(Image from Medtronic)
Medtronic (NYSE:MDT) and Foxconn said today they will boost ventilator production to 10,000 over the next year at Foxconn’s Wisconsin plant.
The companies announced in April that Foxconn would begin production of Medtronic’s Puritan Bennett 560 ventilators at the plant in Mount Pleasant, Wis., with a goal of 400 ventilators per week by the end of April and 700 per week by the end of May. These were in addition to the 1,000 per week that Medtronic projected manufacturing on its own by the end of June. Medtronic will market and sell the ventilators made in Foxconn’s plant under its own name.
The two companies connected in March after Medtronic publicly shared the design specifications for the PB560 during a COVID-19-fueled global shortage of the devices.
“No single company can meet the current demands for ventilators that are critical in the fight against COVID-19. Joining together with Foxconn immediately increases our production capacity to meet the increased demand and creates a flexible manufacturing model for us,” said Vafa Jamali, SVP and president of Medtronic’s respiratory, gastrointestinal and informatics business. “Together, we can increase ventilator supply and help more patients and clinicians than any one company can do alone.”
If global demand increases, Medtronic and Foxconn can more than double the current Foxconn ventilator commitment, according to the companies.
“Foxconn is grateful to all front-line professionals who tirelessly work to serve others and is proud to partner with Medtronic to address this global pandemic. Foxconn’s manufacturing capabilities can bring to market life-saving medical equipment during these challenging times,” added Foo-Ming Fu, CEO of Foxconn Industrial Internet Wisconsin. “Foxconn’s flexibility to quickly react to global markets makes opportunities with partners like this possible. In the last two months, we went from zero ventilator manufacturing capabilities to a tested, qualified ventilator manufacturing cell.”
The compact, lightweight PB560 was introduced in 2010 and is sold in more than 35 countries around the world.
