M&M to start making face shields for healthcare providers from Monday
M&M has sourced the design of the face shields it plans to manufacture from its partner Ford Motor Company
MUMBAI : Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) plans to start production of the face shield masks for the healthcare service providers such as doctors, nurses, medical attendants and the support staff at hospitals from Monday, March 30, 2020, said a top company executive on Saturday evening.
M&M has sourced the design of the face shields it plans to manufacture from its partner Ford Motor Company. The company plans to make 500 units of the said protective gear at its Kandivali plant in Mumbai.
“With a design sourced from our partner Ford Motor, we are now ready to make this face shield for use of medical service providers. Targeting to make 500 on Monday and then ramp up," Pawan Goenka, managing director, M&M said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, the company is expected follow up with more updates on the production of ventilators on Monday.
Earlier on March 27, the company had updated that M&M’s engineering teams based at the automaker’s Kandivali (Mumbai) and Igatpuri (Nashik) manufacturing plants have indigenously developed a prototype of bag valve mask, which is commonly known as an Ambu bag.
Calling the in-house development a game changer, Anand Mahindra, chairman, M&M had tweeted that the frugally developed ambu bag could cost less than ₹7,500 per unit and that the company is seeking guidance from the specialists on the usefulness of the device.
The artificial manual-breathing unit, or ambu bag, is a self-inflating device that is typically used to help patients with breathing problems.
The maker of Scorpio and Bolero utility vehicles said two days ago that it has teamed up with two large state owned companies to work with an existing manufacturer of high spec ventilators in an attempt to boost the production scale in India.
Earlier on Saturday, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL) said that it will manufacture 10,000 ventilators in collaboration with AgVA Healthcare, an existing approved manufacturer of these devices.
India’s largest carmaker has also roped in some of the its suppliers like Bharat Seats Ltd and Krishna Maruti Ltd to help in the production of masks and protective clothing for state and central government employees.
The Indian government, on March 24, had reached out to the five automobile manufacturers – Tata Motors Ltd, M&M, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Honda Cars India Ltd and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd - to explore the possibility of manufacturing ventilators at the factories of these companies in collaboration with nine existing ventilator manufacturers.
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