Ford Motor Company (NYSE:F) F is widening its efforts to develop and produce critically-needed medical equipment and supplies for health care staff, first responders as well as coronavirus patients.
Recently, Ford announced its collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) to expand the production of COVID-19 testing collection kits. Ford engineers are working to set up new selection kit production machinery at its Kansas City Assembly Plant.
Further, Ford is also working on producing reusable gowns for health care employees with Joyson Protective Systems. The gowns will be made of material that is usually used to make airbags. Ford plans to manufacture 75,000 gowns by Apr 19 and ramp up to 100,000 gowns a week from next week, with 1.3 million gowns delivered by early July.
Notably, Ford partnered with 3M (NYSE:MMM) in March to expand the manufacturing capacity of the existing Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR). Since then, the companies have been focusing on integrating their complementary strengths and resources to meet the global demand spike for PAPRs and N95 respirators at 3M’s U.S.-based manufacturing facilities stemming from the coronavirus crisis.
Ford is also looking forward to manufacture new-generation PAPRs at its Vreeland facility in Michigan, eventually allowing 3M to increase production to more than 100,000 PAPRs to combat the deadly virus. This new respirator could be produced in less than four weeks by around 90 paid United Auto Workers (UAW) workers.
The newly-developed respirators feature a hood and face shield to protect head and shoulders, while a high-efficiency filter system provides up to eight hours of filtered air. It is powered by a rechargeable, compact battery that lets first-line defenders use the respirator continuously.
Meanwhile, Ford is producing face masks for global internal use and is trying to pursue certification for medical-use at its Van Dyke Transmission Facility. Around 30 paid UAW volunteers will begin manufacturing masks in the plant's ISO Class 8 cleanroom, allowing for the safe production of face masks.
Furthermore, Ford has also teamed up with GE Healthcare to boost the production of GE's ventilator design to assist patients with respiratory failure or pathogen-caused trouble in breathing. Built by paid UAW volunteers, the goal is to produce 50,000 Model A-E ventilators by Jul 4 to help COVID-19 patients.
Ford currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here.
Various other auto bigwigs that have temporarily shut down auto plants are taking necessary steps to assist in the production of key medical equipment amid the pandemic. U.S. top carmaker General Motors GM is collaborating with Ventec Life Systems to boost the production of respiratory care products to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. EV maker Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) TSLA has collaborated with medical device maker Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) to make ventilators. Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) VWAGY is in talks with authorities and established an international task force to explore options, while Daimler AG (DE:DAIGn) and BMW AG are also exploring options to use 3D printers to produce ventilators.
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