Ford, Fiat/Chrysler and General Motors have all but halted vehicle production in the U.S. and around the world, and are switching to manufacturing emergency medical supplies and equipment for healthcare workers, first responders and patients fighting the Coronavirus pandemic.
3D technology, repurposing equipment such as fans used to air-cool passenger seats and other technical and engineering innovations are being used to help solve the severe shortage of medical equipment and supplies.
GM will manufacture FDA-cleared Level 1 surgical masks at its Warren, Michigan manufacturing facility, production will ramp up to 50,000 masks per day, with the potential to increase to 100,000 per day.
Ford plans to assemble more than 100,000 face shields per week and leverage its in-house 3D printing capability to produce disposable respirators for healthcare workers.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is manufacturing and donating more than 1 million protective face masks per month.
All three automakers promise initial distribution across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
“This is such a critical time for America and the world. It is a time for action and cooperation. By coming together across multiple industries, we can make a real difference for people in need and for those on the front lines of this crisis,” said Bill Ford, Ford’s executive chairman in a statement announcing the decision.
“At Ford, we feel a deep obligation to step up and contribute in times of need, just as we always have through the 117-year history of our company.”
Ford has also kicked off a working team to help hospitals locate and secure urgently needed surgical and N95 respirators. Ford has so far committed sending Henry Ford Health Systems 40,000 surgical masks while it locates additional supplies.
PPE (Powered Air-Purifying Respirators)
Ford is working with 3M to increase the manufacturing capacity of their powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) designs and working jointly to develop a new design leveraging parts from both companies to meet the surge demand for first responders and health care workers.
This new respirator could be produced in a Ford facility by UAW workers.
To go as fast as possible, the Ford and 3M teams are scouring (pun intended) off-the-shelf parts like fans from the Ford F-150’s cooled seats for airflow, 3M HEPA air filters to filter airborne contaminants such as droplets that carry virus particles and portable tool battery packs to power these respirators for up to eight hours.
Ford is looking at how it might produce these new-generation PAPRs in one of its Michigan manufacturing facilities, helping 3M boost production potentially tenfold.
Ventilators
Ford and GE Healthcare are working together to expand production of a simplified version of GE Healthcare’s existing ventilator design to support patients with respiratory failure or difficulty breathing caused by COVID-19. These ventilators could be produced at a Ford manufacturing site in addition to a GE location.
Since Friday, March 20, Ventec and GM teams across manufacturing, engineering, purchasing, legal and others have been tirelessly and seamlessly working together to create and implement a plan for immediate, scaled production of critical care ventilators.
The Ventec and GM global supply base developed sourcing plans for the more than 700 individual parts that are needed to build up to 200,000 VOCSN.
”GM is in the position to help build more ventilators because of the remarkable performance of GM and Ventec’s global supply base,” said GM chief Mary Barra in a statement.
“Our joint teams have moved mountains to find real solutions to save lives and fight the pandemic.”
Respirators and Face Shields
Ford’s U.S. design team is creating and starting to test transparent full-face shields for medical workers and first responders.
The face shields fully block the face and eyes from accidental contact with liquids and when paired with N95 respirators can be a more effective way to limit potential exposure to coronavirus than N95 respirators alone.
The first 1,000 face shields will be tested this week at Detroit Mercy, Henry Ford Health Systems and Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace Hospitals.
Roughly 75,000 of these shields are expected to be finished this week and more than 100,000 face shields per week will be produced at Ford subsidiary Troy Design and Manufacturing’s facilities in Plymouth, Mich.
Ford is leveraging its Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, Mich., and in-house 3D printing capabilities to manufacture disposable respirators, which are needed to help filter the air healthcare workers and first responders breathe. Once approved by the proper health agency, Ford will initially start at a pace equal to 1,000 per month but will quickly grow production as fast as possible
Ford has also kicked off a working team to help hospitals locate and secure urgently needed surgical and N95 respirators. Ford has so far committed sending Henry Ford Health Systems 40,000 surgical masks while it locates additional supplies.
Fiat Chrysler says the one milliion face masks per month are to be donated by FCA to police, EMTs and firefighters, as well as to workers in hospitals and health care clinics.
This action is the first of a multifaceted global program being developed by the company through applying manufacturing, supply chain and engineering expertise to support the global fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
In a staement announcing the initiative, FCA CEO Mike Manley said:
“Protecting our first responders and health care workers has never been more important. In addition to the support we are giving to increase the production of ventilators, we canvassed our contacts across the healthcare industry and it was very clear that there is an urgent and critical need for face masks.
We’ve marshalled the resources of the FCA Group to focus immediately on installing production capacity for making masks and supporting those most in need on the front line of this pandemic.”
FCA will be working through national, regional and city authorities to ensure that the donated face masks are being directed to the people and facilities in the most immediate need. The company will disclose further actions related to the fight against the Coronavirus in the coming days.
Ford has also kicked off a working team to help hospitals locate and secure urgently needed surgical and N95 respirators. Ford has so far committed sending Henry Ford Health Systems 40,000 surgical masks while it locates additional supplies.
Internationally
U.K. – Ford continues working on a separate effort not involving GE Healthcare with the U.K. government and a consortium of companies in Europe to produce additional ventilators.
China – ,Ford of China joint venture partner Jiangling Motors also has donated 10 specially equipped Transit ambulance vans to hospitals in Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak began. Ford is also reacquiring 165,000 N95 respirators from China that were originally sent by Ford to China earlier this year to help combat coronavirus.
Ford has also kicked off a working team to help hospitals locate and secure urgently needed surgical and N95 respirators. Ford has so far committed sending Henry Ford Health Systems 40,000 surgical masks while it locates additional supplies.
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