Honda has transformed a portion of the company’s Technical Development Center to manufacture parts for ventilators to help those suffering with COVID-19. Above, an associate works on assembling a compressor at the Technical Development Center in Marysville. The compressor will go into ventilator. (Photo submitted)
Local companies are using local associates and local ideas to help with a world-wide problem.
Honda has begun producing and delivering critical components for the production of ventilators.
ScottsMiracle-Gro is also involved in a number of initiatives to help amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We literally took our R&D Formulation Barn and turned it into a manufacturing operation for hand sanitizer,” said Paula Powell, Director of Hydroponic Nutrition & Controls R&D for ScottsMiracle-Gro.
At the company’s Saint-Bonaventure manufacturing facility in Quebec, researchers and officials are working to develop a soil mix that will be used to create a plant-based vaccine for COVID-19.
And the ScottsMiracle-Gro manufacturing facility in Temecula, California has moved from making lawn care equipment like seed spreaders to making face shields and protective equipment. Earlier this week, the Union County Emergency Management Agency received 3,000 of the face shields.
ScottsMiracle-Gro donated 3,000 face shields to the Union County Emergency Management Agency to aid their efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19. The face shields will be provided to Memorial Hospital, local long-term care facilities, fire and emergency medical personnel, physician offices and dentists in Union County. The company is donating thousands of face shields to first responders and hospital workers across the United States to help address the shortage of protective equipment. Pictured above are, from left, Jordan Dillahunt of the Jerome Township Division of Fire, Sue Lisman with the Union County Health Department, Jara Everhart of Memorial Hospital, Jessica Burd of Memorial Gables and Sarah Page with Jerome Township Division of Fire. (Photo submitted)
Honda North America Executive Vice President Rick Schostek said Honda associates, “have successfully transformed a portion of our technical training center into an assembly line that will help support the urgent need to produce ventilator components.”
Honda teamed up with Pennsylvania-based Dynaflo to increase production of diaphragm compressors, a key component of portable ventilators. The much-needed ventilators are used in hospitals and by first responders throughout the country to help those with the COVID-19 virus.
“With our supply of these key components to Dynaflo, we hope to help address one of the most pressing needs within the COVID-19 crisis,” Schostek said.
Honda transformed a 6,000-square-foot area in its Technical Development Center in Marysville into a space for associates to assemble the compressors. The TDC is located within the Honda Heritage Center, across from Marysville Auto Plant.
“The TDC is a good fit for the project due to the space available—6,000 square feet– and our ability to quickly configure it for mass assembly,” Marcos Frommer, with Honda North America, said Tuesday.
Officials at Scotts said the Marysville-based R&D team was idea to help in time of crisis because it is so familiar with the mantra of company co-founder Horace Hagedorn: “Find a need and fill it.”
The Marysville Formulation Barn houses laboratories where R&D chemists and engineers develop and test lawn and garden products. They were in the midst of conducting trials for new products slated to launch later this year when they learned that colleagues in supply chain and sales were having trouble finding enough hand sanitizer to stay safe. Researchers asked if they could produce the hand sanitizer.
“We pretty quickly dove into figuring out how to make it happen,” said Janelle Restum, VP, Global Regulatory Affairs. “It’s been impressive to see people come together, figure out how to do this and get down to solving the problem.”
Within a week and a half, the local team went from receiving the request to shipping bottles out the door.
Frommer said the Honda associates making the ventilator parts are on team a that is, “part of our essential workforce that has continued working.”
Honda said the process was developed, “using production know-how from Honda’s experienced manufacturing associates, including parts tracking, build timing, quality checks and lot control.”
“These practices were essential in enabling Honda associates to quickly ramp up production over the first weeks of the project while maintaining social distancing protocols,” according to an announcement from the company.
Honda and Dynaflo each partnered with Stop the Spread, a coalition of more than 1500 volunteer CEOs working in Washington, D.C. and around the U.S. to catalyze actions and support the government in response to COVID-19.
Dynaflo is a small company that designs, manufactures, and sells high performance vacuum pumps and compressors, based mainly on diaphragm technology. Company officials said they knew it would need “substantial help” if they wanted to increase ventilator production capacity in response to the pandemic.
According to information from Honda, Stop the Spread is an organization “working to connect businesses and organizations that are best-positioned to address critical needs during this public health crisis, often in innovative or unexpected ways.”
“Stop the Spread connected Dynaflo to Honda and the two companies teamed up to meet this critical need for more portable ventilators,” according to the release.
William Fleming, president of Dynaflo called the connection to Honda, “a Godsend.”
“Combining our diaphragm compressor technology with Honda’s expertise in mass production is a perfect combination to help meet the needs of this crisis,” Fleming said.
Officials said Honda associates have worked closely with Dynaflo personnel to learn best practices in compressor assembly.
“The training has provided Honda associates the ability to build and quality test the devices prior to shipping,” according to the release.
The close working relationship also allows Honda and Dynaflo “ensure consistency and quality.”
Frommer said Honda has agreed to supply parts for Dynaflo to produce 10,000 compressors per month, once production reaches capacity. Honda and Dynaflo expect to maintain production of compressors through the end of August.