How? They planned ahead brilliantly.

Stock up as much as possible

According to a report by Free Malaysia Today, when the management team of Qdos learnt about the rapidly spreading disease, they realised what they needed to do to keep their factory in China running: get enough surgical masks for their 800 staff working there.

However, as the crisis grew, they could not get hold of enough masks in China as supplies quickly sold out.

Meanwhile, things weren't so bad in Malaysia at the time, so they put a plan into motion.

When the factory closed for the Chinese New Year holidays back in January and its Malaysian staff came back for the holiday, the company instructed them and their families to bring back as many masks from Malaysia as possible in their luggage.

“Lots of Malaysian employees coming and going, with families, so 150kg of masks per family!” said Qdos Group Chief Executive Jeffrey Hwang to Reuters.

Qdos, which manufactures flexible printed circuit boards for five of the world’s 10 biggest smartphone makers, eventually managed to stock up about 50,000 face masks!

The company issues one three-ply mask per person per day, as well as a two-ply mask to place over the first later in the day when the first one starts to wear out.

According to Hwang, that's enough face masks to last them until the end of March.

Because of their brilliant planning, Qdos was one of the first factories in the Chinese city to comply with virus regulations, allowing it to reopen soon after the Lunar New Year.

Bonus: Qdos was also featured in a Chinese TV programme because of their godlike planning.