topic Re: FORD MOTOR in Community Chat

FORD MOTOR

goldensrbest — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 12:42:24 GMT

Is going to make masks,and ventilator.

Re: FORD MOTOR

PINKdogWOOD — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 12:47:10 GMT

None of these companies needs any 'permission' from any govt official to begin making masks, shields, hospital clothing.

JUST GO and make the best out of what these companies can do.

I see on the news Drs/Nurses in Europe and China just how covered up they are from head to toe. Where do they get their gear from? Why aren't our people dressing like they are in other countries?

Let's GO American business companies, get back to your factories and take charge yourselves for OUR Drs & Nurses.

Re: FORD MOTOR

KingstonsMom — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 12:52:40 GMT

@goldensrbest

Elon Musk has also stepped up! Kudos to both and any other companies who step up!

Elon Musk's coming to the rescue as Los Angeles gears up to fight the deadly coronavirus ... because he's already following through with a promise to supply ventilators to patients in need.

California Governor Gavin Newsom just said the Tesla founder has already delivered the 1,000 ventilators he promised to Los Angeles, this less than a week after Elon said he was ready to pitch in for relief efforts with some much-needed medical supplies.

As we reported ... Elon offered to have one of his Tesla factories start making ventilators to help battle the COVID-19 pandemic after catching some flak on social media.

Elon said Tesla would start making ventilators if there was a shortage -- health experts say there already is one -- and he's already made it happen. Amazing!

Re: FORD MOTOR

geezerette — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 13:10:51 GMT

@PINKdogWOOD wrote:
None of these companies needs any 'permission' from any govt official to begin making masks, shields, hospital clothing.

JUST GO and make the best out of what these companies can do.

I see on the news Drs/Nurses in Europe and China just how covered up they are from head to toe. Where do they get their gear from? Why aren't our people dressing like they are in other countries?

Let's GO American business companies, get back to your factories and take charge yourselves for OUR Drs & Nurses.

Some of these companies have been gearing up to do just that for some time. Well before the government stepped in and asked for their help. They're innovative and imaginative, working with other companies.

Our private corporations have a long history of stepping up to address emergency situations and I'm glad to see that many still do. Like many here have expressed, I hope that we, as a country, now see how important it is to maintain certain industries and manufacturing capabilities here in our own country in the future.

Re: FORD MOTOR

BN MI — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 13:17:30 GMT

My sons an Engineer for Ford Motor Co. Praying all workers are safe. God Bless the USA!

Re: FORD MOTOR

goldensrbest — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 13:23:51 GMT

This is really good news.

Re: FORD MOTOR

pitdakota — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 15:45:29 GMT

Currently all Ford Motor Company plants are shut down in the US I believe through the end of this week. They did this to deep clean the plants and establish protocols for running the lines. Several workers in a couple of plants tested positive for the cronavirus.

All GM plants are currently closed as well.

What we do know is that Ford has obtained a supply of a couple of thousand N95 respirator masks that are being distributed to hospitals.

They also developed a volunteer protocol for workers laid off to volunteer to work on making face shields. They have something like a 1,000 face shields that are now under study in Detriot area hospitals for efficacy. The Detroit plants continues to produce the shields and hopefully they will successfully pass the efficacy tests. People don't hear about these as much as masks, but are still an essential component of PPE for health care workers.

Ford is collaborating with GE with the goal of trying to make a simplified version of a mechanical ventilator that GE already makes. GE currently makes ventilators here in Wisconsin. At the current time there are not specific plans in place to start production. Hopefully they will be able to come up with something soon.

And the masks are not like what most people are thinking of probably. They are called air purifying respirators that are battery powered I believe. Any individual working with COVID-19 are at very high risk for infection since studies have shown that many procedures performed cause the virus to become aersolized & therefore are more contagious than respiratory droplet. The longer health care workers are exposed, they also get an increased viral load from patients (one of the reasons the mortality rate among doctors and nurses occur) so this type of appartus would be certainly beneficial. Ford is currently collaborating with 3M to come up with a design and manufacturing protocols to make them.

My husband is retired from Ford Motor Company and has been keeping up with all the details, but that is what is known at this time.

Re: FORD MOTOR

KingstonsMom — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:06:25 GMT

@pitdakota

Thank you for such an informative post about what Ford is doing to assist in this crisis!

Re: FORD MOTOR

pitdakota — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 16:11:15 GMT

@KingstonsMom, I just happen to know this since DH is retired from Ford and is active in the retiree association they have. They also have a closed Facebook page that even he gets on, which is actually hysterical since he doesn't "do" Facebook. But he has been on it quite a bit lately to see what they are doing and the latest announcements. I tease him about it all the time. LOL!

Re: FORD MOTOR

FloridaGold — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:36:23 GMT

Except..and according to Gov Como..it will take toooooo long..6 months..he said it would be to late to help the current situation.

I do applaud the effort for future stockpiles.

Re: FORD MOTOR

deepwaterdotter — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 17:45:08 GMT

Our local noon news reported that Fiat Chrysler has one of it's plants producing N95 masks.

Re: FORD MOTOR

pitdakota — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 19:13:18 GMT

@FloridaGold wrote:
Except..and according to Gov Como..it will take toooooo long..6 months..he said it would be to late to help the current situation.
I do applaud the effort for future stockpiles.

______________________________________________---

@FloridaGold, I didn't hear the statement, but I know health care officials know that it does take quite some time to make mechanical ventilators. They are very complex machines that keep people breathing with lots of very sosphicated computerized components. I would think at the very least it would take quite a bit of effort and time to even retool an assembly line and then train your line assembly personnel before they could even get started.

GE makes ventilators in Wisconsin, there is another type of manufacturer of ventilators in the mid-west somewhere. Both companies are increasing their production and can't meet demand even though they already manufacture ventilators. We use quite a few Medtronic ventilators in my area and those are made in Ireland.

Another problem is there are another 49 governors bidding for those same ventilators with no national protocols of who is going to get how many or how the decisions are to be made. They need to work that out as well.

Re: FORD MOTOR

pitdakota — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 20:20:48 GMT

Just heard a statement from the CEO of Ford Motor Co. that by the middle of May they could start production of ventilators.

Re: FORD MOTOR

drizzellla — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 20:39:37 GMT

During the World War I, Henry Ford opened a new plant to help build tractors for England because Germany was blocking England's food supply.

The plant employed 4,000 workers. Finding enough housing for the employees was a problem. So Ford had employees build houses for Ford employees. Henry Ford did not want his name to be associated with the houses. The houses were to be affordable and made with the best material.

My Aunt and Uncle bought one of the Historic Houses. And several years later my Grandparents bought the house next door. We visited every year and have many fond memories of our summers in the houses.

When my Grandmother died we came back to her house from the funeral. I remember the phone constantly ringing from real estate agents wanting to list the house.

Doesn't surprise me that Ford Motor Company is thinking outside the "box".

Re: FORD MOTOR

Drythe — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 05:37:02 GMT

@pitdakota

Thank you for your information about Ford. I wondered what their output was to date.

Sad that our states are all having to bid against one another, and FEMA to get Medical Supplies.

Something I never thought to see.

Re: FORD MOTOR

reiki604 — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 14:25:30 GMT

@Drythe wrote:
@pitdakota

Thank you for your information about Ford. I wondered what their output was to date.

Sad that our states are all having to bid against one another, and FEMA to get Medical Supplies.

Something I never thought to see.

So sad for the UNITED States of America where states have to bid against the federal government for life saving supplies.

Re: FORD MOTOR

violann — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 20:08:48 GMT

According to the news a couple hours ago, the deal went south completely, but maybe it's back on.