- Ford to build 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days
- Will use Detroit-area plant
- Teams with GE to build Airon Model A-E machines
- GM partners with Ventec to make units
- Kokomo, Indiana plant repurposed
- Will build up to 200,000 ventilators
Ford and GM, responding to the government’s call to make ventilators, are teaming up with medical equipment makers to significantly ramp up production of the devices. Ford intends to make 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days and run at a 30,000-unit per month thereafter. GM set a goal of building 200,000 ventilators in total.
GE Healthcare is Ford’s partner, while Ventec is GM’s.
Ford to make Airon Model A-E ventilators
Using its Rawsonville components plant in Ypsilanti, Mic.h, Ford plans to make the Airon Model A-E ventilators. This is a simplified ventilator design licensed by GE Healthcare from the Florida-based Airon. Ford says the machine provides for the needs of most COVD-19 patients and can operate on air pressure without the need for electricity. The less complex nature of the Airon devices makes it suitable to be quickly scaled for production.
”The Ford and GE Healthcare teams, working creatively and tirelessly, have found a way to produce this vitally needed ventilator quickly and in meaningful numbers,” said Jim Hackett, Ford’s president, and CEO. “By producing this ventilator in Michigan, in strong partnership with the UAW, we can help health care workers save lives, and that’s our No. 1 priority.”
In addition to converting its Michigan plant, Ford sent a team to Airon in Florida to help boost its output. It currently builds only three of the machines a day at its Melbourne, Fla., location. Overall, Ford’s goal is to boost output to 7,200 units per week.
GM works with Ventec
Partnering with Ventec Life Systems, GM is in the process of converting its Kokomo, Ind., plant to produce VOCSN critical-care ventilators. These units ship as soon as next month and complement the boost in production at Ventec’s facility in Bothell, Wash.
GM said its contribution to the conversion effort is at cost. In addition to making the critical-care ventilators, GM plans the manufacture of FDA-cleared Level 1 surgical masks at a Warren, Mich., plant. It expects to produce up to 50,000 masks daily, with the capability to expand to 100,000 masks per day. The mask machinery is set to start production next week.
In building the ventilator, GM commits 1,000 employees from its Kokomo and nearby Marion, Ind., plants for retooling and operating the assembly line, which normally produces precision electrical components. More than 700 parts go into the making of a VOCSN ventilator, of which GM plans to build 200,000.
