From Jeep made by Willis in World War II, to airplanes and tanks made by GM and Ford, to masks made by SAIC-GM-Wuling and BYD, Volkswagen, FCA and Jaguar have joined the manufacturing army of ventilators. It seems that every time a major crisis comes, car companies are the most effective helpers.
According to the data, as of March 25th, 16, there were more than 80,000 confirmed infected people in COVID-19 and more than 330,000 confirmed infected people abroad. The cumulative number of people who died of the virus in the world exceeded180,000, and it is still increasing.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, automobile companies have played an active role, donating money and materials, helping people to support frontline epidemic prevention, and even producing the most scarce medical materials. These actions have made the whole society feel warm, and at the same time made great contributions to the national "anti-epidemic" work.
China car companies produce masks, and overseas car companies produce ventilators.
On February 6th, SAIC-GM-Wuling announced that it would transform its joint suppliers into masks by rebuilding its production line. The phrase "Wuling must build what people need" has always been praised by people.
On February 8, the first batch of * * * 200,000 "Wuling brand" civilian masks produced by Wuling rolled off the assembly line. It took only three days from the idea to the first batch of masks, which not only vividly explained the "Wuling speed", but also brought excellent demonstration effect to the industry.
Later BYD, GAC, Changan Automobile, etc. He expressed his willingness to join the production army of masks and disinfectant. As of the beginning of March, the daily output of masks contributed by domestic car companies has reached 8 million, in addition to a certain amount of disinfectant.
In the face of this major disaster, the spirit and sense of responsibility shown by China car companies surprised the whole world.
In the United States, a well-known new energy vehicle news website? EVS said with emotion: "In less than two weeks, China car companies have completed the work that usually takes two months to complete; The development and manufacturing process of mask machine is completed within 7 days, but in the market, it usually takes 15 to 30 days to manufacture a complete mask machine; At the same time, the research and development of medical grade disinfectant was completed within 6 days. In just 8 days, these disinfectants were transported to the hands of frontline medical staff. "
Therefore, with the rapid deterioration of the epidemic in Europe and America, overseas automobile factories have naturally become the main targets for governments to request assistance. The United States, Germany, Britain, France, Italy, etc. all began to negotiate with automobile companies to produce medical supplies.
However, unlike masks produced by domestic enterprises, Europe and the United States pay more attention to ventilators. According to Academician Zhong Nanshan, ventilator is one of the most effective methods to treat COVID-19, and no specific medicine is needed.
Britain was the first country to call on car companies to switch to ventilators. It is reported that there are 5000 ventilators in Britain, but if the number of confirmed cases continues to increase, it will soon be insufficient. As of March 25th, there were more than 8,000 confirmed cases in Britain. In the past week, the growth rate of confirmed cases in Britain was second only to the United States and Germany.
To this end, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Jaguar and other car manufacturers to take action on March 16 to produce as many ventilators as possible.
Italy, as the country with the worst epidemic in Europe, has the biggest ventilator gap. At present, there are only 3,000 ventilators in Italy, but the number of patients has reached 70,000 (as of March 25th). The serious shortage of ventilators has forced Italy to face a cruel fact-considering the survival probability, young people are the priority treatment targets, which is equivalent to announcing the "death" of the diagnosed elderly in advance.
On March 19, Italian car companies Ferrari and Fiat Chrysler (FCA) said that they had negotiated with sia ereging, the largest manufacturer of local ventilators, to help them increase production. Siare said that the government has asked enterprises to increase the monthly output of ventilators from 160 to 500.
As the country with the fastest epidemic speed, the United States currently has 65,438+0.6 million ventilators, and another 65,438+0.27 million ventilators are strategically supplied by the state. However, due to the federal system in the United States, there is an obvious problem of uneven distribution of materials among States. Therefore, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York with the worst epidemic, asked the federal government to nationalize the procurement of medical supplies and allocate them uniformly.
It is understood that there are more than 20,000 ventilators in new york. "Every state is buying ventilators, and we have sent people to China, the largest producer of ventilators." Como said.
