Inside INdiana Business is reporting that workers at the General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) manufacturing facility in Kokomo have started to produce ventilators in the fight against COVID-19 with plans to produce 30,000 by the end of summer. The automaker is working with Washington-based Ventec Life Systems to produce ventilators for critically-care patients.
GM says the crews were assembling the systems last week, but those were prototypes and not intended to be distributed.
The companies say they have reached an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services to produce 30,000 ventilators to be delivered to the Strategic National Stockpile by the end of August 2020.
They say the production schedule allows for the delivery of 6,132 ventilators by June 1. They started prepping the Kokomo plant and began worker training two weeks ago.
In addition to the ventilator production in Kokomo, GM says it is producing up to 1.5 million face masks a month at its Warren, Michigan facility.