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It is a shame. But what’s interesting about this is that even the manufacturing base we do have could be scaled up quickly to meet more of the demand, yet it’s
by erentz 7y ago
It is a shame. But what’s interesting about this is that even the manufacturing base we do have could be scaled up quickly to meet more of the demand, yet it’s not. So why does it save us to have manufacturing base if you won’t scale it to meet surge demand when needed.
The hospitals not signing contracts with him is bad. But probably the more surprising to me is that the government isn’t calling him up to say “hey we will pay you $BIG to start producing masks for us 24/7 that we will distribute”. Where $BIG is enough for him to offset his concerns. After this pandemic slows down the government can continue buying from him to restock (and constantly refresh) the stockpile.
How has the government not by now started to track all the items we need, all the items we have, and called every damn company that can possibly produce those items or know who can to tell them to start cranking? Why do we continue to hear about discoveries of masks in warehouses and the like? The logistical failures here seem to be extreme.
- karlkatzke 7y agoDepends. What contracts will he have to take on to meet that? I think that’s his complaint. He can’t get what he needs on the spot market most of the time, he has to sign a supply contract and machinery maintenance contracts and everything else. At best, if he can’t make use of the extra capacity when the world isn’t experiencing a critical pandemic, he breaks even on the pandemic work. At worst, he loses his shirt again. The materials you are talking about aren’t usually found on a warehouse shelf because they deteriorate over time. You wouldn’t want to put expired material through a machine because it becomes brittle and breaks. And as for why we haven’t started tracking materials more closely? Kushner’s running this show. The word you’re looking for is incompetence.
- kevin_thibedeau 7y agoCut him some slack. He's got like 20 jobs.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- taneq 7y agoThis is exactly like all of the "skills shortage" panics we regularly see here. It's not an issue of being unable to produce the item, it's an issue of being unable to produce the item at as cheap a price as the best price we've had from the lowest bidder during ideal circumstances.
- mjevans 7y agoI want to expand on that refreshing the stockpile idea. The equipment is perishable (on the range of years) and should be rotated. Most things probably are. Any such stockpile should have a half-life rotation period, where items at the half life are sold in to the market at a slight discount and the stockpile continually refreshed. Ideally the government should also be buying or making in bulk and thus their discounted price might actually be competitive.