Volkswagen has teamed up with Faurecia to manufacture personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet the needs of those on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The effort was started by an internal Volkswagen task force that reached out to VW’s suppliers and production partners. Faurecia offered to pivot its processes and begin production at one of its 15 facilities in Mexico. Volkswagen placed an initial order for 70,000 masks and 5,000 gowns.
One of Faurecia’s Mexico facilities is producing the equipment.Photo courtesy of Volkswagen AG
Since that initial order was placed, Faurecia has been able to significantly ramp up production and is now able to make an estimated 250,000 masks and 50,000 gowns per week.
“Volkswagen is proud to have partners like Faurecia willing to step outside their usual scope and drive something bigger,” said Scott Keogh, president and CEO, Volkswagen Group of America. “This joint effort is putting the ingenuity of VW and our supplier network on full display, and we don’t plan on stopping our response to this crisis here.”
Volkswagen has donated the first run of Faurecia-produced masks and gowns to New York State’s COVID-19 response efforts. A shipment of 75,000 units is scheduled to arrive this week and be distributed at area hospitals including New York City’s Javits Center, which was recently transformed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers into a temporary hospital staffed by FEMA and Army medical personnel.
