GM, Ventec Go from Drawing Board to Ventilator Production in under a Month
Production starts on FEMA order for 30,000 ventilators, but more will be needed in the future.
General Motors and Ventec Life Systems have begun mass production of the Ventec Life Systems V+Pro critical care ventilator, ordered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The effort required the creation of a new manufacturing process, sourcing of hundreds of different parts from suppliers and the hiring of over 1,000 team members for the Kokomo, Indiana, factory that will produce a total of 30,000 ventilators ordered by the HHS.
With support from the UAW, as well as elected officials and community groups in Kokomo, GM and Ventec were able to set up the production base for the effort in under a month, working under extreme time pressure while taking care to ensure health and safety protocols at the plant. Over 600 ventilators will be shipped this month, after production began on April 14.
The production of Ventec V+Pro critical care ventilators, which require hundreds of parts, comes much sooner than many expected. Early estimates by industry experts placed the start of complex ventilator production months in the future, due to the efforts required to direct the production of parts and assembly. The timeframe of "months" was also cited early on due to the logistics of setting up assembly in an all-new setting, one that had been used for assembling vehicles rather than small but complex electronics that are usually built by suppliers at their own plants and shipped in assembled form, like infotainment systems for cars.
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"Until there is a vaccine, critical care ventilators give medical professionals the tools they need to fight this pandemic and save lives,” said Ventec Life Systems CEO Chris Kiple. “This partnership is a historic effort and a great reminder of what can be accomplished with the power of American innovation and American manufacturing skill uniting together around a singular mission to save lives."
GM and Ventec announced their partnership to manufacture ventilators in mid-March, when the coronavirus pandemic began to take its toll on a number of major cities. In fact, the first discussions between executives at both companies began less than a month ago, on March 17. Just three days later GM activated its global supply base and secured 100% of the parts needed to manufacture the ventilators in just 72 hours.
But securing the parts from suppliers was only the first step of the process—GM still needed a site to assemble the machines. Just a few days later, on March 25, workers started preparing the Kokomo site for assembly of the ventilators.
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"Thousands of men and women at GM, Ventec, our suppliers and the Kokomo community have rallied to support their neighbors and the medical professionals on the front lines of this pandemic,” said GM chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “Everyone wants to help turn the tide and save lives. It is inspiring and humbling to see the passion and commitment people have put into this work."
A couple weeks later, on April 8, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded General Motors the contract to produce 30,000 Ventec V+Pro critical care ventilators under the Defense Production Act. GM and Ventec are expected to complete the order for 30,000 ventilators by the end of August, and FEMA is the agency under the HHS that will make decisions about where these ventilators will go.
The efforts by Ventec and GM are ultimately aimed at addressing the needs of medical response efforts weeks and months down the line; it's likely that HHS will need many thousands more ventilators even by the time this particular contract is completed and will still have a need for more ventilators over a year from now. From this standpoint, we are still in the early weeks of the coronavirus health crisis, and medical manufacturers have only ramped up production in the last several weeks in response to hospital and government agency needs.
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The two companies have been able to set an important example for the medical industry's collaboration with automakers—which have enormous manufacturing potential—one that will likely be cited in the months to come as more automakers shift their expertise to the manufacturing of medical devices. GM and Ventec's collaboration on ventilator production comes amid efforts by other automakers to produce other medical equipment for coronavirus relief efforts, including the production of respirators for medical workers by Ford.
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