Ford now making face shields, respirators

Ford Motor Company has begun making disposable respirator masks and medical face shields using 3D printing at its Advanced Manufacturing Center in Redford, Michigan, in response to a nationwide call for more medical equipment to help fight the coronavirus outbreak.

Carmaker Ford Motor Co on Tuesday jumped into the emergency push by major U.S. manufacturers to produce thousands of ventilators and respirators needed for critically ill coronavirus patients.

By joining forces with General Electric's healthcare unit and 3M Co, Ford is taking heed of U.S. President Donald Trump's call for U.S. automakers to work across sectors in producing equipment needed for the pandemic.

The rapid outbreak, which has killed more than 16,500 people globally, has strained healthcare systems around the world and led to a shortage of ventilators needed to treat patients suffering from the flu-like illness, which can lead to breathing difficulties and pneumonia in severe cases.

"We've been in regular dialog with federal, state and local officials to understand the areas of greatest needs," Ford Chief Executive Jim Hackett said, adding that the company's aim was to increase the supply on necessary medical equipment.

Ford and GE Healthcare will expand the production of GE's ventilator design to support patients with respiratory failure or difficulty breathing caused by the pathogen, Ford said.

Separately, Ford will work with 3M to increase manufacturing capacity of its air-purifying respirators to meet a surge in demand for first responders and healthcare workers.

The company said it was exploring how it could produce these new respirators in one of its Michigan manufacturing plants and help 3M boost production ten-fold.

It would use fans from its Ford F-150 cooled seats to make parts of the respirators, the company said.

Additionally, Ford said its U.S. design team was starting to test transparent full-face shields for first responders, which when paired with N95 respirator masks, could be an effective way of limiting exposure to the coronavirus.