General Motors reopened its Warren plant on April 6 to produce up to 1.5 million face masks within a month.
The automaker announced its plans in March as the novel coronavirus continued its spread. GM is one of the many manufacturers being asked to switch gears and build products outside of their industry experience.
A team of 30 buyers, designers, engineers and manufacturing team members worked on the product development to reach the goal of 1.5 million masks, WXYZ Detroit said. The first samples were produced March 20. By April 8 they planned to produce 20,000 masks.
“Our team began looking at ways we could quickly utilize our talents and resources to help in the shared fight against COVID-19,” Peter Thom, GM vice president, Global Manufacturing Engineering, told WXYZ Detroit. "Working around the clock, our team rallied with incredible passion and focus to come up with a plan to produce masks that will help protect the women and men on the front lines of this crisis."
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