Healthcare workers at Seattle’s Virginia Medical Center will be the first to receive respirators built by Ford Motors, which pivoted in March to begin developing personal protective equipment as COVID-19 spread throughout the country.
A nationwide supply gap in ventilators and other personal protective equipment has been an urgent challenge for hospitals treating COVID-19 patients, prompting businesses with supply chain and manufacturing expertise to quickly pivot.
Ford enlisted 90 paid United Auto Workers volunteers at a factory in Michigan to develop and build the air purifying devices, using off-the-shelf parts like vehicle ventilator fans and power tool batteries. 3M, a multinational manufacturing corporation, provided design guidance and other assistance to Ford.
Ford’s manufacturing team used 3D printing, as well as expertise and materials native to the Michigan factory to develop the devices. They can provide filtered air for healthcare workers treating COVID-19 patients for up to eight hours, Ford said in a press release.
The volunteers have assembled more than 10,000 respirators and have the capacity to make 100,000 or more, according to Ford. The factory is also developing hundreds of thousands of washable gowns for healthcare workers.
Ford is one of several companies working to expand access to personal protective equipment in the U.S. General Motors announced a partnership with the Seattle-area startup Ventec Life Systems in March to increase production of Ventec’s next-generation ventilators.
