Medtronic Plc (NYSE:MDT) announced that it has partnered with Foxconn Technology to enhance the production of ventilators, which are vital in the care of COVID-19 patients.
Foxconn to produce Medtronic’s PB560 ventilators
The company indicated that Foxconn had successfully completed the necessary regulatory and quality requirements to commence the manufacture of Medtronic Puritan Bennett 560 ventilators (PB560) in the US. Medtronic and Foxconn have increased production plans to manufacture around 10,000 PB560 ventilators at the Foxconn Wisconn Valley Science and Technology Park over the next year. Medtronic will be responsible for marketing and selling the ventilators in the US.
Vafa Jamali, the SVP and President of the Respiratory, Gastrointestinal, and Informatics segment, indicated that currently, there is no single company that can meet the ventilator demand in requirements. The Respiratory Gastrointestinal and Informatics segment is part of Medtronic’s Minimally Invasive Therapies Group. Jamali added that the partnership with Foxconn will enable the company to ramp up its production capacity to meet the growing demand. Equally, it will create a flexible manufacturing model for Medtronic. He concluded that together the companies will be able to enhance ventilator supply and, as a result, help clinicians and more patients than any company can achieve.
Foxconn leveraging emerging opportunities
Foo-Ming Fu, the CEO of Foxconn, acknowledged the effort that front-line workers put to serve patients. Fu added that they were delighted to partner with Medtronic in addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The CEO stated that Foxconn has the manufacturing potential to bring critical life-saving medical equipment to the market, especially during these challenging moments. He added that Foxconn’s flexibility to react fast to market opportunities makes partnerships like this one possible. In the last two months, the CEO confirmed that the company went from manufacturing zero ventilators to having a qualified and tested ventilator producing cell.
The partnership came after Medtronic shared the PB560 design specification through its ventilator open source enterprise. So far, there are over 200,000 design specifications registrations at medtronic.com/openventilator.