M&M, Maruti Suzuki, Krishna Maruti, Bharat Seats gear up to make ventilators, masks

MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA

Pawan Goenka, Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, has in three different tweets talked about the company’s plans to manufacture critical ventilators for those severely affected by coronavirus. 

“We at Mahindra are overwhelmed with the pouring in of support from individuals and companies for our effort to make available ventilators. Thank you all. As many are curious to know the status, I am using this medium to update,” Goenka said in his first tweet. In his second tweet he said that his company along with two large PSUs is working with an existing manufacturer of high spec ventilators to help them to simplify design and scale up capacity. Our engineering team is right now with them working on it.

His third tweet mentioned that his company is working on an automated version of the big valve mask ventilator which is commonly known as Ambu bag. We hope to have a proto ready in 3 days for approval. Once proven this design will be made available to all for manufacturing, he wrote.

In fact, the social media savvy M&M Chairman Anand Mahindra had in his tweet a few days back disclosed that his company would make ventilators and more importantly the Mahindra  Group is ready to offer its resorts Mahindra Holidays as temporary care facilities. Now that really sounds magnanimous.

MARUTI SUZUKI

At the request of the Government of India, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) examined its ability to assist in the production of ventilators, masks and other protective equipment. An arrangement has been entered into with AgVa Healthcare, an existing approved manufacturer of ventilators. MSIL would work with AgVa Healthcare to rapidly scale up production of ventilators. The intention is to reach a volume of 10,000 units per month.

AgVa Healthcare would be responsible for the technology, performance and related matters for all the ventilators produced and sold by them. MSIL would use its suppliers to produce the required volume of components and use its experience and knowledge to upgrade systems for the production and quality control of the higher volumes. Any other assistance required would also be provided. MSIL would also help, to the required extent to arrange financing, and obtain all permissions and approvals required to enable the higher production. MSIL would provide these services free of cost to AgVa Healthcare.

KRISHNA MARUTI LIMITED

Krishna Maruti Limited, a joint venture of MSIL with Ashok Kapur, would be manufacturing 3-ply masks for supply to the Haryana and Central governments. Production is expected to start as soon as all approvals are received. Ashok Kapur will provide 2 million masks free of cost as his own contribution.

BHARAT SEATS LIMITED, a joint venture of MSIL with the Relan family, would be manufacturing protective clothing as soon as all approvals are in place.

All manufacturing units would take maximum care to protect the safety and health of the workers in accordance with the government recommended practices.

GLOBAL AUTO COMPANIES GET INTO HELATHCARE DEVICES

Even as these Indian automotive companies begin to make these critical healthcare devices, FORD MOTOR COMPANY has joined hands with firms including 3M and GE Healthcare to lend its manufacturing and engineering expertise to quickly expand production of urgently needed medical equipment and supplies for healthcare workers, first responders and patients fighting coronavirus.

Ford plans to assemble more than 100,000 face shields per week and leverage its in-house 3D printing capability to produce components for use in personal protective equipment. 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.

Ford team members are working with 3M to increase the manufacturing capacity of their powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) designs and working jointly to develop a new design leveraging parts from both companies to meet the surge demand for first responders and health care workers. This new respirator could be produced in a Ford facility by UAW workers.

To go as fast as possible, the Ford and 3M teams have been resourcefully 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.

Ford is looking at how it might produce these new-generation PAPRs in one of its Michigan manufacturing facilities, helping 3M boost production potentially tenfold.

In addition, 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 caused by COVID-19. These ventilators could be produced at a Ford manufacturing site in addition to a GE location.

GM AND VENTEC LIFE SYSTEMS, in cooperation with StopTheSpread.org, the nation's coordinated private sector response to the COVID-19, are collaborating to enable Ventec to increase production of its respiratory care products to support the growing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. Ventec will leverage GM’s logistics, purchasing and manufacturing expertise to build more of their critically important ventilators.  To support these efforts, StopTheSpread.org will continue to unite business leaders across the country to collect resources to complement and support government efforts.