Car companies asked to make ventilators

[wdmso]

Can anyone explaine how this is supposed to happen? mask production
Or ventilators

Machines make these this many are. specialty machinery ,

I think people think production changed overnight in WW2

It sounds great but I cant realistically see how, seeing the current rate of infection and seeing we cant get tests in the volume needed

[Jim in CT]

i was wondering the same thing. they can be re tooled quickly enough to help?
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[spence]

The answer here is it's pretty complicated.

You're not going to take a robotics driven line that assembles body panels and engines and reprogram it to make ventilators. That being said, a large auto OEM has many avenues of production with moderate to low automation that could be used with a short turn around, some as little as a few weeks.

Also consider there's a difference between assembling a finished product versus making components. Parts like stamped, machined or molded plastic housings and frames could be produced pretty fast since you already have the designs available and just need to reprogram machines. Today you can go from design to tool to part very quickly when you need to. Electronics may or may not be a bottleneck, PCB's can get made at warp speed if the components are available thought domestic capacity is limited. The other concern may be specialty components like a bellows (or equivalent) for a vent that require special manufacturing and materials.

Another big challenge is the training and quality processes. If good electronic work instructions are available you could bring up line manufacturing workers pretty quickly. Optimizing a factory floor for material flow takes more time. The manufacturing documentation around quality for an automobile vs medical device though are totally different. A ventilator is a class 2 device so it requires very detailed tracking of not just the design quality but every single manufacturing process and quality control at every step through to finished product.

So even if you were starting with a proven design for a device including manufacturing -- note this is likely a corporations intellectual property -- retooling to volume production isn't trivial. It could make more sense for cross over manufacturers to help with the supply chain and leave the final assembly and testing to the medical industry...perhaps they have some innovative ideas though.

[scottw]

Originally Posted by spence

The answer here is it's pretty complicated.

You're not going to take a robotics driven line that assembles body panels and engines and reprogram it to make ventilators. That being said, a large auto OEM has many avenues of production with moderate to low automation that could be used with a short turn around, some as little as a few weeks.

Also consider there's a difference between assembling a finished product versus making components. Parts like stamped, machined or molded plastic housings and frames could be produced pretty fast since you already have the designs available and just need to reprogram machines. Today you can go from design to tool to part very quickly when you need to. Electronics may or may not be a bottleneck, PCB's can get made at warp speed if the components are available thought domestic capacity is limited. The other concern may be specialty components like a bellows (or equivalent) for a vent that require special manufacturing and materials.

Another big challenge is the training and quality processes. If good electronic work instructions are available you could bring up line manufacturing workers pretty quickly. Optimizing a factory floor for material flow takes more time. The manufacturing documentation around quality for an automobile vs medical device though are totally different. A ventilator is a class 2 device so it requires very detailed tracking of not just the design quality but every single manufacturing process and quality control at every step through to finished product.

So even if you were starting with a proven design for a device including manufacturing -- note this is likely a corporations intellectual property -- retooling to volume production isn't trivial. It could make more sense for cross over manufacturers to help with the supply chain and leave the final assembly and testing to the medical industry...perhaps they have some innovative ideas though.

thanks for attempting to make the obvious ....complicated

[Pete F.]

They can make one that is far better than nothing and works for the average patient.
Medical grade equipment is more complicated than it has to be to simply accomplish the job.
Hopefully someone with the knowledge is coming up with a minimalist machine.
Better than taking people over some age off life support.

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

They can make one that is far better than nothing and works for the average patient.
Medical grade equipment is more complicated than it has to be to simply accomplish the job.
Hopefully someone with the knowledge is coming up with a minimalist machine.
Better than taking people over some age off life support.

Then you’ll need to factor in the costs of lawsuits, because if a hospital uses something that isn’t considered medical grade, that will open them up to litigation.
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[Jim in CT]

Originally Posted by The Dad Fisherman

Then you’ll need to factor in the costs of lawsuits, because if a hospital uses something that isn’t considered medical grade, that will open them up to litigation.
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My company sells professional liability insurance to hospitals and nursing homes. The lawsuits will go one for decades.

[Pete F.]

Simple, shoot 80% of the lawyers.
Then we will no longer be the only country in the world where a business cannot legally plug two extension cords together.

[The Dad Fisherman]

Originally Posted by Pete F.

Simple, shoot 80% of the lawyers.
Then we will no longer be the only country in the world where a business cannot legally plug two extension cords together.

I can get behind that
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