The COVID-19 Effect

With the global pandemic affecting everyone in some measure, the affected manufacturers have begun diverting their assets and energy towards helping out.

Everyone from Ford, Kia, and Tesla to Ferrari, Lamborghini, and McLaren have begun producing personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet the shortfall.

Ford has tied with experts, including 3M and GE Healthcare, to build respirators, ventilators, and face-shields. Not only have Ford tied up with 3M to increase the production of their Powered Air-Purifying Respirators (PAPR), similar to N95 masks, but they are also working together to develop a new design of these respirators that will leverage parts from both the company’s production lines. The American brand is also working with GE to start mass-producing a scaled-down version of the latter’s ventilator design to help those facing breathing difficulties due to the Coronavirus.