Leveraging on its engineering and manufacturing know-how as a global automaker, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) is partnering with a specialist manufacturer of medical equipment that is used every day to save lives of intensive care patients around the globe. The COVID-19 (or Coronavirus) pandemic has brought greater urgency and needs for this equipment, particularly in Italy which is one of the principal epicenters of the crisis in Europe.
FCA, with the support of holding company Exor and Ferrari, has joined forces with Siare Engineering International Group located near Bologna, Italy to provide additional resources and know-how to help scale up its response to the crisis. For over 45 years, Siare has been a specialist in the design and production of electromedical equipment for export to customers around the globe.
The FCA Manufacturing Engineering team working at the Group’s plant in Cento, Italy – where high-performance engines are produced for the global market – has worked rapidly to produce the first group of electrovalves, which are the beating “heart” of the ventilators urgently needed by hospitals in Italy and other countries.
A team of around 20 FCA specialists, in collaboration with technicians from Siare, analyzed the supply flow and assembly process for electrovalves at the Cento plant, in addition to solutions for increasing output at the Siare facility with integration of the electrovalves produced by FCA.
With the additional supply of electrovalves from Cento, Siare estimates that it will be able to reduce total production time for ventilators by as much as 30-50%.
In addition to the production of the electrovalve component at FCA’s Cento facility, a team of specialists from FCA is also working alongside Siare personnel at their production facility in Bologna. The objective is to help increase Saire’s total production, with a gradual scaling up of daily output beginning this week.
Source: FCA
