The manufacturing of ventilators...
I've been reading a story about General Motors manufacturing ventilators that were normally built by the medical device company Ventec in Indiana.GM will be using a 2.6 million square foot facility that normally produced electronics for cars. Repurposing their factory to accomplish this requires totally different techniques than what this factory normally produces.
Work has already started on different levels. There's the engineering and building redesign, procurement of raw materials and assemblies from other sources, hiring and training of over 1,000 employees required to perform the work. More than 700 individual components go into the making of a ventilator. Cloning the Ventec factory may not be possible but tooling, computer software and hardware would most likely be the same.
According to experts, initial runs of prototypes must obtain US Food and Drug Administration approval before they can officially begin production. Best guess is product may not be available until the end of April... that would be after the predicted peak in the New York City outbreak.
It's reported Ventec normally produce 250 units per month and GM is expecting to ramp up to produce 10,000 per month. It's safe to say their facilities would be working 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Please hold your comments to the discussion of ventilators. Any comments that are political or point blame will be deleted.
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Background: BI-PAP (and similar CPAP) is a medical device that pumps air into a mask to increase the airflow and help people with breathing or sinus problems. CPAP only pumps at one level. BI-PAP has a valve to shut off the pressure on exhale. I'm guessing, but it must be computer controlled to synchronize with a persons breathing to maximize the correct airflow.
In problem situations a BI-PAP machine combined with oxygen can be used on patients with respiratory insufficiency.
One of the problems with COVID-19 disease is it attacks the lungs and blocks the transfer of oxygen.
I found one link to a company who specialize in sales of these machines and stated (on their website update page) the FDA has approved the equipment with certain modifications and they have no shortage of inventory.
If this information is true/accurate that means people can get help quickly while waiting for a ventilator to arrive.
As usual some will get richer during this time and others will have to depend on handouts.
I found a story that describes a similar situation 13 years ago. Government money was budgeted & a Federal contract signed. Work started for the devices but 5 years later no ventilators were produced.
Other companies, more contracts and more money, years later, new prototypes. In July 2019 the government ordered 10,000 units with a delivery of mid-2020. On March 15, 2020 it was revealed that 12,700 ventilators were stockpiled, roughly 25% of what officials estimated would be required in a moderate flu pandemic.
This is a case of wide-scale fraud and no one is following up.
Link here: