Ventec to Cease Ventilator Production in Kokomo

GM-Ventec hired approximately 1

Washington-based medical equipment maker Ventec Life Systems is preparing to close its Kokomo ventilator production facility by the end of the month.

The Kokomo Tribune is reporting the company is winding down production, citing weakening demand for ventilators.

The company partnered with General Motors (NYSE: GM) in March to quickly manufacture 30,000 ventilators for the U.S. government as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to widen.

They retrofitted the GM Components Holdings plant in Kokomo and started to hire hundreds of workers.

The first ventilators were completed in mid-April. By the end of August, the Ventec-GM partnership had filled the nearly $500 million contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Following the completion of the order, GM turned over operational control of the ventilator production in Kokomo to Ventec.

“I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who made production in Kokomo such as success in the past nine months,” Ventec Chief Executive Officer Chris Kiple wrote in an email to his staff, obtained by the publication. “Many of you have made enormous sacrifices to travel back and forth, educate and train new teams, deliver supplies, and stand up a new production facility in record time.

The Tribune says the company has about 800 employees at its Kokomo plant.

Read the full article by clicking here.