Collaborating together, Ford and GE Healthcare are on track to produce 50,000 ventilators in Michigan in the next 100 days. The two teams have been working in tandem over the last few weeks to create a viable product that will help the patients dealing with the effects of the coronavirus and other respiratory conditions that are part of this global health crisis.
Taking Ford’s massive manufacturing capabilities to quickly scale production and pairing that with GE Healthcare’s world-class clinical expertise, the pair are licensing and mass-producing a ventilator design from Airon Corporation. Airon Corp. is a small company that specializes in high-tech life support products. The forth-coming product {est. April 20} is the GE/Airon Model A-E ventilator uses a design that operates on air pressure without the need for electricity. This product is vitally needed to address the needs of COVID-19 patients and to meet the growing demands right here in the United States.
Jim Hackett, Ford’s president and CEO, says that “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.”
Similarly to the World War II collaborative efforts, Ford utilized its manufacturing and engineering technology to shift from autos to tank production. Now the team is working with GE Healthcare to provide a treatment solution for this problem globally impacting millions. For now, the plan is to initially send a team to work with Airon to boost production in Florida, and then by the week of April 20, begin production at Ford’s Rawsonville Components Plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan. The goal is to expedite the design to production process to meet the surging demands as numbers of patients and impacted families rise.
The plant in Rawsonville will produce the ventilators nearly around the clock, with 500 paid volunteer UAW-represented employees working on three shifts. Right now, Airon currently produces three Airon pNeuton Model A ventilators per day in Melbourne, Florida. Once at full production, Ford plans to make 7,200 Airon-licensed Model A-E ventilators per week.
To see more of this design and to learn more about it’s development and distribution, visit here
