Auto suppliers could switch gears to build medical equipment for coronavirus patients

TORONTO Canadian automotive industry leaders and government officials are attempting to strike commercial agreements with medical device companies to redeploy their idled production lines to make ventilators, masks and other vital equipment to treat people affected by the novel coronavirus.

On Thursday, auto-parts manufacturers Martinrea International Inc. and Linamar Corp., General Motors Canada and Ontario’s health minister, all confirmed efforts to investigate the possibility of changing gears to build medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Obviously, our business isn’t producing ventilators, but we have a lot of assembly capacity and we know how to make things,” said Rob Wildeboer, executive chairman of Martinrea International.

“If we can get the drawings and the technical guidance, we’re ready and willing to help.”

In preparation for “tremendous pressures” on the health-care system, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott said the province just acquired 300 additional ventilators, but may need more to boost response capacity. “We are working with auto-parts manufacturers, for example, to see if they can retool their equipment in order to produce more ventilators,” she said.

Linamar, which has already started to diversify into medical equipment, is “actively investigating the feasibility of manufacturing ventilators working with a variety of partners,” chief executive Linda Hasenfratz said in a statement.

Meanwhile, General Motors Canada is doing an internal study to evaluate how it can help during the crisis, which could include supporting the production of medical equipment, spokesperson Jennifer

Wright said in a statement.

Magna International Inc., Canada’s largest auto-parts maker, is not currently planning to make ventilators or masks, but would be willing to see how it could help if needed, spokeswoman Tracy Fuerst said in an email.

The feds are working to manage existing inventories of ventilators and masks and secure more if necessary to cope with potential surges in COVID-19 patients.

“I know that I have had personal conversations with ministers about shortages they may be facing in a couple of days and we’ve been able to resolve those very quickly,” Canada’s Health Minister Patty Hajdu said. “We’re continuing that work to determine what provinces need immediately, what they anticipate their long-term needs are going to be, and then in terms of how we can prepare at the federal level for things that we’re not even necessarily anticipating.” Talks about whether factories can be retooled to make health-care equipment were underway even before automakers on both sides of the Atlantic began shutting down factories in response to the rapidly escalating coronavirus crisis.

“There’s a lot of skills in our industry and a lot of willingness to help,” said Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association.

The key challenge has been establishing agreements with medical companies that would allow devices to be produced at a much larger scale amid a surge in demand.

Though 16 Canadian auto-parts firms have agreed to do what they can to build the gear, they won’t know what’s required until they see the engineering specifications and other product information, much of which is protected by intellectual property laws, Volpe said. Financial Post