Workers produce protective suits at Nantong Jiuding Knitted Garment Co in Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong, on Feb 19. [Photo/WeChat account: rugaofabu]

Workers at the Nantong Jiuding Knitted Garment Co have been busy producing protective suits for Hubei province, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) in China.

The first shipment of 1,500 protective suits produced by the Rugao-based company was transported to Wuhan and Yichang on Feb 18 to help in the fight against the epidemic.

The company received an order of protective suits on Feb 13. Considering the current shortage of essential supplies nationwide, the operators decided to postpone production for exports and summoned the most skilled workers to focus on producing protective suits.

“We finished the design and production testing on Feb 14, and the quality test and materials tailoring on Feb 15. We are currently capable of producing 1,500 suits per day,” said Jiang Yongjian, general manager of the company.

Gu Qingbo, chairman of Jiangsu Jiuding Group, the parent company, also visited the plant to inspect the product quality.

When asked if the production adjustment would impact the company’s interests, Gu said the company has been promoting automatic and intelligent manufacturing, which has helped reduce the impact of labor on production.

“We’ve been preparing since the beginning of the outbreak and won’t allow it to hinder our development,” Gu said.

“I have confidence that the group’s sales revenue will achieve double growth this year,” he added.