Coronavirus: Ford partners 3M, GE and UAW to produce respirators

Ford Motor Company is joining hands with 3M, GE Healthcare and UAW to use its manufacturing and engineering expertise to expand production of urgently needed medical equipment and supplies for healthcare workers, first responders and patients fighting coronavirus.

Ford and 3M will manufacture at scale Powered Air-Purifying Respirators (PAPRs). The two companies are collaborating on the new design, leveraging parts from both companies to meet urgent demand for first responders and health care workers.

Ford and GE Healthcare are working together to expand production of a simplified version of GE Healthcare’s existing ventilator design to support patients with respiratory failure or difficulty breathing.

In addition, the Dearborn carmaker’s association with UAW will see the assembly of more than 100,000 critically needed plastic face shields per week at a Ford manufacturing site to help medical professionals, factory workers and store clerks.

To expedite the manufacturing process, the Ford and 3M teams have been locating off-the-shelf parts like fans from the Ford F-150’s cooled seats for airflow, 3M HEPA air filters to filter airborne contaminants such as droplets that carry virus particles and portable tool battery packs to power these respirators for up to eight hours.

Meanwhile, Ford’s U.S. design team also is quickly creating and starting to test transparent full-face shields for medical workers and first responders. The face shields fully block the face and eyes from accidental contact with liquids and when paired with N95 respirators can be a more effective way to limit potential exposure to coronavirus than N95 respirators alone.

The first 1,000 face shields will be tested this week at Detroit Mercy, Henry Ford Health Systems and Detroit Medical Center Sinai-Grace Hospitals. Roughly 75,000 of these shields are expected to be finished this week and more than 100,000 face shields per week will be produced at Ford subsidiary Troy Design and Manufacturing’s facilities in Plymouth, Michigan.