CHENNAI: India’s automobile industry is all set to join the task force to fight the global pandemic, COVID-19. Auto major Hyundai has announced a tie-up with Air Liquide, a large medical equipment maker, to ramp up production of ventilators. “The ventilators will be delivered to hospitals acrosss India,” industry sources said.
“We have taken it upon ourselves to provide Air Liquide with adequate support, electronic gadgets and supply chain to manufacture ventilators,” said BC Datta, Vice President of Hyundai, to Express. He added, “The company usually makes 30 to 40 ventilators in a month. With this tie-up, we are now hoping that they can provide the same in a day.
Once the ramp up is done, manufacturing will start by next month.” Similarly, Nissan has tied up with Trivitron to accelerate their manufacturing facility to provide ventilators. Sources said that while the timeline for ventilators has been given till July 31, the first batch is likely to be ready by the end of next month, or the beginning of June. Sources also said the State government will be supporting these large players with working capital.
Masks and PPEs
VENUS Safety & Health, a global manufacturer of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), has offered to manufacture the N-95 masks. In addition, the PPEs will be manufactured at Tiruppur and Coimbatore to be distributed across the country. “These are likely to be ready in a week once specifications are given,” a source said.
This comes after Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a special incentive package, sanctioned for the manufacture of ventilators, PPE kits, N-95 masks, multi-para monitors, and drugs in the State. The incentives are applicable to both large industries and MSMEs.
Nissan tie-up
Nissan has tied up with Trivitron to accelerate their manufacturing facility to provide ventilators. The timeline for ventilators has been given till July 31
N-95 VENUS Safety & Health has offered to manufacture the N-95 masks