Aqium product is now rolling more than 90,000 bottles a day, 25 hours a day five days a week.

“Our priority has been to supply to our current customers of hospitals and aged care facilities and ramping that up more,” he said.

“We’d love to launch Aqium into China and Saudi Arabia but now we’re not even looking at that because we want to do everything we can for Australia first.”

The reconfiguring of so many industries to meet the demand for essential products has seen a Phillip Island-based charity that produces 3D printed hands for children swap over half of its production to making face shields for healthcare workers on Victoria’s Bass Coast.

Free3Dhands founder Mat Bowtells said he used his skills from working in the car industry to make 2000 of the face shields and had supplies to make another 2000.

“3d technology is amazing how quickly you can go from making hands for kids to making face shields for PPE,” he said.

“I’m hoping to employ people from the community who’ve been stood down without pay to get these out quicker.”

A similar story is heard in Queensland where iOrthotics has turned its 3D printing skills to producing face shields as well as valves and components for a ventilator produced by Trip Eight Racing, which normally designs V8 supercars.

Mark Dutton, Race Team Manager at Triple Eight Racing, said the engineers went from design to concept in 10 days and intended to freely release the final designs to deliver to the world a safe and cost-effective ventilator to fight the virus.

“We’re trying to gear it up to be cost-effective and even more important that we can produce them quickly, we’re not skimping on anything medical,” he said.

“We know motorsport is as non-essential as you can get. The fact we get to repurpose our skills to give back not just in an entertainment fashion is something we’re taking very seriously.”