DETROIT - General Motors will build 30,000 ventilators as part of a national effort to combat COVID-19 and supply hospitals with badly-needed equipment.
The Detroit automaker was awarded a $490 million contract to manufacture the breathing machines with Ventec Life Systems. The construction of the machines will happen at the Kokomo Operations plant in Indiana as soon as next week.
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GM to make 30,000 ventilators for Strategic National Stockpile
GM says it will cover its costs but won’t make a profit on the devices, which will cost the Department of Health and Human Services just over $16,300 each
General Motors is among the first companies to be deployed under the National Defense Production Act ordered by President Donald Trump to assist with the national emergency.
"Invoking the Defense Production Act to secure ventilator production from GM and other companies is part of the President Trump's all-of-America approach to combating the coronavirus," said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar in a statement. "By rating contracts under the DPA, HHS is helping manufacturers like GM get supplies they need to produce ventilators as quickly as possible..."
The 30,000 ventilators will be added to the Strategic National Stockpile by August 2020. There will also be 6,132 ventilators built by June 1.
“We’re in the process of bringing people on board now. We’re giving them hands-on experience with the ventilator, we’re training them in their jobs and more importantly, we’re walking through all the steps to keep them safe on the job," said GM spokesperson Jim Cain. You can hear more from him in the video player above.
In late March, after invoking the act but not enforcing it, Trump tweeted that it was time for GM and Ford to start manufacturing medical supplies.
Ford announced more than a week ago it was partnering with GE Healthcare to build 50,000 ventilators for patients over the next 100 days. After that, 30,000 more each month after, as needed. Those breathing apparatuses will be produced out of the Rawsoville plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan and will be staffed by paid volunteer UAW-represented employees.