Health & Wellness

Canadian Company claims they can crank out as many ventilators as needed - but they are sitting on their butts

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  • Mar 26th, 2020 9:29 am
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Canadian Company claims they can crank out as many ventilators as needed - but they are sitting on their butts

I can't believe what I'm reading.

The whole world is looking for more ventilators.
Companies don't have the capacity to supply.
This company claims they do but they are waiting for an order from the Federal government......

Are they crazy?????

Just a couple of days ago there was an article about a US company having to reject an order for 5000 ventilators from Italy.
Spain is not far behind in needing ventilators - so will the US.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ventil ... -1.5505909
Last edited by krs on Mar 22nd, 2020 11:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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krs wrote: I can't believe what I'm reading.

The whole world is looking for more ventilators.
Companies don't have the capacity to supply.
This company claims they do but they are waiting for an order from the Federal government......

Are they crazy?????

Just a couple of days ago there was an article about a US company having to reject an order for 5000 ventilators from Italy.
Spain is not far behind in needing ventilators - so will the US.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/ventil ... -1.5505909
Why would they start manufacturing when the government refuses to give them a number? Blame our government.
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Cause free market and the invisible hand. Companies know they will go bankrupt if a major order is canceled suddenly.

The reason ventilators are in short supply is that it's expensive and will be sitting an taking up space without the virus.

This is basically what planned/war economy does best, solve actual problems.
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LongLiveRFD wrote: Cause free market and the invisible hand. Companies know they will go bankrupt if a major order is canceled suddenly.
This. No company is going to scale-up to build millions of dollars worth of ventilators without a firm order.
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There are strict regulations about medical devices around the world. Their ventilators are likely not approved by other countries.

I agree it would be proactive to start manufacturing them now, but they must have a reason to be waiting for the government.
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No one is going to make anything with a deposit in the bank. You got to pay for materials and labor.
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CallMeHank wrote: Why would they start manufacturing when the government refuses to give them a number? Blame our government.
Why wait for the Canadian government?
Italy as I mentioned tried to order 5000 from a US company and was refused because the US company didn't have the capacity
Cause free market and the invisible hand. Companies know they will go bankrupt if a major order is canceled suddenly.
The reason ventilators are in short supply is that it's expensive and will be sitting an taking up space without the virus.
The virus isn't going to go away any time soon.
It will get a lot worse before it gets better
There are strict regulations about medical devices around the world. Their ventilators are likely not approved by other countries.
Yes, but if a US company in Florida can meet the requirements for Italy for example, I would expect this company to be able to meet those as well.

I'm really wondering if these comments by that company are just BS.
Other manufacturers of ventilators say they can't possibly boost production significantly because of all the special parts that are required and are not readily available and this one stated that manufacturing capacity is not a limiting factor.
Somehow doesn't make sense.
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Just a general comment....

A lot of these posts are very valid in normal times....but these are not normal times.

The shortage of ventilators globally has been an issue for quite a while.
I would have expected that a company that can alleviate that shortage would have stepped up months ago and contacted the government of the countries most affected by the virus.
To now say - oh, we are waiting for the Canadian government to let us know how many........
In the meantime the number of cases and people needing ventilators keeps rising exponentially.
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krs wrote: The virus isn't going to go away any time soon.
It will get a lot worse before it gets better
Let's assume:
1. the South Hemisphere doesn't get affected and transmit back during our 2020 fall...
2. C19 does not mutate
3. Trade war subdues and global supply chain fully restored; in other words, nations work together like in 2009.

Unless you send in the troops to actually make those things 24/7, the global geopolitics will take over and upset every step in every way.

So far only the East Asians managed because they've turned on the Soviet-style war economy machine. Even then, the shortage is semi-permanent and an outbreak is still possible.
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If only we could manufacture doctors and nurses to operate all those respirators.
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Here is a good article that answers many questions about the cost of ventilators, the complexity of making them and what companies around the world are already doing to increase production.
Nothing I have read so far suggest that any company that makes them now can just increase production dramatically the way that company suggests is possible - not in the short term when they are needed.
https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/3/20/21 ... -elon-musk
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There are other limiting factors - it's not as simple as to create more.

Ventilators are very specialized - they require proper facilities, staff, and training. Will ventilators help people in COVID-19? Serious cases, absolutely. Unfortunately, we can't run ventilators in the hospital hallways or have the lay nurse/doctor operate one.

Further, you are asking businesses to operate at a loss since we are in special circumstances. Should we get Air Canada & WestJet to operate at 100% capacity despite there being no travelers? That is not how the world works, unfortunately - welcome to capitalism.
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Echoing comments above.

This company starts ramping up production, the government decided they don’t need them, or need different quantity, whatever, the company is not exactly going to get a bailout is it?

Pandemic or not, materials, labour etc cost money. Maybe a lower rate can be negotiated but to produce without confirmed and paid for demand is how you end up with broke ‘entrepreneurs’ with garages filled with thousands of the greatest, most useful, most advanced, life changing soup ladles ever!
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Phonophoresis wrote: There are other limiting factors - it's not as simple as to create more.

Ventilators are very specialized - they require proper facilities, staff, and training. Will ventilators help people in COVID-19? Serious cases, absolutely. Unfortunately, we can't run ventilators in the hospital hallways or have the lay nurse/doctor operate one.

Further, you are asking businesses to operate at a loss since we are in special circumstances. Should we get Air Canada & WestJet to operate at 100% capacity despite there being no travelers? That is not how the world works, unfortunately - welcome to capitalism.
Easy there buddy. This is hardly the first dance Capitalism has ever had.
The obvious and historic solution for such problems has been government intervention via some form of Emergency/War-time powers. Unfortunately, Trudeau was recently reduced to a minority government, so large degrees of uncertainty as to whether a Trudeau cabinet deserves unfettered power during this crisis.

Frankly, wish they'd be willing to bite the bullet and form an emergency coalition cabinet. With the that said, given the state of polarized politics in the now we live in, can appreciate resistance to put in people who might abuse their access for partisan zero sum purposes.
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This article puts things more into perspective.

For one, the company that was founded in 2004 has so far delivered around 200 of those ventilators, that is 200 total, mostly to the military.
Each one takes 20 to 40 hours to manufacture
The ventilator also meet MIL specs which means $$$$$
And has capabilities not needed for COVID-19 purposes.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6716103/cana ... facturing/



They built 200 in the last 15 years
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krs wrote: This article puts things more into perspective.

For one, the company that was founded in 2004 has so far delivered around 200 of those ventilators, that is 200 total, mostly to the military.
Each one takes 20 to 40 hours to manufacture
The ventilator also meet MIL specs which means $$$$$
And has capabilities not needed for COVID-19 purposes.

https://globalnews.ca/news/6716103/cana ... facturing/



They built 200 in the last 15 years
Meanwhile a U.S. F.D.A.-certified Chinese company is cranking out 500 a day. Their order backlog was already 6 weeks 2 days ago.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/a ... emand-for/
I smile when I see container ships sailing past my house laden with stuff made in China

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