3M producing 35 million N95 respirators per month in US, 100 million worldwide

Maplewood-based 3M said on Sunday it has doubled its production of N95 respirators in an effort to provide much-needed protective equipment to health care workers worldwide.

According to a news release from 3M Chairman and CEO Mike Roman, the company has reached maximum production of N95 respirators and doubled its global output to nearly 100 million per month. In the U.S., it’s manufacturing 35 million respirators per month.

Of these masks, 90% are earmarked for health care workers. The rest are being shipped to workers in other critical industries, such as energy, food and pharmaceuticals, according to the release.

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Roman also stated that more than half a million respirators are being shipped from 3M’s South Dakota plant to New York and Seattle, the U.S. epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic.

While 3M has already doubled its production, the company said it will be able to double capacity again within the next 12 months. That would allow it to produce nearly 2 billion respirators a year.

3M also said it had maximized production of other products used in COVID-19 response efforts, such as hand sanitizer and disinfectants.