Aaron Grunwald: Put simply, what is Tyvek, and what is it used for?
Willem Buitelaar: [Laughs] It’s a very simple question and it would require some time [to explain the chemistry, but] let’s start with the applications. In the time of the pandemic, Tyvek has become very known for its protective characteristics as material for personal protection equipment. So the coveralls [worn by health workers]... you can’t tear it apart. And that is one of the strong characteristics. The other one is that it is breathable, but it doesn’t allow moisture to get into it. And that is something that makes it very appropriate for use during the pandemic, because viruses and bacteria can’t get in, and the people who are wearing the suits, their bodies can breathe, so it shouldn’t be too cumbersome to use those garments for a while.
And is Tyvek used in face masks?
It’s [used for] coveralls. So the white material which you see in pictures, in the coveralls, that is Tyvek... [another use], which is a very important one, is to protect medical equipment, syringes, scissors, whatever operational material that is needed.
Where else does Dupont produce Tyvek?
There’s another plant in Spruance, in the United States, and basically that is [our] sister plant.
We’re talking in January 2021, but you told me in a previous conversation, last April, that the two plants were supplying Tyvek material that could make 9 million protective garments per month. Is that still the case?
That’s still the case.
You produce Tyvek 24/7. Has that been difficult to maintain?
That was a challenge in the sense that, in the early days of the pandemic, we needed our operators to come to the site and with all the restrictions for travel, it took them sometimes hours to get to the plant, instead of just their ordinary journey to get to the Luxembourg site, because of [mobility] restrictions. We have quite a few people working on our sites who either live in France or in Germany. And, well, they had their issues at the borders, to come through. So it initially took them hours to either get to the plant or get home after work. And that has improved a lot, of course, but initially, that was one of the challenges that we had to face.
They weren’t considered essential workers then?
Yes, they were. [But] that needed to be checked at the borders. And there were more essential workers than just only those from Dupont, and so that took a while. But that’s now all okay. And people do have their letter that they can show when they [commute] because now, we have the curfew... as I said, 24/7 operations, so even after the moment that a curfew [takes effect], people need to be on the streets to get home or to come to the plant.
Are you currently operating at maximum capacity?
Yes.
Do you plan to expand your production lines?
Well, there’s one additional production line that we are constructing at the moment, Tyvek line eight.... we expect [it] to start running sometime in 2022.
How do your employees feel about the past year?
What we see in the Tyvek plant, but also in other plants, in the Hytrel manufacturing unit, for example, they produce material for [the] tubes inside the respirator machines, or Dupont Teijin Films, manufacturing polyester films, which are used for face shields... so, each and every manufacturing unit on our site somehow supports the fight against the pandemic, and people are proud of that.