Photo: Ford
The worldwide tally of the coronavirus pandemic now stands at nearly 800,000 reported infections and over 37,000 related deaths. A few days ago, the U.S. took the top spot in the list of most affected countries, and it already fast approaching the 200,000 infected mark.
After what may be considered attempts to play down the severity of the crisis, American president Donald Trump seems to have decided to place the entire might of the country behind the efforts to fight the pandemic, including by activating the Defense Production Act and ordering carmakers to start making ventilators.
Despite the fact the Act was invoked and targeted directly at GM, others are responding too. Ford, who already announced a partnership with 3M and GE Healthcare for the production of ventilators and respirators, joined the call to arms and, at the beginning of this week, details on when production is expected to start were made public.
Ford said in an official statement it plans on starting the production of an FDA-cleared ventilator at the Rawsonville Components Plant in Michigan in the week of April 20. The plan is to have 1,500 of them made by the end of next month, 12,000 by the end of May and 50,000 by July 4. After that, the carmaker says that, if needed, it could support a monthly production of 30,000 units.
White House Defense Production Act Coordinator Peter Navarro praised the Blue Oval after the announcement, and even compared the current actions of the company with the ones of the Second World War
“The Ford/GE Healthcare team is moving in ‘Trump time’ to speed urgently needed ventilators to the front lines of the Trump Administration’s full-scale war against the coronavirus.”
“Just as Ford in the last century moved its manufacturing might seamlessly from auto to tank production during World War II, the Ford team is working with GE Healthcare to use its awesome engineering and manufacturing capabilities to voluntarily help this nation solve one of its most pressing problems.”
Despite the fact the Act was invoked and targeted directly at GM, others are responding too. Ford, who already announced a partnership with 3M and GE Healthcare for the production of ventilators and respirators, joined the call to arms and, at the beginning of this week, details on when production is expected to start were made public.
Ford said in an official statement it plans on starting the production of an FDA-cleared ventilator at the Rawsonville Components Plant in Michigan in the week of April 20. The plan is to have 1,500 of them made by the end of next month, 12,000 by the end of May and 50,000 by July 4. After that, the carmaker says that, if needed, it could support a monthly production of 30,000 units.
White House Defense Production Act Coordinator Peter Navarro praised the Blue Oval after the announcement, and even compared the current actions of the company with the ones of the Second World War
“The Ford/GE Healthcare team is moving in ‘Trump time’ to speed urgently needed ventilators to the front lines of the Trump Administration’s full-scale war against the coronavirus.”
“Just as Ford in the last century moved its manufacturing might seamlessly from auto to tank production during World War II, the Ford team is working with GE Healthcare to use its awesome engineering and manufacturing capabilities to voluntarily help this nation solve one of its most pressing problems.”
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