
GM make ventilators? Why not order BD, Stryker, S&N or other med companies? - adelHBN
Was this just a ploy to get union workers at GM their jobs back?  I don&#x27;t understand this.  GM doesn&#x27;t know the first thing about making a med device - procedures, clean rooms, FDA, etc.  It will take too long for GM to understand how to do this.
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Jemm
Might be a good time to retell the story of how the US tried to stockpile
ventilators a decade ago As Project Aurora, but were stalled and eventually
made zero ventilators thanks to a company called Covidien (actual company
name, not an April fools joke).

Covidien bought the company that was to make the cheaper ventilators for
stockpile and then stalled and finally cancelled the project. Covidien
incidentally already made a much more expensive ventilator.

[https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/sns-nyt-us-
failed...](https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/sns-nyt-us-failed-to-
build-ventilators-coronavirus-20200330-tvrot5uh3vbszo6vw2ymxh6g64-story.html)

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doggodad
BD no longer makes ventilators. Stryker never did, they make mostly O.R. and
hospital kit, tools and accessories. No idea who S&N is.

These are the major global manufacturers:

\- Philips Healthcare (Netherlands)

\- Vyaire Medical (US) formerly Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD - US)

\- Getinge (Sweden)

\- Dräger (Germany)

\- Smiths Group (UK)

\- Hamilton Medical (Switzerland)

\- GE Healthcare (US)

\- Air Liquide (France)

\- Zoll Medical (US)

\- Allied Healthcare Products (US)

\- Airon Mindray (China)

\- Schiller (Switzerland)

\- Löwenstein Medical (Germany)

\- Medtronic (Ireland after corporate inversion from US)

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JimTheMan
Through virtue of working with them once, S&N is Smith & Nephew.

To my knowledge they do joint implants, wound care and scoped tools but not
ventilators.

In Australia we are having Resmed make ventilators! So that's a bit more on
brand than a car company!

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refurb
I had the same take. The medical device industry and auto manufacturing are
very different industries.

I can only assume it came down to volume. GM has the space and the machines
for volume manufacturing. The medical device companies don’t.

~~~
adventured
GM also, unfortunately, has been hammered on demand for their core business -
vehicles - right now. They have surplus manufacturing space and human
resources and that may continue for anywhere from a few months to the rest of
this year (before perhaps slowly recovering from late 2020 through 2021). It
fits quite well in terms of context. The medtech companies need to keep their
resources focused on producing medical devices, they are unlikely to have the
vast manufacturing capability slack that GM is seeing (some of them may have a
bit of increased slack as we turn down elective procedures, delay equipment
purchases). The ideal is perhaps to have GM (Ford, etc) working with such
companies who can help guide them properly in the medtech manufacturing space,
utilizing the best of what both bring to the table. Ford is working with GE,
GM is working with Ventec.

An interesting Bloomberg article on it:

[http://archive.is/SLUlj](http://archive.is/SLUlj)

Here is the key response to the parent's questions:

"They asked Barra’s team what they needed to make ventilators. GM needed a
ventilator-making partner with an established product and a medical sales
force."

"For his part, Ventec CEO Chris Kiple said that he needed a partner with mass-
manufacturing expertise, factories and a workforce to produce on a huge scale
to help cities like New York as patients overwhelm hospitals."

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neom
[https://www.thedrive.com/tech/32726/how-ford-will-
use-f-150-...](https://www.thedrive.com/tech/32726/how-ford-will-
use-f-150-seat-fans-to-build-emergency-respirators)

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eb0la
Survival. GM won't be able to sell new cars for at least 2 months.

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Jemm
They won’t even start manufacturing until April 20.

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IXxXI
Taxpayers lost $11 billion bailing out GM around 2009.

Trump showed up to collect what the people were owed.