By 9: 00 am on March 25th, there were more than 50,000 confirmed cases in COVID-19, of which New York accounted for nearly half. A few days ago, Ford, GM and Tesla all obtained the "license" to manufacture ventilators.
The German government also requires automobile manufacturers to produce medical equipment such as masks and ventilators. Volkswagen has set up a special working group to study how to use 3D printing technology to help produce ventilators and other life-saving equipment. Daimler also said that it is studying various schemes.
The epidemic situation is urgent, and "China experience" has become the guiding light.
Multinational companies not only produce ventilators in their own factories, but also hope that China companies can provide assistance within their capacity. This is because the epidemic situation in China has been effectively controlled, and factories have resumed work in an orderly manner.
The Volkswagen Group has determined a set of assistance plans for the German medical system, including using the resources in the China market to assist Germany, purchasing medical equipment worth as much as10 million euros in China, and producing masks in its joint venture factory in China.
Fiat Chrysler also said that it is producing masks through its factory in China, which is expected to be put into production in the next few weeks, with a monthly production capacity of 654.38+00,000. In the future, these masks will be mainly donated to emergency personnel and medical institutions in the United States.
BYD recently said that on the basis of meeting domestic demand, if there is demand from overseas countries, the possibility of mask export will not be ruled out.
On March 19, Reuters reported: "The idea of British, American and Italian car companies switching to medical supplies began in China. BYD produced 5 million masks and 300,000 bottles of disinfectant a day." ?
Screenshot of Reuters report
In fact, in addition to producing medical materials, the successful epidemic prevention experience of China car companies has also become the object of imitation by multinational companies.
On March 17, at the online communication meeting of Audi ag 2020 media, Diss, chairman of the management board of Volkswagen Group, bluntly said that Volkswagen Group copied the epidemic prevention model of China to all its companies.
"We are now trying to keep the distance between people as far as possible and try to replace face-to-face meetings with teleconferences/video conferences; Isolate employees who have been to areas with severe epidemics; Implement home office, reduce office attendance and so on. " ?
See the epidemic prevention performance of China car companies, Nick? Gibbs also wrote with emotion: "The measures taken by China car companies such as Geely Automobile to overcome the epidemic are worth learning by European car manufacturers." ?
In fact, in front of COVID-19, human beings are in the same boat. If conditions permit, we welcome overseas car companies to copy China's experience as much as possible.
Car companies have natural advantages in switching to medical materials.
Although it is more difficult to build a ventilator than a mask, it is not impossible. After all, in special times, car companies can even build planes and cannons.
As the crown jewel of modern industry, automobile manufacturing industry involves tens of thousands of parts and hundreds of supporting suppliers. From sheet metal processing to vehicle assembly, it is necessary to adopt various processing technologies and various types of mechanical molds, and its complexity is incomparable with civil mechanical technology.
Compared with other manufacturing industries, the advantages of supply chain will make it easier for vehicle manufacturers to integrate various suppliers and assemble medical equipment quickly and effectively. This is also the direct reason why SAIC-GM-Wuling and BYD can quickly realize mask production.
In addition, vehicle manufacturers also have ready-made workshops, machine tools and basic manufacturing technologies and equipment. In addition, the advantages of human resources are also conducive to car companies to improve production efficiency. In China, BYD has more than100000 employees, and SAIC-GM-Wuling, GAC and Changan also have huge R&D and manufacturing teams. In foreign countries, Volkswagen, GM, Ford, FCA and other multinational groups are not to mention.
Moreover, car companies often have deep technical reserves, such as electronics, pneumatics and other technologies, which are very dependent on the production of ventilators and can help car companies quickly realize the transformation of medical materials.
According to statistics, as of March 22nd, 14 multinational automobile enterprise groups around the world have announced the closure of their factories, and the total number of affected factories has reached more than 100.
When the automobile market drops to "freezing point" and automobile production is unsustainable, it is also the best policy to switch to urgently needed medical materials such as masks and ventilators. After all, only through the difficulties as soon as possible can enterprises usher in real spring.
Some pictures come from the internet, such as intrusion?
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.