COVID-19: Aube as a source of masks

BioSerenity is launching “Sérénité Protection Santé,” a “campaign factory” dedicated to high-volume production of surgical masks, FFP2 masks, and gowns for healthcare professionals at the Technopole de l’Aube in Champagne, Rosières-près-Troyes.

The current BioSerenity factory has the advantage of certifications and a team accustomed to managing medical constraints. Located on the Technopole de l’Aube in Rosières-près-Troyes, this factory was too narrow to accommodate the 11 production lines. Levisys, whose premises, built by the Department, are located a few hundred meters from BioSerenity’s, had available space, as its development takes place over a long time given the specific nature of the company’s business. 1,250 m² were therefore rented to BioSerenity for Sérénité Production Santé.

The goal of BioSerenity, through Sérénité Protection Santé, is to manufacture 500,000 surgical and FFP2 masks per day. The first team started production on Tuesday, May 12. Full capacity should be reached by mid-June. The masks are primarily manufactured to meet the needs and demands of the State for the medical sector. The priority is therefore for healthcare professionals and Santé Publique France – the national purchaser for hospitals. However, the team is doing everything possible to make additional production available to organizations and companies in need of single-use masks, in collaboration with the CCI Aube/UPREN platform, while respecting priority rules for healthcare personnel. Bioserenity believes that production could become permanent, although the decision will depend on the health measures taken by the Government and the evolution of French needs, including a strategy of relocation and national preference.

Bioserenity states: “As in times of war and after field hospitals, the establishment of a real campaign factory built with ultra-reactivity was the method chosen and made possible thanks to the mobilization of all and thanks to the investments of the Department of Aube on the Technopole and the pre-existing startup spirit.”

With this official announcement, and to cover and achieve the production target of Sérénité Protection Santé, BioSerenity is issuing a call for all individuals ready to engage in continuous mobilization similar to that of healthcare professionals, to form a team of over 150 people. The current BioSerenity team in Troyes, composed of 15 people with dual training in textiles and medical devices, will be happy to collaborate with volunteers for this mobilization, which requires rapid local recruitment of various profiles of motivated individuals to help. To form the team, all the forces of the region are mobilized, alongside BioSerenity: state services, with the Direccte at the forefront, the Department’s insertion service teams, Pôle Emploi, in collaboration with ADECCO, the temporary employment agency providing its expertise in rapid deployment to centralize most of the recruitment.

150 recruitments:

• 2 production line managers (for each type of mask)
• 5 team leaders (in 5×8 shifts)
• 5 maintenance managers, line adjusters, with expertise in semi-automatic line piloting (in 5×8 shifts)
• 3 industrial maintenance technicians (daytime with on-call duties)
• 100 production operators, including 80 on automatic machines (in 5×8 shifts) and 20 on support positions (in 5×8 shifts)
• 15 versatile individuals in the industrial sector (daytime with on-call duties)
• 3 quality production managers (daytime with on-call duties)
• 2 for general administration (daytime)

In addition to the hires, BioSerenity is calling for experienced individuals and young people with a solid education, available for the first weeks of startup as well as for the summer.

Because the situation is exceptional, the team, in collaboration with Business Sud Champagne, is also calling on the technical and administrative skills of other industrialists with experience in high-volume and shift production, on a voluntary or personnel loan basis. BioSerenity is particularly looking for individuals on technical unemployment.