KOKOMO, Ind. — General Motors announced Tuesday that their Kokomo plant has begun mass production of critical care ventilators and will ship over 600 ventilators to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by the month’s end.

The Ventec Life Systems V+Pro ventilators are part of a 30,000-unit order from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. GM says the full order will be completed by the end of August.

GM released the following timeline detailing the company’s transition to ventilator production:

GM and Ventec executives had their first conference calls on Tuesday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 18 to explore how GM could help Ventec increase ventilator production.

The next day, a GM team flew to Seattle to meet with the Ventec team and rolled up their sleeves to help.

On Friday, March 20, GM engaged its global supply base and within 72 hours, they had developed plans to source 100 percent of the necessary parts.

The UAW’s national and local leadership embraced the project and on Wednesday, March 25, crews began preparing the Kokomo site for production.

On Wednesday, April 8, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded GM a contract under the Defense Production Act to build 30,000 Ventec V+Pro critical care ventilators.

“Thousands of men and women at GM, Ventec, our suppliers and the Kokomo community have rallied to support their neighbors and the medical professionals on the front lines of this pandemic,” said GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra. “Everyone wants to help turn the tide and save lives. It is inspiring and humbling to see the passion and commitment people have put into this work.”

In a release, GM stated that the effort “involved sourcing hundreds of parts and assemblies from suppliers; the design of a new manufacturing process; the transformation of GM’s Kokomo factory; the ongoing hiring of more than 1,000 manufacturing team members; and the implementation of extensive health and safety protocols in the workplace.”

Click here to read the full release.