The US surgeon general, in comments this morning, said the coming week was going to be singularly difficult for many Americans. “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,” said Vice Admiral Jerome Adams, but this time the disaster would not be “localized.”
The United States economy has been shut down, more or less, for about three weeks now, although a comprehensive national agenda has been absent. Manufacturers around the country, as this repeating feature has recorded, have revolutionized their supply lines to make personal protective equipment or ventilators, spaced out workers, cleaned more, or stopped production outright or did their best to manage tangled and broken supply chains.
But the surgeon general’s remarks, that the worst of the pandemic was imminent, also carried the hopeful message that after the nadir of the moment had passed, the coming weeks and months could be the beginning of a long return to normal. As Adams put it: “I want Americans to understand that as hard as this week is going to be, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”
Automakers Weigh the Safety and Feasibility of Making Safety Products
In the meantime, those manufacturers stepping up to produce essential protective gear for medical workers have been faced with a mountain of a problem. Even under less serious circumstances, getting an entire manufacturing operation normally used to produce one extremely complicated and multi-part product to produce an entirely different complicated and multi-part product would be a formidable challenge for any manufacturer.
But automakers around the country and their suppliers are doing just that in the midst of a global pandemic that has seen factories all around the country close their doors to reduce the threat of contagion. The pandemic introduces another, frustratingly circular complication: What’s the best way to manufacture equipment to keep people safe from infection, while keeping the people manufacturing the equipment safe from the infection, too? Read the full story here.
Boeing Extends Suspended Production in Washington, South Carolina
Boeing Co. announced today it would continue to leave production shuttered at plants in Washington and South Carolina until further notice. The Chicago-based aviation company has offered buybacks to staff as it looks to cut costs in advance of its cut of the $2.2 trillion stimulus bill passed by Congress. In the meantime, its nationwide facilities are on rolling suspensions of productions, several with no clear end in sight. Read the full story here.
Abbott Laboratory Update
On March 30, IndustryWeek reported that Abbot Laboratories announced a 5-minute COVID-19 test that could run on a platform already available in medical offices and clinics around the country. Today, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo announced that CVS Health had formed a partnership with her state to make Abbot’s tests available for free at a drive-through testing site. Georgia announced a similar partnership.
3D Systems Recommends Biomedical 3D-Printer Materials
3D Systems, an authority in connecting additive manufacturers with clients, released a materials recommendation chart for additive manufacturers to consult when deciding what materials to use for medical equipment. In an email, the company said they had “seen concerns” about printers using non-biocompatible material to manufacture PPE. The chart recommends biocompatible materials for use in 3D printing products like face shield frames. You can find the chart at 3D Systems's website, here.
