MILAN — Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has begun producing ventilator parts to help an Italian company increase output of the medical equipment, which is needed to treat coronavirus patients with severe symptoms, the automaker said Friday.
Carmakers around the world are ramping up production of critical healthcare products and machines to respond to the enormous demand during the pandemic.
Italy, the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Europe, had asked the company, Siare, to triple monthly ventilator production as a part of government efforts to increase the number of intensive care beds.
FCA said in a statement that with the support of Ferrari and holding company Exor, which controls both carmakers, it had produced the first electrovalves, a key part in ventilators, at its plant in Cento, northern Italy.
PSA Group and supplier Valeo are helping the French government with a similar initiative.
The Cento plant normally produces high-performance engines for the global market. It had been closed because of the coronavirus but has partly reopened for this project.
“With the additional supply of electrovalves from Cento, Siare estimates that it will be able to reduce total production time for ventilators by as much as 30-50 percent,” the statement said.
In addition to the production of the electrovalves, a team of specialists from FCA is also working alongside Siare employees at the company’s production facility near the city of Bologna.
“The objective is to help increase Siare’s total production, with a gradual scaling up of daily output beginning from the first week of April,” FCA said.