Story and Photos by HENRY EMPEÑO | 

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — A Japanese company that manufactures cooling fans for mechanical ventilators and other critical medical equipment now finds its hands tied by limitations under the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine (ECQ).

Officials of Sanyo Denki Philippines, Inc. (SDPI) said that despite greater demand for cooling fans from medical industry giants like Siemens, Inogen and Hitachi, they cannot produce as much as needed because of lack of manpower.

“The number of cooling fans we produced monthly used to reach 80,000, but we can only produce from 6,000 to 10,000 units now,” SDPI president Koichi Uchibori said.

He said that this is because ECQ rules that required exporters to house their staff within the free port zone have drastically reduced factory production to just 10 percent of the previous capacity.

Uchibori and SDPI design manager Ted Yamazaki met with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma on Monday when the later visited the company’s factory at the Subic Techno Park here.

Yamazaki said that the company’s cooling fans that range from 40mm to 172mm in sizes are used in various medical equipment, including mechanical ventilators that move breathable air into and out of the lungs of patients who are physically unable to breathe.

Uchibori said the technology firm also used to manufacture uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units, servo amplifiers and stepping motors, but has now devoted its operations to producing cooling fans, which are much needed for medical purposes today.

He added that they would like to increase production still, but that required bringing in more workers and housing them in hotel rooms, which are now in short supply here in the Freeport because of ECQ requirements for workers’ lodgings.

As of last February when the ECQ was not yet in place, Sanyo Denki employed a total of 4,273 workers, including those under contract with manpower services. Uchibori said the company now operates with only 600 workers who are housed in various hotels inside the Subic Bay Freeport.

“It is expensive keeping them in hotels, and also paying them double (for hazard pay),” Uchibori noted. “Still we are ready to take in more, but the problem now is where to house them,” he added.

Uchibori also said that despite the huge overhead for the company’s current operations, SDPI is not charging their customers any extra amount for their in-demand products.

Aside from ventilators, the firm’s cooling fans are also used in X-ray and MRI machines, virus DNA analyzers, blood analyzers, and portable oxygen concentrators.

Upon learning of the firm’s problem, Chairman Eisma assured Uchibori that the SBMA will help in easing up the supply chain and in putting up workers accommodations for the company because of its vital role in the fight against Covid-19.

She also expressed gratitude to the company and its workers for continuing to produce the vital components needed for ventilators and other medical equipment.

“We will help you find ways so that shipment of your raw materials won’t be delayed, and so that you can employ more workers to step up production of this very important product,” Eisma told the Sanyo Denki executives.

“Subic salutes you for your important role in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic,” she added.