And recently, there is news that due to the shortage of respirators in the United States, General Motors, Ford, Tesla and other companies have gained manufacturing qualifications to manufacture respirators, while European car companies in Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries have also begun to respond to the government's call to join the ranks of providing medical supplies. So today we might want to take a look at what car companies around the world are doing in light of this epidemic!
01?Domestic and overseas are doing masks
A sentence of "what the people need, Wuling will make what" let the Wuling move to the production of masks deep into the hearts of the country, but at the same time in the Wuling production masks at the same time, the domestic automobile enterprises such as Guangzhou Automobile Works Co. and BYD are also put into the production of masks. And as early as March 16, SAIC-GM Wuling and BYD announced that the masks will be released to the public.
At present, these three car companies not only produce masks, but even make their own machines to produce masks. It is also thanks to their efforts, the domestic production pressure of masks has been eased, compared with 13,500% growth abroad and only 20 million / day capacity, the domestic has been too happy.
It is because of the serious imbalance between supply and demand of foreign masks, so many overseas car companies have begun to "copy homework". A few days ago, FCA Group announced that it will switch to the production of masks in its Chinese factories and donate them to North American countries such as the United States, Canada and Mexico. According to foreign news reports, at the request of the German government, Volkswagen and other automotive companies are considering the use of joint venture factories in China to produce masks, respirators and other medical equipment. And, as part of its aid program for the German healthcare system, VW will also purchase medical equipment worth up to 10 million euros from China to ship to Germany.
02?GM, Ford, Tesla build ventilators
On March 19, the governor of the U.S. state of New York said there are currently just under 6,000 ventilators in New York, and the demand is for at least 30,000 units. However, the current total number of ventilators in the United States is just about 200,000, so ventilators have become a medical material in short supply in the United States. But unlike masks, respirators are complex and sophisticated machines, so even car companies don't say they can easily make the switch.
Currently, GM, Ford and Tesla have already qualified to switch to ventilators, with Tesla saying it will quickly deliver 1,200 units. The rest of the car companies, such as McLaren, have announced that they will look into manufacturing respirators, while Rolls-Royce has said it is ready to help. Meanwhile, Vauxhall, Honda's UK plant, Toyota's UK plant and Volkswagen have all started production of ventilators. As of March 24, 11 overseas car companies have made it clear that they will produce ventilators or help ventilator companies speed up production.
However, compared with switching to masks, switching to respirators is not a one-step process, and in addition to the need for specialized personnel and proprietary technology, revamping production lines is also problematic. Helen?Meese, a British mechanical engineer expert, said the production line and production process of respirators can not be completed overnight, it will take at least a few weeks, and automobile companies that do not specialize in the production of medical equipment may have to spend several months to make parts from scratch.
03?Have you ever seen a car with a thermometer?
Currently out of the temperature measurement means mostly through the thermometer to realize, although this method has been convenient and efficient enough, but for the staff, due to the number of people in contact with the larger, there is still a certain security risks. Under this premise, SAIC-GM-Wuling and Changan Automobile have given their solutions - mobile temperature measurement vehicles.
On February 20, SAIC-GM-Wuling delivered the first batch of intelligent mobile temperature measurement vehicles to the Liuzhou Municipal Government for use; then on March 1, Chang'an Automobile also equipped the Chang'an CS75?PLUS with an AI intelligent thermal imaging temperature measurement system, and provided it free of charge to the Chongqing Municipal High-speed Railway Station, the community, and other municipal, transportation, and health care service organizations to use.
04?Goggles, disinfectant and snail powder can't be missing!
For the public, masks are in short supply, but for frontline workers, goggles and disinfectant are equally in short supply. In order to ensure that the front-line workers of the urgent need for materials, Shaanxi Automobile, Zunyi steam production have joined the ranks of the manufacture of medical goggles. And BYD's ninth division is not only working on masks, but also the production of disinfectant gel, and achieved a capacity of 300,000 bottles/day.
By contrast, the most remarkable one is SAIC-GM-Wuling, which has surprisingly started to produce snail powder in addition to masks! But unlike the medical supplies mentioned above, the main reason for SAIC-GM-Wuling to produce snail powder is that most of the related products on the market are currently out of stock, thus the idea of switching to the production of snail powder, and the production of snail powder or will become one of the long-term development of SAIC-GM-Wuling business.
05?Bosch launches new crown inspection instrument
Owner manufacturers are busy, spare parts manufacturers are also not idle. Recently, Bosch Group announced the success of its latest research and development, a COVID-19 fully automatic rapid test instrument, which can help clinics, hospitals, laboratories and health centers and other medical institutions to achieve rapid diagnosis. According to Bosch, it took only six weeks for Bosch to develop the rapid test program to be completed. The rapid molecular diagnostic test will be equipped on the Vivalytic analyzer developed by Bosch's Healthcare Solutions business unit. It will take only two and a half hours from sample collection to the presentation of results to determine whether a patient is positive. With current testing protocols, patients usually have to wait one to two days for a diagnosis. The Bosch test has been found to be more than 95 percent accurate in all laboratory tests for the new coronavirus.
Compared with the capitalists who boasted about the epidemic, it is still the manufacturing entities that are able to carry the burden of the epidemic. Today, the automobile factories abroad have been shut down more than a hundred, for the car companies and spare parts manufacturers, they are very clear, in the current switch to the production of medical supplies is not only to solve the urgent needs of the country and the people, but also in the solution of their own urgent needs. It is for this reason that in the face of the epidemic, perhaps out of sincerity or out of selfishness, most car companies will utilize their existing resources as much as possible to donate or produce the much-needed materials at the moment.
(Image source network,侵删)
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