President Donald Trump on Friday signed an order requiring Detroit-based General Motors Co. to produce ventilators to fight the coronavirus pandemic under the Defense Production Act.

In a memorandum released by the White House, Trump said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar would determine the number of ventilators GM must produce.

GM said earlier Friday it will begin shipping FDA-cleared ventilators as soon as next month from an Indiana plant after Trump earlier Friday urged the company, as well as Dearborn-based Ford Motor Co., to ramp up output of the devices to treat COVID-19 patients.

GM, in partnership with medical device company Ventec Life Systems, is building critical care ventilators at a Kokomo, Ind., factory under a program dubbed Project V. Ventec will also increase production at a manufacturing site in Bothell, Wash.

It's unclear if Friday's order will require GM to tap other U.S. plants to build ventilators, but the automaker now faces direct government pressure to accelerate output.

GM, in a statement late Friday, said it has been working with Ventec and other partners "around the clock for over a week to meet this urgent need."

The automaker, which is undertaking the project as a contract manufacturer for Ventec, is donating resources at cost, according to a Friday statement.

Ventec and GM said they are able to build more than 10,000 ventilators a month, depending on the needs of the U.S. government.

Since the GM-Ventec partnership was announced March 20, the companies' supply base has sourced more than 700 individual parts that are needed to build up to 200,000 ventilators.

"We are proud to stand with other American companies and our skilled employees to meet the needs of this global pandemic," GM CEO Mary Barra said earlier Friday. "This partnership has rallied the GM enterprise and our global supply base to support Ventec, and the teams are working together with incredible passion and commitment. I am proud of this partnership as we work together to address urgent and life-saving needs."

Working with the UAW, GM said it will recall about 1,000 workers to scale up production of critical care ventilators immediately.

GM will also begin producing surgical masks at a manufacturing facility in Warren, Mich., starting next week. Within two weeks, GM expects to ramp up production to 50,000 masks per day. That total could potentially increase to 100,000 per day.

The UAW, which has pressed the Detroit 3 to idle U.S. plants to safeguard employee health and safety, applauded GM's efforts.

"We are happy to work with GM during this pandemic for the health and safety and good of our nation as we collaborate towards the production of ventilators," Terry Dittes, the head of the UAW's GM department, said in a statement. "The UAW has a proud history of stepping up in times of national emergency. General Motors should be commended for stepping up at a crucial moment in our history. At the UAW we are - all in - to find ways to partner together to flatten this curve and save lives."