With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, a number of automakers and other manufacturers have announced plans to modernize factories to help alleviate the shortage of personal protective equipment and ventilators.
Now, two U.S. automakers have fulfilled their separate multi-million dollar ventilation contracts, together providing 80,000 devices to the U.S. government.
General Motors said Tuesday that it has completed the contract with the United States Department of Health and Human Services for 30,000 intensive care ventilators delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile. GM said many of its ventilators have been distributed to hospitals. Ford has also completed its 50,000 fan contract, Bloomberg reported.
GM and Ford didn't go it alone. Both automakers have partnered with companies to accelerate growth from 0 to thousands of fans within five months. GM partnered with Ventec Life Systems to manufacture fans at its engine plant in Kokomo, Ind., Employing approximately 1,000 workers. The GM-Ventec partnership originated from StopTheSpread.org, a coordinated effort of private companies to respond to COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Ford has partnered with GE Healthcare to manufacture ventilators at the automaker's Rawsonville Road plant in Michigan. Ford's $ 336 million contract ended on August 28 when it shipped its latest Model AE ventilation unit. Ford's contract was supposed to be fulfilled by mid-July, but it said it was delayed by new suppliers who were ramping up component production, according to Bloomberg. The company has obtained an extension from HHS.
Early in the contracts, GM and Ford were criticized, and even attacked, by President Trump, although he eventually applauded the efforts.
Both efforts have extended and showcased automakers' capabilities to convert portions of factories used to assemble vehicles and parts into facilities that churn out medical devices. Before GM even announced its partnership with Ventec, the automaker investigated the feasibility of procuring more than 700 components needed to build Ventec's intensive care ventilators called VOCSN. Ventec describes these VOCSN devices as multifunction ventilators which were cleared in 2017 by the FDA.
GM initially estimated it would cost about $ 750 million, a price that included retrofitting part of the engine system, purchasing materials to make the fans, and paying the 1,000 workers needed to increase production, he said. the source. However, the Trump administration opposed the price, putting a contract with the US government in limbo. Eventually, GM reached a $ 490 million contract with the federal government to produce 30,000 fans by the end of August. Under the contract, GM manufactured a different ICU ventilator from Ventec called the VOCSN V + Pro, a simpler device that has 400 parts. The other more expensive and complex machine had a multifunctional capability.
Ford and GM also produced other medical supplies. Ford, who called his effort Project Apollo, said it has produced more than 75 million personal protective equipment, including 19 million face shields, 42 million face masks, 1.6 million insulated gowns. washable and over 32,000 air-purifying respirators powered in partnership with 3M.
GM said its Warren plant has two production lines for face masks and a third line that makes N95 face respirators. To date, the facility has produced more than 10 million masks, with production destined for GM facility employees or donated to community organizations, the company said.
