In search of resilience

WHEN COVID-19 led to a scramble for face masks, Lloyd Armbrust saw America’s shortage as “a really dumb problem to have”. But after his company’s first face mask came off the production line in Austin, Texas, he faced problems of his own. A small sensor went down, halting operations, and he realised that a replacement would take five days to arrive from Taiwan. He found himself competing for American customers with Chinese companies selling masks for less than they cost to ship. Without government intervention, he warned that America would again face shortages of crucial protective equipment. “We need to make some of this locally,” he says. “We just do.”