Althouse: "No automaker is anywhere close to making medical gear such as ventilators and remain months away

March 23, 2020

"No automaker is anywhere close to making medical gear such as ventilators and remain months away — if not longer."

"Nor do the car companies need the president’s permission to move forward. Neither GM or Ford is building ventilators at present, while Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted Friday that his company was 'working on ventilators' but he didn’t specify how long it might take.... 'When you are repurposing a factory, it really depends on how similar the new product is to the existing products in your product line,' said Kaitlin Wowak, a professor at the University of Notre Dame who focuses on industrial supply chains. 'It’s going to be a substantial pivot to start producing an entirely different item.'"

AP fact-checks Trump's optimism. I'm saying "optimism." The AP word is "hype": "AP FACT CHECK: Trump hype on auto industry and ventilators."

I get Trump's optimistic style, but it's not going to work on everyone. It may help keep the economy alive during its suspended animation, but it may make a lot of people very cynical. Who can trust what we are hearing? Maybe only people who already want to believe. But don't almost all of us — Trump haters or not — want to believe we will win, we'll conquer the virus, and the economy will spring back to life, as vibrant as ever?

212 comments:

«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 212 of 212

Steve Pitment said...: No.; 3/23/20, 11:41 PM
Stan Smith said...: Re: Biden's miserable "address" today...

I offer this example of what's going on: https://blr808.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/whistle-stop.jpg; 3/24/20, 1:16 AM
Stan Smith said...: Hmmm... let's try this one:

Joe Biden on the stump

https://blainesworld.org/2012/05/24/did-anyone-actually-see-the-candidate-eat-the-rat/; 3/24/20, 1:31 AM
Crazy World said...: I believe.; 3/24/20, 2:14 AM
Meade said...: Thanks guys.; 3/24/20, 7:17 AM
Nichevo said...: https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/24/business/ford-3m-ge-ventilators-coronavirus-duplicate-2/index.html

What's so hard to understand about the President having information that 27 year old know nothing's don't have?; 3/24/20, 8:19 AM
Friedrich Engels' Barber said...: Gov Cuomo is bewailing why the federal government is not taking over manufacture of ventilators. I guess if government is all you know, you think government is the only way things can get done. But what would government involvement really mean for a manufacturer? It would mean another layer of managers, which since they are inexperienced, would mainly serve to distract existing management to babysit them. It would mean at least one more layer of documentation. And, eventually, because they can’t help themselves, it would mean additional distracting progressive work rules on diversity, environment, and correct political thinking on the assembly line.

If you have ever worked with large scale manufacturers, you would know that some people are gifted at designing and managing production, just as some are gifted at writing symphonies. The secret to good management: get out of those people’s way, not add government hurdles.

GM has e.g. now announced a production partnership with a company called Ventec. Wowak aside, do we think that bringing GM’s knowledge of and power with the manufacturing supply chain, their manufacturing design expertise, and, yes, 2 more shifts of experienced production workers won’t have an impact on production volume before needing to repurpose any factories? The AP reporter, surprise, asked the wrong questions, just coincidentally trying to make a TrumpBad point?; 3/24/20, 11:19 AM
Static Ping said...: Ford is already reporting that they have face masks ready for distribution and will be sending them to Detroit hospitals. They also expect to start pumping out ventilators this month as soon as they get the approvals. Preliminary output is about 1,000 a month and then they can ramp up from there. Not bad for an auto company.

3D printers are quite useful things.; 3/24/20, 11:55 AM
Todd said...: Friedrich Engels' Barber said... [hush][hide comment]
Gov Cuomo is bewailing why the federal government is not taking over manufacture of ventilators. I guess if government is all you know, you think government is the only way things can get done. But what would government involvement really mean for a manufacturer? It would mean another layer of managers, which since they are inexperienced, would mainly serve to distract existing management to babysit them. It would mean at least one more layer of documentation. And, eventually, because they can’t help themselves, it would mean additional distracting progressive work rules on diversity, environment, and correct political thinking on the assembly line.

I heard one of those num-nuts Govs on the tv the other morning and he was crying about the Feds not doing a single procurement of all the basic medical supplies all the states need instead of having each state/city get their own. "We are bidding against each other" and the news (haha) lady had to throw in price gouging (even though that is ALREADY illegal and so is not going on at the state/city level). So anyway if the country did follow Gov num-nuts' plan, instead of all the states/cities bidding against each other, they would all be fighting the feds to get "their" share of too few supplies and the larger states/cities could then make it all political instead of normal purchasing.

Cause EVERYONE knows, no one is BETTER at making sure every single one of us gets are fair share like the Government does!; 3/24/20, 12:09 PM
tomfromchicago said...: Ford announced today that it is teaming-up with 3M and GE to make ventilators and face masks.; 3/24/20, 4:10 PM
Helmut for Boskone said...: Ford already has a design for respirators using seat ventilation fans from F150s. They are 3D printing splash shields at the Mustang plant at a speed of 1000/day now. They are working with GE on a simplified version of GE’s ventilator which would allow ramping up production quickly. Did the AP idiots talk to any actual automakers? Nah. They went to an “expert”.; 3/24/20, 8:58 PM
Nichevo said...: Tesla Man Bad!

Elon Musk has delivered 1,000 ventilators to help California hospitals treat COVID-19 patients, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom

https://t.co/P5lOm43Gpy?amp=1; 3/24/20, 9:18 PM