The grave economic situation has forced executives and business leaders to think out of the box

Hit by Covid-19 slump, followed by social distancing and lockdown, businesses across the globe are experiencing a major downturn in economic position. It has become challenging for many companies to keep their financial wheels running during the pandemic’s lockdown period due to less revenue churn and the general uncertainty in the global financial environment. However, organisations are switching to a diversified manufacturing and supply practice to patch the gap between the falling economy and the company’s revenue.

The United States was one of the hard-hit nations by the pandemic. With over 2.5 million deaths and growing virus cases, and political and economic instability, the country is still struggling to cope with basic necessities. Even though when the supply chain was of great help during the initial period by knowing people’s need and delivering more products to their doorstep, the actual scenario was not so good. No one showed interest in buying cars and bikes during the pandemic as people chased sanitisers and masks. For many companies, Covid-19 opened a void door with the magical spell ‘open sesame.’ The grave situation forced executives and business leaders to get creative, not only in keeping their employees and workers in the job but also to adapt to a rapidly changing environment and manufacture products that are most desperately needed. When they thought out of the box, companies with relevant manufacturing devices came up with the idea to make ventilators and PPEs as the demand increased.

Automotive manufacturing ventilators

The race to build enough ventilators has seen automakers like Ford, General Motors and Tesla jump into ventilator designing and distribution, while also helping medical device companies scale up production of the critical equipment. Trump administration has leveraged the use of Korean war-era Defense Production Act (DPA) on the manufacturing units to ensure that whatever they make goes directly to the national stockpile. Other tech companies like Virgin Orbit, SpaceX and Dyson also joined the effort.

In India, automakers like Ashok Leyland, Hyundai India, MG Motors, Maruti Suzuki, etc have also contributed to the nation’s need for ventilators.

Technology providers make PPEs 

As the coronavirus spreads and the treatment intensifies, the healthcare sector is undergoing a sudden need for medical products like Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and masks. Business leaders have found that by merging technology to the healthcare necessity, they could produce PPEs at high-quality and less time. 3D printing that has existed for years and used by over 90% of the top medical device companies is now witnessing an accelerated emergence in the healthcare sector. Cross industries are using 3D printing companies like HP, GE and GM to help hospitals around the world by producing PPEs, respirators, nasal swabs and face masks.

Cristian Fracassi, a Brescia-based engineering company, has quickly responded to the shortage of respiratory valves needed. To connect the Covid-19 patients to the machines, the company used 3D printing. They collaborated with physicist Massimo Temporelli, founder of FabLab and began manufacturing valves within the space of six hours. The 3D printer reseller iMakr too has been working round the clock to produce PPEs in its new 3D printing farm in New York.