Citizenship
We are proud to stand with other American companies and our skilled employees to meet the needs of this global pandemic.
Mary Barra
Chair and CEO
The Need for Ingenuity
At General Motors and across the auto industry, generations of employees have been counted on to develop solutions during times of crisis. Today is no different.
As COVID-19 has spread across the globe, thousands of our team members, along with our global suppliers, have been working with speed and urgency to get medical professionals the tools they need to save lives, including face masks, other protective equipment and critical care ventilators.
The demand for ventilators, in particular, has quickly outpaced the supply. At increasingly overwhelmed hospitals, access to enough ventilators can be the difference between life and death. That’s why we volunteered to work with Ventec Life Systems to arm front line medical professionals with the Ventec V+Pro, the kind of critical care ventilator needed to treat seriously ill patients.
We joined the fight against the coronavirus because it’s the right thing to do. And because we believe our talent and ingenuity can help the world win this fight.
The V+Pro is portable and can run on battery power, which are important factors as medical professionals consider treatment in non-traditional locations, such as field hospitals that don’t have pressured air supply and other normal hospital functions.
That’s why we are proud to contribute our purchasing and manufacturing capability alongside the respiratory care expertise of Ventec. Together, and with the help of our significantly expanded supply chain, our Kokomo facility is building 30,000 desperately-needed ventilators under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. We delivered our first ventilators to medical professionals at Chicagoland hospitals and shipped more than 600 of these ventilators to additional locations in April 2020. We will continue to fill the full order through August 2020 and if additional ventilators are needed after that time, we are fully capable and prepared to build more.
There will be a team of more than 1,000 Americans engaged in this vital mission and we remain dedicated to working with the Administration to ensure American innovation and manufacturing meet the needs of the country during this global pandemic.
Behind the Ventilator
We’re proud to utilize our manufacturing and purchasing expertise to partner with Ventec on these lifesaving devices
Face Masks Also Needed
The need for face masks has never been so important.
In addition to a ventilator shortage, there is a critical need for face masks in hospitals and clinics across the country. To help, we are using our Warren, Michigan manufacturing facility to manufacture face masks quickly and efficiently. Understanding the need for urgent action, we started producing masks just six days, 23 hours and 30 minutes after our initial kickoff meeting – beating our internal target for timing.
By the end of the first week of production, we delivered the first 20,000 masks to workers on the frontlines of the pandemic and within two weeks, production ramped up to approximately 50,000 masks per day – or what’s currently up to 1.5 million masks per month.
Mobilizing In The Face of Adversity
During WWI and WWII, the auto industry was called upon to lend its expertise and scale in numerous ways. While the current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our world in an unprecedented manner, we answered the call and are providing assistance in any way we can.
In World War I, the industry stepped up to the challenge by supplying staff cars, artillery tractor engines, mortar shells and specialized military vehicles.
During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt encouraged Americans to become an “Arsenal of Democracy,” so the industry rose to the challenge once again by completely converting manufacturing facilities into military production plants. Not a single civilian passenger car was manufactured between Feb. 10, 1942 and Sept. 9, 1945 instead placing priority on the country, its military and the civilians at home. According to the GM Heritage Center, WWII production numbers show just how much of an impact the industry had for the war effort: 119,562,000 artillery shells; 39,181,000 cartridge cases; 206,000 aircraft engines; 13,000 Navy fighter planes and torpedo bombers; 97,000 aircraft propellers; 301,000 aircraft gyrocompasses; 38,000 tanks and tank destroyers; 854,000 trucks; 190,000 canons; 1.9 million machine guns and submachine guns; 3.1 million carbines; 3.8 million electric motors; 11 million fuses; 360 million ball and roller bearings; 198,000 diesel engines; and more.
Always Here, No Matter What
The auto industry was built by people with a desire to overcome challenges. This extends further than the history of military manufacturing or enabling the increase of ventilator production. We’re also making an impact within our communities.
General Motors is proud to stand with healthcare professionals, governments, communities and individuals in this fight against COVID-19. And we will continue to lend our ingenuity and support to the country, as well as the world, during this global crisis.
