TAOYUAN, Taiwan -- The small group of engineers and executives who met in a deserted warehouse in northern Taiwan on Feb. 10 had a simple yet daunting mission: help the country massively ramp up its output of face masks to deal with the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
The 10 or so people who were starting a stretch of 15-hour days and fitful sleep were not experts in making masks; most knew little about any aspect of medical equipment. Instead, they were from a clutch of machine tool companies -- making the machines that help Taiwan's industrial wheels turn. And what they were about to accomplish would reinforce their often underappreciated role in the island's economy.
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