Just 15 days ago General Motors executives approached medical device company Ventec Life Systems with an idea.

"They said, 'We don’t know if we can help you, but let’s have a phone conversation and see if we can,' " said a Ventec employee involved in the discussion who is not authorized to speak to the media. "It was clear, from day one, they could help. And, we all hit the ground running.”

The GM team immediately flew to Ventec's offices in Seattle — then the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak — for a crash-course on the complexity of making the life-saving machines.

Within days GM's suppliers were securing parts for the ventilators, the UAW signed off on the idea and GM started preparing its electrical components plant in Kokomo, Indiana, to build the medical devices.

“People have moved mountains to help increase production of Ventec’s critical care ventilator," said Gerald Johnson, GM executive vice president of Global Manufacturing.

Since Monday, some 100 paid-volunteer employees started training on the extensive screening, cleaning and other CDC-recommended procedures that GM is putting in the plant for worker safety against coronavirus.

By mid-month, volume production of Ventec's critical care ventilators will begin as the call for the machines grows increasingly urgent in hard-hit states where there is concern over running out of ventilators amid the pandemic.

Mom and a ventilator

One of the first workers to volunteer at Kokomo was Debby Hollis. Hollis, 54, has worked at GM's Kokomo plant for 20 years making circuit boards.

She jumped at the chance to assemble ventilators because it's the first time in her life she could answer a calling.

"I have an elderly mother and she may be one of the people who needs a ventilator," Hollis told the Free Press. "We have a job to do. We have to step up to the plate to do it. We have an opportunity to contribute at a level we have never been able to contribute to society before."

Hollis and the other workers are doing a "tremendous service to the country" by volunteering to make ventilators, said Terry Dittes, the UAW vice president of GM Department.

"We applaud their courage in volunteering in our nation’s time of need, and we commend GM for working with the UAW to save lives across this country," said Dittes.

Hollis and GM's production workforce in Kokomo will grow to more than 1,000 people, GM said.

Some will be plucked from GM's current workforce and others will be new hires from the Kokomo area. There are about 280 employees at Kokomo normally, 200 of whom are hourly workers, said Dan Flores, GM spokesman.

As of Thursday, more than 1,320 applications had been filed from local community members applying for the temporary jobs, Flores said.

"That'd be a wonderful boon in hiring," Hollis said. "It’s new work and if we do it well, it’s a chance to bring more work to Kokomo, so it’s a win-win."

The training is in its infancy, but since Hollis started Tuesday, she has been learning how to assemble center bands — the main chassis inside the ventilator — putting tubes and cables inside the unit, she said. It's starkly different work from making car components.

"It’s more assembly than I‘ve ever done," said Hollis. "There are a lot more tools and screws than we usually use. It’s been pretty intense, but interesting."

Taking temperatures

GM has been training the small workforce in groups of five, making sure to instill safety standards, such as standing six feet apart, to protect their health, Hollis said.

"I don’t feel I’ll get sick … not anymore than I would in my everyday life," said Hollis. "They are taking every precaution necessary."

Hollis arrives to work at 6:30 a.m. There is only one entrance the workforce can use.

Once inside, she and the others must use hand sanitizer before walking down a long corridor where there is a camera-like machine mounted on a tripod. It's a body temperature gun that takes the workers' temperatures.

The workers then proceed to the end of the hall where they hand sanitize again before being given a face mask, putting it on and entering the assembly area, Hollis said.

"They have us wear gloves all day long except for when we’re eating," said Hollis. "When we take breaks, we must sit six feet apart and they requested we wear long sleeves and long pants."

GM will start production with one shift, but a second and third shift will be added quickly, GM said. Workers for each shift will enter and exit through a different door to minimize social contact.

Here are some of the other steps GM, with the UAW's input, has taken at Kokomo:

There will be a 30-minute break between shifts so employees can clean their workstations when they arrive and before they leave.

There will be signs throughout the plant reminding workers to practice social distancing.

Each workstation will be manned by one person and be spaced at least six feet from another workstation.

Cleaning crews will sanitize common touch surfaces and common areas at least three times per shift.

'Never seen anything like it'

On Monday, Ford Motor Co. and GE Healthcare said they also plan to produce 50,000 ventilators in the next 100 days with the support of 500 UAW members in Michigan.

But GM said the teamwork it took to get ventilator production in Kokomo so quickly is unprecedented. It began with a March 17 phone call between GM CEO Mary Barra and representatives of StopTheSpread.Org, who suggested GM work with Ventec, GM said.

GM and Ventec executives had their first conference call on March 18 to see if and how GM could help Ventec increase ventilator production. The next day, a GM team flew to Seattle to meet with the Ventec team and went to work.

By Friday, March 20, GM engaged its global supply base and within 72 hours, GM said suppliers had plans to get all the parts needed to make ventilators. The UAW's national and local leadership signed off on the project and by March 25, crews began preparing the Kokomo site for production.

Once mass production begins in mid-April it will quickly scale up to 10,000 critical care ventilators or more per month, GM said.

"We are just weeks away from delivering these lifesaving devices," GM's Johnson said. "I have never seen anything like it in my career.”

More:Trump attacks GM and Ford on Twitter, demands they make ventilators now

More:GM taps big auto suppliers for help in boosting ventilator production

Contact Jamie L. LaReau at 313-222-2149 or jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan. Read more on General Motors and sign up for our autos newsletter.