CEO Peter Fenkl said: “Our employees and their families work and live here – so naturally we provide them with as much support as we can, particularly during a crisis such as this.'

A Ziehl-Abegg employee had by chance been sent a set of build instructions via WhatsApp which allowed Ziehl-Abegg to send a photo of the first face masks to the crisis team in the local administration office. On receving the go-ahead, 3D printers went to work at the Künzelsau InVent Development Centre.

District Administrator Dr Matthias Neth is pleased with the “simple but effective” design. He will be passing on the temporary face masks to the ancillary staff in the Hohenlohe district. “We will get through this crisis together and can depend upon on each other,” he said. 

Mr Fenkl said: “We’re pleased about being able to help employees in the health and care sector in this way.' 

The medical sector is also part of the company’s normal area of business – for years, Ziehl-Abegg has been producing large fans for both operating theatres and quarantine stations. The company supplied special fans for Chinese hospitals that were built in the cities of Wuhan, Shandong and Shenzhen within just a few days. The German company also manufactured the core equipment for negative or positive pressure in clinics in Italy and other countries. It is also currently still working at full speed manufacturing these fans in Hohenlohe and worldwide.