Hengbo Holding Co, which specializes in the research, development, production, and sale of internal combustion engine intake systems, starts producing face masks. [Photo/taizhou.com.cn] 

In less than two months, the daily capacity of face masks has grown from 20,000 to 4.3 million in Taizhou, East China's Zhejiang province, according to local media reports. 

The city currently has 64 mask manufacturers, including four that produce surgical masks and five that produce KN95 foldable masks.

The rapid growth is largely due to the coordinated efforts of the local government and enterprises.

In early February, local authorities issued a notice calling on enterprises to ramp up production to meet the daily demand of 4.5 million face masks amid the epidemic.

Zhejiang Jiaxuan Health Supplies Co Ltd are reusing the mask machine they acquired during the SARS epidemic 17 years ago, and have invested another 4 million yuan ($579,710.1) into purchasing five intelligent surgical mask production lines.

The company has become the city's first surgical mask manufacturer with a daily capacity of 400,000 to 500,000 surgical masks. 

In the meantime, some enterprises have shifted their focus to manufacturing face masks.

One such company is Hengbo Holding Co, which specializes in the research, development, production, and sale of internal combustion engine intake systems. 

The company's deputy general manager Ruan Jiangping said that the company began producing masks on March 3 after two days of preparations and their current output stands at more than 200,000 per day. 

On March 8, Zhejiang Leo Medical Equipment Co Ltd began using its first automatic face mask production line. 

The company plans to set up 10 such production lines with a combined daily output of one million face masks, making it the largest face mask manufacturer in Taizhou.

As the epidemic subsidies across China, Wu Jianwei, deputy dean of the Taizhou Research Institute of Zhejiang University, said that local face mask manufacturers should seek technological upgrading and tap into new markets.

He called on these companies to ramp up investment and innovation on production equipment and develop more high-end products like surgical and N95 masks. 

"As the epidemic spreads across the world, there will be a large-scale shortage of protective resources such as masks, and the demand for melt-blown fabric will also rise," said Fang Junran from Zhejiang Huitong New Material Technology Co Ltd, who added that the company will continue to improve its quality and increase production capacity.