• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Trump’s Ventilator Demands Will Test Automaker Supply Chains

Trump’s Ventilator Demands Will Test Automaker Supply Chains

Ventilator
Source: Bloomberg
March 30, 2020
Bloomberg

Carmakers might seem unlikely candidates to build ventilators for coronavirus victims. But in fact they may be quite well-suited to churn out the highly intricate medical devices that are in critically short supply.

Consider: They have vast supply chains, are staffed with skilled engineers used to building to exacting standards and sometimes use “clean rooms” in their factories. There’s even a similarity between some components of ventilators and cars, such as hoses.

While the companies face a huge challenge to show they can meet the overwhelming demand, they likely represent the best hope for President Donald Trump and other world leaders. And now the carmakers have no choice, anyway. Days after Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. said they would help produce the life-saving equipment, Trump stepped up a pressure campaign and on Friday invoked federal authority to accelerate output.

The unprecedented turn to carmakers underscores the powerful role they play in the global supply chain, overseeing vast networks of companies able to procure a wide variety of parts.

“They may not know how to make the ventilators, but they may be able to offer the scale that the ventilator manufacturers cannot,” said Nada Sanders, a professor of supply chain management at Northeastern University.

Besides Ford and GM, planemaker Airbus SE, electric-vehicle manufacturer Tesla Inc. and vacuum innovator Dyson Ltd. have all offered to help produce ventilators. Rice University said a team of engineering students collaborated with health design firm Metric Technologies to develop a prototype of a bag-valve mask ventilator that can be built for less than $300.

Breathing Trouble

Alongside face masks and hand sanitizer, ventilators have become some of the most in-demand — and hard-to-find — products across the world. The machines use tubes to deliver oxygen to the lungs to patients who have trouble breathing on their own, a critical function in the pandemic of the respiratory coronavirus known as Covid-19.

In their simplest forms, ventilators can be hand-pumped. But the devices used at patient bedsides are often complex, using microprocessors, pumping systems, alarms and other technology. Those machines can cost upwards of $40,000.

Not every patient needs a top-of-the-line ventilator, though. About half of coronavirus patients needing help breathing can use a device with simpler functionality, which could presumably be made by automakers or other companies that don’t typically specialize in medical equipment, according to Dr. Rohith Malya, an emergency physician in Houston.

“If you can engineer to a standard that’s hospital-grade, sure, go ahead,” he said. “If they have a production line and they know what they’re doing with industrial production, I don’t have a problem.”

GE Expertise

Under an agreement announced last week, General Electric Co.’s healthcare division will offer its technical expertise to Ford, with the intention of having the automaker using its factories to build a “simplified version” of a GE ventilator. While GE’s product has multiple settings that ensure optimal performance targeted to the patient, the Ford-built version will likely have a single setting to provide more basic functionality and use fewer parts.

“There’s a lot of similarities between making any kind of device and an automobile,” Carla Bailo, chief executive officer of the Center for Automotive Research, said on Bloomberg Television. “Automakers have a huge supply base that can be engaged.”

GM has been working with Ventec Life Systems Inc. on potentially producing ventilators in Indiana. Trump on Friday invoked the Defense Production Act to force GM to make the devices, saying the company wasn’t moving fast enough. GM was frustrated over how long it was taking to finalize terms between the automaker, its partner Ventec and the federal government, said people familiar with the private deliberations.

Even with a simplified product, questions remain about whether carmakers can bring their strength to bear to produce the devices, especially as they accelerate output of something they don’t normally make. For one thing, some people, such as Royal Philips NV’s CEO Frans van Houten, have questioned whether suppliers can get all the necessary components on time.

And, of course, they’ll need to ensure the ventilators won’t harm patients, said Northeastern’s Sanders.

“With ventilators, we’re talking about some very complicated pieces of equipment,” she said. When it comes to manufacturing them to exacting specifications, “you have to be extraordinarily careful.”

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Coronavirus Business Strategy Alignment Global Supply Chain Management Regulation & Compliance Automotive Healthcare Pharmaceutical/Biotech North America
KEYWORDS Automotive Business Strategy Alignment Coronavirus healthcare North America Pharmaceutical/Biotech Regulation & Compliance
  • Related Articles

    Trump Tariffs Force Companies to Rework Supply Chains

    Pharma Labeling Standards Will Help Supply Chains, Patient Safety

Bloomberg

Fewer Nuggets, Smaller Salads: Shrinkflation Hits U.S. Restaurants

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • silicon wafer

    Fate of U.S. Chipmaking Looks More Like Fantasy

    Technology
  • Warehouse worker

    Why Higher Wages Alone Won’t Solve the Supply Chain Labor Shortage

    Warehousing
  • Adidas

    From Sneakers to Teslas, China Lockdowns Upend Global Supply Chains

    Coronavirus
  • Mobile App

    Podcast | Companies Are on a Shopping Spree for Supply Chain Software

    Technology
  • gas

    Supply Worries Send Gasoline Prices to Record Highs

    Global Supply Chain Management

Digital Edition

Scb feb 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Management Resource Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • 3PL Doubles Productivity With Robots to Fulfill Medical Supply Orders

  • E-Commerce Company Cuts Order Fulfillment Time by 40%

  • Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

  • Distributor Scales Business by Integrating Warehouse Automaton Software

  • Fast-Growing Fashion Brand Scales E-Commerce Fulfillment With Whiplash

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming Alithya Barcoding
Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics Generix
GEP GIB USA GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Lucas Systems
Nvidia Old Dominion Parsyl
Redwood Logistics Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated
Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD Shipwell
Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
Tive Trailer Bridge Vecna Robotics
Whiplash    
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing