General Motors is proving instrumental in the creation of life-saving equipment as part of the fight against COVID-19. A month ago, GM announced plans to utilize its manufacturing plant in Kokomo, Indiana to create ventilators. Last Friday, this promise came to fruition.
Two Chicagoland hospitals, Franciscan Health Olympia Fields and Chicago’s Weiss Memorial Hospital , were the beneficiaries of the first rounds of General Motors and Ventec Life Systems VOCSN V+Pro critical care ventilators late last week at the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.received their ventilators.
The partnership between General Motors and Indiana-based Ventec Life Systems has been instrumental in transforming GM’s Kokomo plant into a manufacturing hub for these much-needed respirators, and marking unprecedented speed and co-operation between two disparate companies with the aim of creating life-saving devices while also employing local workers. Nearly 1,000 workers in Kokomo have returned to work to produce the 30,000 ventilators ordered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“The passion and commitment that people at GM, Ventec and our suppliers have put into this work is inspiring, and we are all humbled to support the heroic efforts of medical professionals in Chicagoland and across the world who are fighting to save lives and turn the
tide of the pandemic,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra.
“Patients deserve access to the best technology to keep them in the fight as their bodies combat the virus,” said Ventec Life Systems CEO Chris Kiple. “Critical care ventilators deliver precise airflow to protect the lungs, include accurate monitors to assess patient well-being,
and most importantly, they include advanced controls that help respiratory therapists and physicians wean patients off ventilators as fast as possible.”
UPS plays a crucial role in the delivery of these ventilators, and the collaboration of these three corporate institutions was praised by the White House as a representation of the power of private commerce. This despite some ugly back and forth at the beginning of the month between General Motors and the Trump-administration. Despite that rocky start, the ventilators are making their way to where they can do the most good.
“For a community hospital that was already struggling with budgetary constraints prior to this crisis, these ventilators are a much-needed infusion of critical resources to care for our patients, which includes a significant elderly population,” said Mary Shehan, CEO of Weiss
Memorial Hospital. “We are extremely grateful for the support and to all those who are rallying to ensure that our frontline caregivers have the necessary supplies to care for our patients. We need all the help we can get now to rise to this unprecedented challenge.”
“We have healthcare heroes who are on the front lines in this pandemic and we’re grateful to know there is support to attain more of the essential resources they need to care for the most critically ill patients,” said Allan M. Spooner, president and CEO of Franciscan Health Olympia Fields. “Every single one of these ventilators will make a difference in the lives of critical COVID-19 patients and our other patients with acute respiratory illness. We are grateful and inspired by the ingenuity and dedication of everyone behind this truly lifesaving gift.”
Photos: Courtesy of GM
While the ventilators are a result of an initial corporate push, GM employees are driving the effort to manufacture and distribute additional personal protective equipment, including latex-free face shields, protective gowns and aerosol boxes. These supplies will be donated, and are the result of an employee-driven project.
Recognizing the gap between need and supplies of life-saving equipment, a group of GM employees took their automotive-production know how and turned it into an immediate benefit for those on the front line fight against COVID-19. Utilizing their 3D printing and sewing skills, employees prototyped face shields, gowns, etc and delivered them to hospitals for crucial feedback.
GM then stepped in to support these efforts, and is now mass-producing up to 50,000 face masks per week, while ramping up production of protective gowns and aerosol boxes. “It’s amazing how much our employees have accomplished in such a short time,” said Mark Reuss, GM president. “People from all corners of the company have really stepped up to help, and to lend their talents, time and energy to battle coronavirus.”
The face shield designs came directly from GM’s Additive Manufacturing and Design Fabrication Operations teams, which moved from discussion to production in less than a week, and began 3D printing them at several locations around the country. For full production, GM is collaborating with suppliers, including Summit Polymers of Kalamazoo, MI which donated a P20 steel injection mold that will enable GM to increase production from roughly 4,000 to 25,000 units per week. GM is purchasing a second injection mold to help increase production up to 50,000 units per week. Summit Polymers plans to donate the first 100,000 face shield components it makes to GM.
“We worked with a local shop, S&K Tool & Die, to rapidly design and develop the mold to make the visors that hold the shields in place,” said Jody Flinton, general manager of Summit Polymers Plant 18. “Summit is proud to support GM in the effort to help save lives in our community and help keep our healthcare heroes safe.”
The actual shields are made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by Argent International of Plymouth, Michigan. Argent International is also making the 12-inch elastic bands that hold the shields in place. The company will donate the first 2,500 shields to GM.
Shield components will be shipped from Summit Polymers and Argent International for final assembly to the GM facility in Warren that is also making face masks and filtering face piece respirators. Once assembled, the face shields will be shipped to high-priority hospitals in Metro Detroit in cases of 100, as directed by the State of Michigan’s Personal Protective Equipment List.
Meanwhile, GM’s fabrication organization – which includes metal, paint, trim, wood, mold and plaster teams – creates one-of-a-kind parts and vehicles, like show cars. Today, the skilled tradespeople from UAW Locals 1869 and 160 who make up these teams are assembling protective gowns and aerosol boxes at the Warren facility.
“Our team members are experts at solving problems on the fly and creating things from scratch,” said Hart. “The dedication, abilities and spirit of collaboration from our skilled tradespeople has been humbling. They are working longer hours than ever on a voluntary basis to fulfill urgent requests from doctors, nurses and other professionals on the front lines.”
Donation requests for GM-made Personal Protective Equipment can be directed to: [email protected]
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