After suspending production indefinitely, Ford was one of the first automakers to respond to the New Coronavirus outbreak by volunteering to manufacture masks, respirators and other personal protective equipment.On April 13, 2020, Ford announced plans to expand production of vital medical equipment and provide medical supplies to paramedics, first responders and patients fighting the New Coronavirus. Ford has already begun production of 3 million masks in Plymouth, Michigan, and beginning April 14, 2020, the company's in-house air-purifying respirators will also be in production.
Ford's vice president of corporate product line management, Jim? Baumbick (Jim?Baumbick) said, "We knew that to play our part in helping to fight the coronavirus, we had to go to hell and join forces with experts such as 3M to expand production of much-needed medical equipment and supplies. During the three weeks of the Apollo program, we took on manufacturing, purchasing and design talent from around the world and began manufacturing personal protective equipment to help increase respirator availability and production."
About 90 paid volunteers from the United Auto Workers will assemble PAPR and N95 respirators at Ford's Vreeland plant near Flat Rock, Michigan, with a production capacity of 100,000 or more units. Ford developed the new PAPR respirator with the help of 3M, as well as a blower system that uses a fan similar to the one found in the seats of the Ford F-150. Ford's Rawsonville plant began production of the third-party ventilators on April 20, and pre-production of the ventilators has begun in the United Kingdom to meet the government's requirement for 15,000 units.
With the increase in production, the United Auto Workers will add another 50 workers. Ford will also produce the suits at a rate of 75,000 per week and has the ability to scale up production to 100,000 suits in the week leading up to April 19th. Finally, Ford is helping Thermo Fisher Scientific expand production of related tools.
Adrian?Price, global head of core engineering for automotive manufacturing, said, "We're doing everything we can to expand the production and availability of personal protective equipment to help protect the real heroes -- medical personnel -- and our communities in the battle against the new coronavirus outbreak." .
This article comes from the authors of Motor Home Caravan and does not represent the views of Motor Home Caravan.