COVID-19: Ferrari starts making respirator valves

Ferrari is producing respirator valves and fittings for protective masks at its Maranello plant as one of its initiatives in support of health workers treating coronavirus patients.

These thermoplastic components are being built using additive manufacturing technology at the department where car prototypes are usually built.

Some of these valves have been developed by Mares, a diving equipment manufacturer, tailor-made to fit their masks so as to create emergency masks to assist patients suffering from respiratory failure.

Nuovamacut Gruppo TeamSystem, who also helped with the research of the different companies who contributed to the success of the project, is handling the logistics.

Other fittings are being supplied to Solid Energy, who will use them to transform Decathlon snorkel masks into aids to protect healthcare workers exposed to infection.

In the coming days, Ferrari plans to manufacture several hundred items of equipment that are already being distributed by some of the companies involved, with the coordination of the Italian Civil Protection, to various Italian hospitals including those in Bergamo, Genoa, Modena, and Sassuolo as well as to health workers in the town of Medicina, near Bologna.