The Department of Trade and Industry Region
4-A through its Shared Service Facilities for Garments Production operated by
the Reliance Producers Cooperative in Carmona, Cavite is manufacturing
laboratory gowns, jump suits, and face masks for the country’s healthcare workers.
This is in response to the call of the Department of Health to work closely
with the DTI, industry associations, and private firms to produce personal
protective equipment (PPEs) locally.
Established on April 4, 2017, the Reliance Producers Cooperative is a
member of the Confederation of Wearables Exporters of the Philippines (CONWEP),
which has been tapped by the DOH to produce 10,000 PPE coveralls daily. The
Cooperative is the first and only Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA)
Registered Cooperative that is authorized to engage in garment manufacturing
and exporting in the Philippines. It has 2,300 member-workers, catering to a
wide range products of international customers of distinguished brands.
Since April 8, 2020, the Cooperative is manufacturing 600 lab gowns, 500
jump suits, and 1,000 face masks per day with 300 member-workers. Upon the
arrival of additional raw materials, they are targeting 5,000 pieces of PPE per
day with added workforce.
The DTI 4-A provided ten units of single
needle-lock stitch needle feed machine, ten units of single needle-direct drive
lock stitch machine, six units of over lock five-threads machine, six units of
cover stitch machine, four units of buttonhole machine, and four units of bar
tack machine to the Cooperativeon June 1, 2016. Presently, these machines are
being used to manufacture the PPEs, using raw materials that have met
international standards for waterproofing and resistance to contaminants.
“In this very difficult time, it is vital
that we have enough PPEs for our healthcare workers to ensure their safety in
this fight against COVID-19, and we are happy with the support that we are
getting from different sectors. The use of our SSFs to produce more PPEs is our
way of helping and protecting the healthcare workers and other frontliners
since they are the ones who are most exposed to dangers,” said DTI CALABARZON
Director Marilou Q. Toledo.
The Shared Service Facilities (SSF) Project is a major component of the
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Development programs to improve and
develop competitiveness of the MSMEs by giving them access to energy efficient
technologies and more sophisticated equipment. Beneficiaries of the project are
the actual and potential users of the SSF, which should be predominantly
cooperatives, associations, or groups of MSMEs including MSMEs or individual
entrepreneurs who may not be members of cooperatives, associations,
corporations, or organizations.
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