Ford & GM Coronavirus Efforts - Hackett Statement
Ford & GM working to produce ventilators, respirators and face masks. Hackett included in the story and great to see continued progress by industry to step up.
March 25th, 2020 at 11:40 PM ^
The C19 flu may be ramped down substantially within 3 to 4 weeks if not declared defeated. Not sure GM will he able to get a ventilator built in that time frame although the government will probably want to stockpile at least 100k just in case.
Data coming out of Italy, Asia and Scandanavian countries that didn't quarantine is looking promising in terms of new reported cases Herd immunity dynamic may be part of the equation in addition to self isolation of people.
We still have an unfortunate week or two of people dying in larger numbers to suffer but I'm betting by mid April optimism will be in the air.
March 26th, 2020 at 12:10 AM ^
I knew when it began "the C19 flu" we were in for a ride of rambling nonsense and misinformation. I was not disappointed.
March 26th, 2020 at 12:13 AM ^
I have a funny idea I know where you generally receive your news.
Italy is still only seeing flattening now, not really improvement yet, and that's only because they finally took quarantines seriously around 12 days before the flattening began. And it hit them well before it hit the US. Also, we really should do anything we can to avoid becoming like Italy is right now. Also, COVID-19 really isn't hitting the US equally--it may be everywhere, but it is very concentrated in big cities and especially NYC, so the idea that the rest of the US would also get herd immunity and be through it in a couple of weeks seems . . . unlikely.
And it depends on what you mean by "through it."
Italy has a higher hospital capacity per capita than the USA and still has had to tell certain people that they get to die because their odds of survival are lower than another person's.
Reports are out that Detroit and Atlanta ICUs are at capacity. Buckle up.
The promising data is coming from the countries that did quarantine. Wtf are you talking about?
March 26th, 2020 at 12:03 PM ^
Super encouraging news from Italy. Hope the trend continues. Both countries in total lockdown.
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March 26th, 2020 at 12:56 PM ^
I see no reason to downvote optimism.
March 26th, 2020 at 12:05 AM ^
Very good to see industry step up.
Gotta be trying times at Ford, they were already a financial mess.
March 26th, 2020 at 12:38 AM ^
Officially rated junk today. Might as well pivot.
The last 2 Ford dealerships down here in my hometown (I live in a medium-sized city in Northern Mexico) have closed.
Never thought I would live to see the day when I could not buy a Ford locally, weird times these are.
Think Hackett's days are numbered?
Translating for Putin: ....if needed, make sure you get the GM ventilator because technical service bulletins from Ford will cost you precious time!
March 26th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
Great to see my uncle stepping up!
My buddy, and fellow M grad, who works for Ford basically volunteered to drive all the way from Detroit to Omaha NE to help ventilator production with 3M. Proud of him that he stepped up like that.
March 28th, 2020 at 10:34 AM ^
Maybe I don't think outside the box enough but I don't understand why the Trump administration's tapping Ford and GM to help make masks, ventilators, etc, is such a good idea. These are huge companies that make a product that I would classify on the other end of the spectrum from a medical device. Maybe because they have high volume production experience? But there's plenty of engineers out there that can be consulted on this. And retooling an auto mfg plant to make a totally different product would take much longer than the timeframe the devices are needed, which is now. It feels like asking an artist to lecture on astrophysics. Maybe not quite this extreme but you get the point.
The recent news that Dyson will make ventilators seems to make more sense. Dyson is a smaller company than Ford or GM and I am guessing more nimble. They specialize in air moving machines (vacuum cleaners, hand dryers, hair dryers, etc).