The dizzying advance of the coronavirus is causing all kinds of consequences for companies. In the case of the Cordoba company Tecme, specialized in the manufacture of artificial respirators, the demand led it to quadruple its production and suspend exports to meet domestic demand.
The company routinely exports 80 percent of its production to 60 countries, but the largest volume of sales is in Argentina, Brazil, and India. This earned him last year the award for the entrepreneurial career of the Government of Córdoba.
The firm has just delivered 120 teams to the Province and the Municipality of Córdoba and has another 100 in preparation, which will be presented in the coming weeks. In the rest of the country, it has already delivered 130 devices, both to public and private centers, but is committed to providing another 500 more.
For there is more: it projects that for the next few months it will have an approximate demand of 1,600 equipment.
“You started seeing an increase from two months ago, but it escalated exponentially in the past few days. That forced production to increase 300 percent and add a dozen and a half new employees, “said Patricio Keegan, Marketing Manager at Tecme.
The company was founded by Ernesto and Luis Mañá in 1966, the year in which they started putting together the first prototypes of mechanical respirators, which were later tested in the Department of Experimental Surgery of the Córdoba Hospital.
It has a 4,700-square-meter factory covered on Circunvalación Avenue, on a 15,000-square-meter site. It also has a plant in Atlanta (United States), where it assembles equipment even to export it from there.
The organization is completed with offices in Buenos Aires.
Therapy equipment
Mechanical ventilators work in intensive care rooms to help patients for whom the virus reduces their lung capacity.
Like most companies dedicated to the manufacture of medical products, these days he works full-time and implementing overtime to meet the requirements of the health system.
From his office in Atlanta, the director – son of political leader Alfredo Keegan – ensures that this increase in orders is a worldwide phenomenon.
“The demand for these teams increased globally. Right now, calls are being received from all over the world asking for respirators. But our commitment is with Argentina, that is why it was decided to suspend the export for a time, until the internal demand is finished, “he said.
Keegan stressed that this measure is intended to “reassure society” at a time when concern is growing over the projected progress that the coronavirus will have in the coming months in the southern hemisphere.
Participation
In Argentina, Tecme is the leader with more than 70 percent of the mechanical respirator market, which it shares with another Cordovan firm, Leistung.
In addition to respirators, it manufactures air compressors, aerosol therapy (nebulizers), accessories and consumables, high-flow oxygen therapy equipment, and humidifiers.
Together with Silmag, which produces biomedical products for neonatology and pediatrics, and Promedon, manufacturer of implants for urological use, make up Grupo Medex, the nucleus of medical technology companies promoted for a long time by the Córdoba Chamber of Foreign Trade (Cacec), that develop collaborative strategies in the export task.
Demand: Reaction
Delivery of respirators for intensive care rooms.
250 Tecme delivered devices in recent days across the country. It has orders for another 500 and projects more demand.
The original text of this article was published on 03/19/2020 in our printed edition.
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