The 'incredibly challenging' ventilator effort by Ventec, GM
Moments into an initial conference call nearly two weeks ago, a proposed venture between Bothell-based Ventec Life Systems and General Motors to mass produce thousands of ventilators for the nation’s coronavirus fight appeared dead.
Ventec CEO Chris Kiple told GM’s global manufacturing chief, Gerald Johnson, that one of more than 700 components needed to build his company’s VOCSN ventilator was made by a factory in India where the entire region had been quarantined. While about 80% of VOCSN parts are made in the United States, that lone India holdup would derail any expanded production plans because the ventilator can’t work without that missing piece.
“GM literally sent people there that night to India to get boots on the ground to help us get that factory opened,” Kiple said Monday as the Project V venture between Ventec and GM continued feverishly. “It changed the conversation. We had to work with the government (in India), we had to work with GM. We had to understand what the issues were to get the factory back open.”
The challenge was one of dozens of supply and logistical challenges that Project V faced. Even getting the Indian factory running again solved only one problem, because its raw-material suppliers were also closed and GM and Ventec had to get them reopened as well.
https://www.heraldnet.com/business/the-incredibly-challenging-ventilator-effort-by-ventec-gm/
That's the downside of outsourcing. 
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