Most importantly: production ramps slowly because of the implications of structural organization.
1. From what I can tell, our supply chains are carefully tuned for efficient output of known, predictable, quantities
2. If you want to suddenly double, triple, or 10x production, it isn't easy: the reconfiguration necessary is hard. Building new injection molds is hard, the surrounding transport chains are hard.
3. In light of those two facts, our existing manufacturing infrastructure is wholly unequipped to change or to help.
This is exactly where a strategic, savvy reserve would make a huge difference.
You can see this in the flurry of press releases from three weeks ago which have largely turned into nothing. Bupkis.
By contrast, my small, scrappy, and deeply dedicated team of volunteers has designed, prototyped, iterated, refined, and is now shipping emergency PPE in quantity.
Go visit https://maskson.org
We're ramping up to 2000 masks shipped a day.
That's going to take $100k/day in capital: http://gofundme.com/f/maskson