General Electric Healthcare (NYSE:GE) this week announced that it is doubling its production capacity for ventilators and expanding its Madison, Wisconsin, production line to 24-hour operation.
In a report on GE’s website, the company shared that it has doubled its capacity of ventilator production with plans to double it again by the end of the second quarter. GE volunteers from other locations have been coming to Madison facility to learn about assembling and testing the machines, the company said. Volunteers are helping assemble the ventilator engines, valves, circuit boards, tubing and fittings before loading software.
GE’s Madison-based GM for Life Care Solutions operations Mark Goyette said he even believes that, as COVID-19 cases grow around the world, even more recruits could flock to the Madison plant in the coming weeks.
GE mentioned employees like Wauwatosa, Wisconsin-based computer scientist Tutku Gövsa and Salt Lake City-based X-ray machine engineer Tyler Vermey, both of whom have dropped everything to fill a role at the Madison plant.
“When you walk in, it is a tremendous diversity of backgrounds,” Goyette said in the report. “It’s phenomenal to see everybody coming together.”
The Madison plant had already increased staffing and overtime from January on, once it became apparent that coronavirus would be a problem around the world, according to the report.
“The men and women who work at our facility every day have shown incredible cooperation, willingness and helpfulness to train so many new people coming in,” Goyette added. “I am grateful to our dedicated workforce that was coming to Madison every day before this crisis started, in addition to the heroes who have joined the site.”
Along with the quadrupled production of ventilators, GE said it is partnering with Ford Motor Co. to design and produce a simplified version of the already existing ventilator for quick manufacturing. Ford has also extended its hand to 3M (NYSE:MMM) for producing PAPRs (powered air-purifying respirators) in response to the shortages caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
