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Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

spiegel.de

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Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#11

Post by agumonkey »

pyb wrote: post #6

"I spoke with Daimler over the weekend. They would also like to help. But it’s unfortunately not so simple..." It would be interesting to hear more precisely why. We've heard more than a few well-respected industrialists essentially saying "Scaling up ventilator production ? How hard could it be?" Edit. Of course I am not suggesting that car assembly lines are suitable to build ventilator parts. That's clearly not wh…

Someone on reddit makes daily summaries for r/france and reports a lot of ~stupid issues blocking help.

- health laws forbidding veterinarians to help (animal standard != human standard)

- companies not allowed to help because some administrative formality

Many systems are not ready to switch gears fast in times of crisis.

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#12

Post by scandox »

pyb wrote: post #6

"I spoke with Daimler over the weekend. They would also like to help. But it’s unfortunately not so simple..." It would be interesting to hear more precisely why. We've heard more than a few well-respected industrialists essentially saying "Scaling up ventilator production ? How hard could it be?" Edit. Of course I am not suggesting that car assembly lines are suitable to build ventilator parts. That's clearly not wh…

I am fascinated by the notion of factories just changing what they make. In my imagination a factory is a highly specialized machine for making one thing alone...

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#13

Post by de_Selby »

pyb wrote: post #6

"I spoke with Daimler over the weekend. They would also like to help. But it’s unfortunately not so simple..." It would be interesting to hear more precisely why. We've heard more than a few well-respected industrialists essentially saying "Scaling up ventilator production ? How hard could it be?" Edit. Of course I am not suggesting that car assembly lines are suitable to build ventilator parts. That's clearly not wh…

He gives an analogy in the next sentence that explains exactly why "We can't build cars either". Production lines are not general purpose.

There are also extremely high standards to be met for medical devices.

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#14

Post by WJW »

pyb wrote: post #6

"I spoke with Daimler over the weekend. They would also like to help. But it’s unfortunately not so simple..." It would be interesting to hear more precisely why. We've heard more than a few well-respected industrialists essentially saying "Scaling up ventilator production ? How hard could it be?" Edit. Of course I am not suggesting that car assembly lines are suitable to build ventilator parts. That's clearly not wh…

We also regularly hear (otherwise very sensible) software engineers saying stuff like "Clone twitter? How hard could it be?". It's not very hard to see how manufacturing life-saving medical equipment in a rush without proper testing could go catastrophically wrong. Even if you get known-good schematics from another company, retooling (say) a car production line to make something else needs a lot of planning to make sure all the supply lines and trained workers are in place.

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#15

Post by tyingq »

hef19898 wrote: post #3
adrianN wrote: post #2

It would be nice if we could at least provide everybody with simple surgical masks. It would surely help flatten the curve a lot if we could make masks in public mandatory. As far as I understand it those are basically just paper and a nose clip. They should be very simple to mass manufacture.

The main problem I see regarding masks is, besides price, distribution. Now that Chinese manufacturers are running again, they are producing 24/7. Sure prices are way higher than before. But the masks are there. Problem is, Chinese suppliers sell FOB, meaning export cleared delivered to a (air)port terminal in China. Customers in Germany want to buy DDP (import cleared and delivered a specified location in Germany).…

"The main problem I see regarding masks is, besides price, distribution."

There's a crap ton of unused aircraft right now. You would just need heads of state to direct the airlines to fulfill that need, simplify clearance, customs, etc. Treat it like wartime.

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#16

Post by k__ »

jsilence wrote: post #7

Home made masks are not as good as professional masks, but they have some efficiency (> 70%). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258525804_Testing_t...

I read somewhere that it could be dangerous to wear one when you're infected, because then the virii have a much bigger chance to be inhaled again and get deeper into the lung.

Is this true?

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#17

Post by smoyer »

"Before we invest too much thought into this, we should focus on getting devices that are sitting around in a basement somewhere back into working order."

I'm mechanically and electrically handy but don't have a basement full of ventilators. I'm going to send an email to my local hospital ... we'll see how that goes. Anyone have know where else to find ventilators that need to be serviced?

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#18

Post by raverbashing »

hef19898 wrote: post #3
adrianN wrote: post #2

It would be nice if we could at least provide everybody with simple surgical masks. It would surely help flatten the curve a lot if we could make masks in public mandatory. As far as I understand it those are basically just paper and a nose clip. They should be very simple to mass manufacture.

The main problem I see regarding masks is, besides price, distribution. Now that Chinese manufacturers are running again, they are producing 24/7. Sure prices are way higher than before. But the masks are there. Problem is, Chinese suppliers sell FOB, meaning export cleared delivered to a (air)port terminal in China. Customers in Germany want to buy DDP (import cleared and delivered a specified location in Germany).…

What do you mean product liability? Delivery liability or faults?

Ideally you would import it from a vetted manufacturer

I don't think anything but FOB is common, except in specific cases.

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#19

Post by adrianN »

smoyer wrote: post #17

"Before we invest too much thought into this, we should focus on getting devices that are sitting around in a basement somewhere back into working order." I'm mechanically and electrically handy but don't have a basement full of ventilators. I'm going to send an email to my local hospital ... we'll see how that goes. Anyone have know where else to find ventilators that need to be serviced?

Vets, dental surgeons, people with old CPAP machines.

Re: Interview with German Ventilator Manufacturer

#20

Post by dna_polymerase »

de_Selby wrote: post #13
pyb wrote: post #6

"I spoke with Daimler over the weekend. They would also like to help. But it’s unfortunately not so simple..." It would be interesting to hear more precisely why. We've heard more than a few well-respected industrialists essentially saying "Scaling up ventilator production ? How hard could it be?" Edit. Of course I am not suggesting that car assembly lines are suitable to build ventilator parts. That's clearly not wh…

He gives an analogy in the next sentence that explains exactly why "We can't build cars either". Production lines are not general purpose. There are also extremely high standards to be met for medical devices.

Exactly. Also looking at German car manufacturers, their production lines are almost completely automated and rely on robots. Reprogramming them, if they would fit the job in the first place, would require weeks of testing and calibration alone.
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