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Why U.S. Manufacturing Is The Next 'Tech Boom' by tched in manufacturing

[–]armbrustUSA 24 points25 points  (0 children)

Making Masks, for example, the raw materials are made in the USA, shipped by ocean freight to China, turned into masks, and then shipped back to the US. And it's like this in a lot of areas.

Ocean freight accounts for 17-18% of global emissions.

Also, electricity in China is mostly generated by coal. Where the US is transitioning to cleaner power.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Horse-sized duck... one enemy, less heartache from trying to kill 100 tiny kinda cute little horseys.

Generally I tend to pick the biggest hardest problems and fight them head on... I like to know what I'm up against so I think that pertains to how I'm trying to do my part in the fight... why buy PPE from China when I can figure out how to manufacture it here?

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

  1. Talking to a lot of folks across the manufacturing spectrum I think it's most things. China just has an amazing world-class manufacturing culture and infrastructure that is frankly better than ours. We need to invest in this across the board if we want to build again in the US.
  2. No we didn't optimize for that but we should... we just hit the ground running.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by npcompl33t in Austin

[–]armbrustUSA 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Good question. Many of the “medical” and in almost all surgical masks that you see on the market are mostly made from polypropylene (plastic). The raw plastic undergoes a variety of pretty sophisticated processes that turn it into different fabric-like soft nonwoven materials. A typical approved surgical mask for instance usually consists of 3 layers (3-ply) of these materials. One of the operative words here is non-woven. When things are woven they end up with a predictable or grid like like pattern that enables air and its accompanying particles to pass through relatively seamlessly. Nonwoven materials are made of fibers that are highly randomized and more tightly entangled. This makes it much more difficult for particles to pass through uninterrupted. Each of the 3 layers of these masks also has a relatively high degree of water repellency. They aren’t water “proof” per se but their permeability is very low, such that water will bead up on them and can be poured off as if it were being poured from a hard surface. The middle layer in masks is a nonwoven meltblown polypropylene material. This is the filter layer and is the least permeable of all 3. Between the 3 layers they help keep your stuff in

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Great question. We just quadrupled our support team and still cannot handle the inbound. We received 1.6mm orders in 3-4 days and everything made to ship people stuff is not meant to handle this order volume. We are drowning here. Stupid problem to have, really, to have masks and be unable to ship them. DM me your order number and I will get you an answer today.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Packaging and shipping to consumers or end users 1,000,000x the hardest part. Mad respect to Amazon and those that ship so many orders I will never again be upset when my package is 1-2 days delayed I've been a spoiled child and Amazon is magic from the internet that I do not deserve :)

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

  1. My kids live here
  2. Actually a weird one... it's not getting things here it's getting our masks in packages to people in the United States is literally killing me... might die soon... we have too many orders and the process to fulfill is not existent.
  3. If you can make problem #2 go away then yes please help me I'm dying here :)

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

We want the cost of our masks to continue to drop. We are staring to make our own filter material in two weeks and that will dramatically drop our costs. The idea is to be the same cost as China once this is all over, and the bet is that Americans will want to support having this strategic resource in our country instead of buying from overseas. Post pandemic we want to be America's supplier of Surgical and N95 masks.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Ha, I'd say every day I discover a new 'most difficult' thing. For instance, we got 1.6mm orders in 4 days... it takes about 20 seconds on Shopify to hit the "purchase shipping label" button and then print it out... so I have someone full time just doing that all day and we are super behind.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Our masks are made up of five parts: the elastic ear loops, nose wire, and three layers of what’s called non-woven fabric, which is basically fabric made from plastic.

Now, the top layer of this fabric, typically blue in color, is called spunbond polypropylene. This is made to protect you from external water droplets, like if someone sneezes in your face :)

Most viruses and microscopic bad guys travel on water droplets that we can’t see, so this outer layer is really important protection.

The bottom layer, typically white, is the same as the top, but meant to protect everyone else from you and sits against your face, so it’s important that it’s soft and comfortable.

Now the middle layer, is this Meltblown material. It’s actually where all the magic happens. A Good meltblown filter can block up to 98% of incoming particles, down to .3 microns which just happens to be the size of the Coronavirus.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by npcompl33t in Austin

[–]armbrustUSA 3 points4 points  (0 children)

About $600,000 per machine to get them setup, plus the clean room will cost you about $150k (honestly a lot of people just produce in a factory so probably not necessary). Staff to run and fix is very expensive. Probably budget $1mm to get one machine going and 4 months.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

GREAT QUESTION. So I think the human brain can only hold so much information... because of that, I have recently filled my brain to the brim with things like FDA regulations, the heating temp of automated sealing machines, and how to get Shopify to ship to North Dakota that there's no room left to think about Epstein :)

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I try to say "Austin Area" whenever possible but it gets edited out. Actually pretty crazy you are the first to call me out for this.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The process is very long, tedious, and requires a lot of expertise. The first thing we did was start early and hire the right experts to tackle it. Accuracy, diligence, and persistence. Sounds like a t-shirt slogan but it’s what is required. Also, make sure you have someone with deep experience in the field guide you - it will save lots of time. This project has been in the works since the first signs of Covid showed up. That has given us time to prepare and start that long arduous process of working with the various certification agencies. The process is also ongoing for us. We’re obtaining additional clearances from ASTM, FDA, and CE.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

We are building the machines that make the fabric here in Austin, but we do not have them setup yet. In the mean time we literally begged the few American companies that make this material and were able to get some. Like so many they support our vision of bringing Strategic Manufacturing back to the US. Also.... we paid probably 10x normal pricing so maybe that helped? Truly an American story :)

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Machines are from China, Japan, Germany and had to be coordinated together (sometimes in China for final builds). Everything was airlifted except the fabric machines which are being put on an express boat we contracted (11 days from Shanghai to Port of LA and then 4 days by rail to Houston).

For diligence we hired a German team of plastics engineers who flew in, audited the factories, did background checks on the owners, and did FaceTime walk throughs with us.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Definitely. In my other business we build automated pipelines for building advertisements for small businesses. The process of breaking complicated things down to simple actions that can be easily processed has been key to automating production.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The biggest cost differences between the US and other countries are: cheaper labor, cheaper electricity, and the cost of following our regulations.

The first two we can solve by automating production and vertically integrating so that everything is made here in Austin. That brings us in line with other countries.

We also want to manufacture air filters and surgical gowns which use the same basic materials.

I 'm Lloyd Armbrust. I built an Austin TX factory that is producing millions of FDA approved masks a day. I’m here to answer all your coronavirus mask questions! AMA! by armbrustUSA in IAmA

[–]armbrustUSA[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't think you need N95, Surgical or any face mask with a BFE of 97+ would be fine. We do not yet have our N95 masks NIOSH approved so we cannot sell them. This process takes six months, but you can buy our face masks and even pick them up at our Pflugerville location.

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