By Micah Maidenberg

Ford Motor Co. is working with 3M Co. to produce respirators and with General Electric Co. to make ventilators to help combat the coronavirus pandemic.

Employees at the car maker and 3M are working to boost manufacturing of 3M's respirators, the companies said Tuesday. 3M's respirators use a waist-mounted, battery-powered blower to send filtered air into a hood, providing respiratory protection for those wearing it, according to the St. Paul, Minn.-based manufacturer.

The companies are also working to develop a new respirator, which could be produced in a Ford plant, the car maker said.

Separately, GE's health-care unit and Ford are working to expand production of a simplified version of a GE ventilator that could help patients with respiratory problems tied to Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the companies said.

Ford also said Tuesday one of its design teams is developing face shields for medical workers, 1,000 of which will be tested this week at hospital systems in the Detroit area. It expects to make about 75,000 of the shields this week at a factory in Plymouth, Mich.

The car company said it is also developing disposable respirators for health-care workers and expects to initially produce 1,000 of them a month once they are approved by health officials.

Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 24, 2020 08:50 ET (12:50 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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