While most Malaysians are staying at home during this period of the Movement Control Order (MCO), there are also many who are in essential services who are working daily. Apart from the brave and dedicated frontliners in the healthcare services, there are also those who ensure that supplies of food, equipment, materials and other essential items are not disrupted.
These are the truck drivers who have to collect the goods from the port or warehouses and then drive long distances across the country. No doubt their journeys are different now with less traffic on the roads but the driving is still the same, perhaps with completion in a shorter time.
Recently, as part of the Shell Rimula #HeroKami campaign, Shell Malaysia has been distributing face masks to the truck drivers to provide them with protection against the possibility of getting infected by the virus.
The distribution has been done in the Port Klang, Selangor area and so far, some 20,000 face masks have been given out. The masks were handed over at selected participating truck service centres and the Northport.
‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ is a saying which is attributed to Plato, the Greek philosopher. And it is certainly true in these times when there is urgent need of medial equipment to save lives as well as protect healthcare personnel.
Many carmakers have initiated and executed projects to design, engineer and manufacture vital Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), doing so faster than normal processes would take. They are using their advanced technologies which can speed up the R&D, and their factories to then produce the items.
Ford, for example, is expanding its efforts to design and produce urgently needed medical equipment. In addition to the current production of more than 3 million face shields, the company is also now making powered air-purifying respirators which were designed in-house.
Gown production
To help further protect healthcare workers, Ford is leading efforts to manufacture reusable gowns with its airbag supplier, Joyson Safety Systems. The go-fast project has created reusable gowns manufactured from material used to make airbags in Ford vehicles.
Production of gowns will reach 75,000 gowns a week by Sunday and scale up to 100,000 gowns for the week of April 19 and beyond. By July 4, Joyson Safety Systems aims to cut and sew 1.3 million gowns which are washable up to 50 times, extending their usage.
Ford worked with Beaumont Health in Metro Detroit to quickly design the gown pattern and test for sizing during fit and function trials. More than 5,000 gowns have already been delivered to the hospital.
The new PAPR
Since late March, Ford manufacturing, purchasing and supply chain experts have been embedded at 3M manufacturing facilities to help increase production of urgently needed products. With this additional help, 3M and Ford were able to increase the output of Powered Air Purifying Respirators and N95 respirators at 3M’s U.S.-based manufacturing facilities.
“By working collaboratively with 3M to quickly combine more than 100 years of Ford manufacturing and engineering expertise with personal protection equipment design and expertise, we’re getting much-needed technology into the hands of frontline medical workers to help when they need it most,” said Marcy Fisher, Ford Director, Global Body Exterior and Interior Engineering.
The newly designed PAPR includes a hood and faceshield to cover healthcare professionals’ heads and shoulders, while a high-efficiency filter system provides a supply of filtered air for up to 8 hours. The air blower system – similar to the fan found in F-150’s ventilated seats – is powered by a rechargeable, portable battery, helping keep the respirator in constant use by first-line defenders.
Producing globally
Besides the USA, faceshield production is also ongoing globally at Ford facilities in Canada and Thailand and with Ford joint-venture partner Mahindra & Mahindra in India. Ventilator pre-production activities are also underway in the UK, where Ford and an industry consortium are preparing to make ventilators.
Ford is providing manufacturing engineering capability, project leadership, purchasing support and assembly of the ventilators at its Dagenham engine plant. This production will help meet demand for 15,000 ventilators ordered by the U.K. government.
If you follow news (and who does not?) about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that has swept the planet, you will read about the urgent need by hospitals in every country for medical equipment. The number of cases has been growing very, very fast – in some countries, it doubles every 3 days. Thousands of patients now require intensive care as their condition has become worse. No country was prepared for a crisis of such a scale and so the equipment and facilities were not more than what was thought to be sufficient for the population.
Ventilators are one of the items that are crucial as the patients suffering from COVID-19 have breathing difficulties. The virus attacks their lungs and they need assisted air intake otherwise they will not have enough air for their body. Ventilators can provide such assistance and companies around the world with the capability have been racing to develop and then make ventilators.
SEAT uses its engineering expertise
SEAT, the Spanish carmaker, is one of the companies that has developed automated ventilators with its expertise. Its engineers developed a total of 13 different prototypes were tested before the final design was agreed upon. The team is now testing the ventilators in collaboration with the local healthcare authority to get approval for mass production.
The ventilators – made up of 80 electronic and mechanical components – utilize adapted windscreen wiper motors, gearbox shafts and printed gears. Each ventilator will undergo a thorough quality control check with ultraviolet light sterilization before being shipped out.
The facility where the ventilators will be made produces the new Leon model. 150 employees from different areas will work on modified workstations. “Taking an assembly line that manufactures subframes, a car part, and adapting it to make ventilators has been a lengthy, difficult job involving many areas of the company, and we managed to do it in the record time of one week,” said Sergio Arreciado, a member of SEAT’s Process Engineering team.
Lamborghini makes masks and face shields
Meanwhile, Lamborghini has converted its super sportscar production plant to produce surgical masks and protective plexiglass shields. The masks will be donated to a hospital in Bologna, Italy for the use of healthcare personnel.
Work is carried out by personnel of the saddlery that produce the interiors and specialty customization for Lamborghini cars, producing 1,000 masks a day. The medical shields will be produced as a rate of 200 units a day, using 3D printers within the carbonfibre production plant and the R&D department.
“During this emergency, we feel the need to make a concrete contribution. The S. Orsola-Malpighi Hospital is an institution with which we have had a collaborative relationship for years, through both professional consultancy in promoting programs to protect our workers’ health, and in research projects. We will win this battle together by working in union, supporting those who are at the forefront of fighting this pandemic every day,” said Stefano Domenicali, Chairman & CEO of Automobili Lamborghini.