Suppliers: Accelerating Medical Device Production to Combat COVID-19

Coronavirus is here. And while our doctors and nurses fight the virus on the front lines, many of us are wondering what we can do to help.

As manufacturers, we make stuff. And ventilators are in short supply. The manufacturers that make ventilators are trying to ramp production as quickly as possible to get products in the hands of the people that need them.

But what can manufacturers that don't have ventilator expertise do to help?

Over the last 2 days, I have seen an increasing number of posts on social media from component manufacturers offering their help to the manufacturers of ventilators.

These suppliers are not just trying to profit off of the moment. The posts I've seen portray a genuine desire to help and capture the feeling that we're all in this together.

And for every person that writes a post, there are even more people that share the sentiment. Bryan Packard, a Rhode Island based machine shop owner, wrote a post on Thursday offering his help. Since then, he has had a dozen other shops contact him to back him up in any way they can.

"The bad news," he says "Is that I have not been able to find anyone in the medical industry to tell me what needs to be made."

Meanwhile, manufacturers of medical devices are looking for labor and components to meet increased demand. Perma Pure manufactures respiratory therapy and oxygen monitoring equipment. Their President, Sharon Bracken, posted on LinkedIn Monday looking for temporary assembly help in the Lakewood, NJ area.

So the question is, how can we connect the people that want to help with the businesses that need it most?

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn.com. Click here to read the full article.