The Ministry of Industry (Kemenperin) is developing a melt spinning laboratory facility. The Head of the Industrial Services Policy and Standardization Agency (BSKJI) of the Ministry of Industry, Doddy Rahadi, said that the facility could be utilized by the national textile and textile product (TPT) industry which is currently developing raw materials for yarn with special functions, including for medical purposes.

He said consumer demand during the pandemic for textile products that have anti-bacterial and anti-viral functions continues to increase. For that, the industry needs to be facilitated by the government. "In order to continue to make changes, it is necessary to apply and take advantage of the latest technology," he said.

According to him, the development of materials for health will have an impact on increasing the competitiveness of the national textile and textile products industry. He added that melt spinning technology is able to design yarn with a special function that is directly embedded in the fiber.

With the fiber engineering process using melt spinning technology, functional textile products can be produced that have a higher durability than the chemical refinement results.

"We are preparing melt spinning to support the industry. We invite the industry to take advantage of this technology and equipment. One of the advantages is being able to find the best ingredients as desired, "he said.

The application of melt spinning technology also aims to support import substitution of textile raw materials and functional textile products.

Director of the Textile, Leather and Footwear Industry of the Ministry of Industry, Elis Masitoh, expressed his appreciation for the accelerated procurement of melt spinning equipment for industrial technology development.

"We have high hopes for the Bandung Center for Textiles (BBT) to become a bridge of innovation for the textile and textile product industry in developing their products," he added.

Head of BBBT Bandung Wibowo Dwi Hartoto, his party is working with the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) to establish a medical mask testing laboratory facility.

Tests that can be performed in the laboratory include bacteria filtration efficiency (BFE) test, particle filtration efficiency (PFE), breathing resistance, synthetic blood penetration test or splash resistance, differential pressure, and flammability tests.

"This facility is prepared in order to answer the challenge of creating quality and adequate textile products, such as during a pandemic like this," he said.