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GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

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Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#141

Post by jwilber »

whiddershins wrote: post #132
thereare5lights wrote: post #67

> There are going to be a lot of comments about how we messed up, wasted time, etc., but they miss the point. That, ironically, misses the point of the existing comments about how we wasted time. By wasting time, lots of people are going to die that didn't need to die. None of that has to do with mobilization itself or the issues that we run into during mobilization, it has to do with when we decided to mobilize.

Oh, wait. Hold on. There was a time where people weren’t perfect? And by perfect, I of course mean perfect judged by hindsight. That’s just ... I mean .. people should be perfect! And prescient! Good point.

Dismissing the point with sarcasm doesn’t help anyone.

At the end of the day, our (US) nation’s leader called the virus a partisan hoax, on national tv, over a month after it wrecked havoc in China. I find it hard to to imagine a scenario more antithetical to “perfect”.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#142

Post by chapium »

BurningFrog wrote: post #80

Meanwhile, actual ventilator manufacturers are not getting many orders: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/03/18/ventilator-...

Hospitals are hamstrung by their bureaucracies and financial policies. The best thing that can be done is an independent assessment of need and start "airdropping" supplies if a shortage is apparent.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#143

Post by WalterBright »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #98
wyattpeak wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, it probably will look like an overreaction, but that doesn't provide carte-blanche to overreact every time there's a new virus. As GP mentioned, this happens every few years. Most of the time, it fizzles out. We can't transition all production to hospital equipment every few years, even if it is the right call twice a century. I have often reprimanded (and have in turn been reprimanded) for overengineering a sol…

We keep a MASSIVE oversupply surplus for the military at all times. If that's OK, why not do that for health related issues too?

> We keep a MASSIVE oversupply surplus for the military at all times. If that's OK, why not do that for health related issues too?

When your military isn't strong enough, you get fire, rape, pillage, death, starvation and epidemics, and people really really don't like that.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#144

Post by jariel »

JunkDNA wrote: post #79
asdfman123 wrote: post #2

If we were halfway rational, we would have started this in January. Failing that, start now.

Have you ever been in an executive leadership position that required you to make tough decisions? As someone who recently has entered this realm, let me tell you: most of the decisions in front of you are essentially choices between a whole bunch of options that all have one thing in common: they totally suck. You learn quickly that you are going to make harmful decisions because sometimes a good option isn’t in the…

There was no need for national 'lock down' in January, what was needed was preparation.

Specifically with respect to testing, and the operations behind testing - this should have been sorted out.

There was no reason to 'lockdown' in January. The ACLU would not have sued, it would be irrelevant anyhow. College students would not be protesting en masse, and if they did, it wouldn't matter.

Once America has contained the virus, the rest of the world will need medical staff, beds, ventilators. There are 7 billion people out there, the surpluses will get used.

China was building hospitals over a 'few days' - this should have been a 'shocking moment' for everyone to start thinking about how to 'build hospitals in 2 days' or at least commandeer office towers or whatever as facilities. Knock out doors, widen entries, rip out the carpets, get backup generators, put in tbeds etc. carpenters can do a lot quickly.

There was a lot CEOs could have been doing 8 weeks ago.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#145

Post by SiVal »

It already does a lot of inflexible manufacturing, often by outsourcing overseas, but I'd love to see part of the US military converted to a rapid-response, highly flexible, fully-domestic manufacturing system. LOTS of very flexible automation, so they could take a wide range of designs and raw materials and rapidly switch from making one thing to making another and the ability to hugely ramp up production on demand without having to retrain people or recertify facilities. The people involved would be trained to set up for a different product every couple of weeks or so.

The system could be kept almost constantly humming, making one thing, switching and certifying, making another, switching and certifying, keeping them pre-trained, tested, and certified. The military itself has an ongoing need to rapidly adapt to new situations, but things are needed domestically for planned infrastructure, sudden large-scale destruction from earthquake/fire/flood/tornado disasters, sudden economic changes (ex: some sort of trade cutoff), strategic domestication (ex: immediately end reliance on some import), round-robin top-off of local emergency prep supplies, individual citizen preparedness supplies, etc.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#146

Post by ksolanki »

jjeaff wrote: post #108
mgerdts wrote: post #96

Manufacture of medical devices has specific regulation around Good Manufacturing Processes [1] (GMP, one of many GxPs). This requires a Quality Management System [2] (QMS) and very specific training for everyone involved. Pretty much any manufacturer that is not already manufacturing in accordance with 21 CFR Part 820 [3] and related regulations will have a ton of work to establish a suitable QMS. I'd like to think t…

I think you are a bit confused about the position the country is in right now. Regulations and regulators can and will be damned in an emergency. Of course, all reasonable precautions should be taken when producing medical equipment. But if someone needs a ventilator, they are going to die without it. It doesn't matter that there is a small chance that complications arise or some flaw in the ventilator causes it not…

I agree that we are in a unprecedented situation but I am not sure that the regulations will just be “damned”.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#147

Post by tropo »

non-entity wrote: post #49

This is something I've been hoping to see since the pandemic started. But, I'm pretty ignorant regarding this industry and I've also wondered this: There are numerous manufacturing plants within the US, but how easy is it switch from manufacturing knew product to another? Is the equipment and machine used generally the same?

If a place makes plastic parts of similar size, switching just means changing out the dies/molds that form the plastic. Auto part suppliers, often not the actual auto companies, should have no problem with this.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#148

Post by blhack »

1propionyl wrote: post #51

To everyone saying "great, but why didn't this start months ago?" Well, sure, but the second best time to start is now.

It’s getting incredibly frustrating seeing people make this tired point.

Yeah, we SHOULD have started a month ago, but we didn’t, and wasting time at a press conference trying to write some gotcha story about it helps nobody.

Re: GM’s CEO Offers to Make Ventilators in WWII-Style Mobilization

#149

Post by DetroitThrow »

MegaButts wrote: post #54
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> why GM or Ford is the one on top of list for this endeavor? Ford and GM were massive manufacturers when WWII reared its head. That gives them a rich history of wartime production [1]. The principal cost in these sorts of shifts can be bureaucratic. Having cultural capital to call on is invaluable. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_the_U...

> Having cultural capital to call on is invaluable. How similar is the culture today compared to 75+ years ago?

As a local, I don't know the exact differences in culture today compared to 75 years ago. Though after hearing enough ranting from workers, line bosses, and industrial engineers about exciting topics like quality control, line efficiency, production planning since I was young... I personally think the culture is pretty valuable, especially given the size of the manufacturing workforce.

I think a more pressing question is if any workers will want to come in if GM and Ford commit to this.

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